The road trip on Instagram.

The trip to Pittsburgh was awesome. Well, actually, being in Pittsburgh was awesome, the driving part was a lot of time in the car, knitting and listening to The Hunger Games trilogy. Driving east, the days were especially long and by nightfall, we usually just ate, found a hotel and conked out. (Two 10 hour days + one 6 hour day.) I always have such visions of taking lots of pictures along the way, but in reality, we usually have to push through without too many stops. So I usually end up just taking photos with my phone to entertain myself.

Here are most of the Instagram shots from the trip. There are some that I took in Pittsburgh, but the majority are from the road. And the majority are part of my "hotel carpet series."

You can check out all my Instagram photos here.

On going back to Pittsburgh.

I still haven't gotten all my film developed from our trip east last September and here we are getting ready to head back to Pittsburgh in a few weeks! I'm quite excited about the trip. Excited to be on the road again. Excited to see so many good friends again. Excited to be back in Pittsburgh, a city that is forever full of wonders to me.

I've been agonizing over what cameras to take along. I feel like I always take too many and then spend too much time trying to decide what camera to use. I also end up with too many of the same photos taken with different cameras and film. That can be interesting (to me, at least), but I want to approach things differently this time. Take less and shoot more. Of course sometimes I just get caught up in being there instead of having half of my focus on what might make a fabulous photo. I think that is important as well.

But this is a year that I really want things - some things, all things, I don't know - to be different. Maybe not hugely different, but a little different. And I have to admit that not a lot of change has happened thus far, but there has been some progress in certain areas. Baby steps of change. And it gives me hope.

So I would like my approach to photography to be different on this trip. Maybe try to be less self-conscious about what I am doing. Maybe actually make a plan of some places that I want to go to take photographs. Maybe focus on using one or two cameras instead of five. And I would really like to take some portraits of our friends (on instant film) even though I am not great at taking portraits these days.

And perhaps I should not reveal all here, perhaps it is putting too much expectation on myself, but I would like this trip to be different in other ways as well. I hope that I can let go and truly have a blast. Not worry so much about sleep and schedules and all the anxieties that often get in my way of having fun. (But still take care of myself; there's got to be a balance, right?) I want to laugh and smile and let myself out. I feel so trapped here in Santa Fe sometimes.

But no matter what happens, I imagine it will be a good trip. And it will also be okay if I have to feel anxious about some things. That's how I roll and denying it only makes it worse. One thing I constantly have to remind myself: be compassionate with myself as well as others. Because constantly being hard on myself, reprimanding myself or feeling bad about who I am or how I react to things, isn't particularly helpful.

Anyway...here a a few shots from our last trip taken with my Lomo LC-A + Kodak Gold 400 film.


Gorgeous, giant zinnias in the Larimer Community Garden.


Steeple + sky.


The view from the third floor of the Mayflower house.


The Mayflower house!


The church down the street from the Mayflower house.


Peeping alien!

Instant kitties.

[Blixa]


[Clem aka Clams]


[Fred aka Fritters]

It's not just at home that I end up taking a lot of cat photos, I do it everywhere we go! I just can't resist a cat!

These are all Pittsburgh kitties and all were taken with a Polaroid SX-70 Alpha + PX70 Color Shade instant film from The Impossible Project.

Steelers football.

Back in September, when we were in Pittsburgh, we went to a Steelers game with our friends CC and Dana. It was an awesome day. The weather was perfect and, well, we went to a Steelers game!



We parked downtown and walked across one of the bridges to get to the stadium. (One of my favorite things about Pittsburgh is all the bridges.)


[CC and Dana]


[Our view.]

We sat way up high in the corner of the stadium. The stairs were so steep, they were a little vertigo-inducing. But no matter, our view of the field was good as we could pretty much see everything that was going on.


[CC and Will]


[Me and Dana]

Look at all those Steelers fan. I was so excited when we first got there, I almost started crying. Will and I had been to one game while we still lived in Pittsburgh so it wasn't our first time, but there was something about being at a game, with our friends, after being away for so long that felt extra special.

Watching the home games in Santa Fe, the aerial shots of Pittsburgh and Heinz Field always make me miss Pittsburgh so much. So to actually be there, in Pittsburgh, at Heinz Field, was the best thing ever.

And we won that game (vs. the Seahawks) which made the experience all the better.

Going to another Steelers game in the next couple of years is already on my dream list!

More beach favorites.

All of these photos were taken with my Polaroid Automatic 250 + expired Polaroid ID-UV film.







I absolutely love how the expired ID-UV turns out. It does crazy things to the sky. I don't think I ever used the film when it was fresh, so I am glad that I somehow ended up buying a bunch a few years ago while it was still reasonably priced. It's fun stuff.

I am nearing the end of the beach photos, although I still have an undeveloped roll of 35mm film that has beach shots on it too. So there will be more one day. But that day probably will be far from now.

Hope you all are having a lovely weekend!

Sunset.

[Polaroid Automatic 250 + Fuji FP-100C film]

Some beach favorites - the instant version.

[Polaroid Automatic 250 + expired Polaroid 690 film]



[SX-70 Alpha + PX70 Color Shade First Flush film from the Impossible Project]



Will and our nephew, Jake. [Polaroid Automatic 250 + expired Polaroid 690 film]



My in-laws in the ocean. [Polaroid Automatic 250 + Fuji FP-100C film]



Morning view from the bedroom balcony. [Polaroid Automatic 250 + Fuji FP-100C film]



The owl in the tree. [SX-70 Alpha + expired Polaroid 600 film]



[SX-70 Alpha + expired Polaroid 600 film]



A view of the house next door and the ocean from our bedroom balcony. [SX-70 Alpha + expired Polaroid 600 film]



Taken at Casa Flamingo. I don't think I could live in a pink mansion, but it does go nicely with all the pink flamingos! [SX-70 Alpha + expired Polaroid 600 film]

Some beach favorites.

Shot with my Pentax K1000 + expired Kodak Porta 400VC film.



We stayed at the house in the middle. It's tiny compared to the houses on either side! And those are tiny compared to some of the mansions on Ocean Boulevard. Crazy.



The clouds! Oh the clouds. Isle of Palms always has the most amazing clouds. They revival the beautiful clouds that we get here in Santa Fe.



This shot is one of my most favorite from the trip.



Again with the clouds.

I'm really pleased with the photos I took with my Pentax K1000. The photo lab even made images of the ones that I screwed up by shooting 400 ISO film with the camera set on 1600. Ooops. They're super grainy, but I was so pleased that they came out.

If you follow me on Flickr, you are probably getting tired of all the beach pictures! I am getting tired of posting them. But I am almost to the end and I am excited about the photos from Pittsburgh! At least the instant ones. I haven't gotten the 35mm film processed yet.

I know most of my beach photos are very similar. It's in part because when I take more than one camera, I always end up taking the same shots with all the cameras! And it's also in part because when we're at the beach, it's all about the ocean, the view and the palm trees! So that's what I shoot. Over and over and over again! I find the differences between cameras and films interesting, but I know for others, it probably gets tiresome. "Oh look, it's the view from the bedroom! AGAIN."

Lately I've realized that I really miss taking pictures of people. It's something that I used to do a lot when we lived in Pittsburgh, but since we moved here, it's all been cats and flowers and mountains. I need to figure out a way to remedy that and work on shooting some portraits.

Now I'm off to get on with this Saturday. I'm going to be sewing together flower hair clips with the television going in the background. Of course.

Cheers!

Things are quiet around here.

Birds.

I love watching birds at the beach. In Isle of Palms, there are always seagulls, of course, the little sand pipers that scurry along the sand, never standing still long enough for me to capture a close up, and my favorite, the pelicans.

This year, we hardly saw any pelicans which seemed rather strange to me as usually there are lots of them, swooping down into the ocean to catch fish. So every time I did see one, I got super excited. Pelicans!

One of the most exciting bird sightings though, was not a marine bird, but a red tailed hawk that settled in on the roof of the house next door.



There were actually two of them, soaring high in the sky and then sitting perched on the roof, looking out toward the ocean.



We stood on the second floor balcony for a long time, just watching them. Hawks are such majestic creatures.

Wish you were here.

And I wish that I was still there!

This was our view from the second floor balcony which was so conveniently located right outside of our bedroom! I could have sat up there forever, just looking at the ocean. And in fact, I did spend quite a bit of time stepping out on the balcony, breathing in the ocean air and watching the waves.

The moon was full while we were there so at night, we had some incredible views of the moonlight reflecting off the water. It was magical. Really.

Sigh.

I miss the ocean.

[A total aside here, but one night, Will and I took a walk on the beach. He asked me if I would get in the water. I said no, of course, because I have seen Jaws a million times and it has totally instilled the fear of sharks in me. I used to get scared of the drains in the deep ends of swimming pools. Seriously. So getting in the water at night? Under the moonlight? And maybe making out? That's just asking for a shark attack.]

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One of my favorite instant shots from this past summer.

The afternoons are still quite warm here, but mornings and evenings feel like autumn and it's a lovely combination. I'd be happy if the weather stayed like this forever.

I seem to dread winter more and more with each passing year. I think it's mostly because our house is so cold during the wintertime. If it was warm and cozy inside, I would perhaps be able to appreciate the cold beauty of winter.

We just got back from a long road trip vacation out east. First we hit the beach in Isle of Palms, SC and spent some time with Will's family. Then we made a quick stop in Winston-Salem where we got to see many of our friends, have drinks at Single Brothers (the best bar ever!) and see some amazing music. Our last stop was Pittsburgh where we spent a week running around, catching up with friends, eating lots of good food and squeezing in a few hours of relaxation here and there. It was a blast and while I am happy to be home, I am already missing all of our good friends.

I hope to write a bit more about the trip soon and start getting some photos posted. Right now I am still in the middle of catching up at home and figuring out what comes next for me.

More soon. xo

Cerrillos, New Mexico

I keep telling myself that I am going to post here on a regular basis again, because it is something that I really enjoy doing. And while I am not a great writer by any means, at least when I write here, it makes me think about my words a little more and I think that's good for me. But then weeks go by and there just isn't the time.

Anywhere, here I am now and I am going to share some iPhone pictures that I took two weeks ago when I went on a little day trip to some parts outside of Santa Fe. I had hoped to stop and take lots of pictures along the way, but sometimes things don't work out quite the way we planned.

My original thought was to drive out to Madrid and hang out there. I headed out on Highway 14, also know as the Turquoise Trail. Once I reached Madrid and drove through the tiny town, I realized it wasn't really where I wanted to be. A nifty place for sure, but I wasn't feeling it. So I turned around and went to Cerrillos instead. I was rather enjoying just driving around so I wasn't sure what I really wanted to do. Then I saw signs for a turquoise mine museum/petting zoo/trading post. How could I possibly resist that attraction? I followed all the arrows and ended up at the Casa Grande Trading Post, Cerrillos Turquoise Mining Museum & Petting Zoo.

It's a crazy, lovely place filled with tons and tons and tons of stuff. Every kind of rock and crystal that you can imagine. Cheap turquoise trinkets. Windows lined with old bottles and insulators. A completely random selection of postcards. Dream catchers. Just everything. And that's just the Trading Post.







Beyond the second room of the trading post, there is the museum which costs two dollars to enter. It is filled with an incredible amount of someone's beloved collections and totally random junk. And by junk, I mean lovely junk, but still junk. And a lot of crazy, old antiques and more old bottles and insulators and mannequins and then more rocks and crystals. Oh and skulls and cardboard cut-outs and a ship in a bottle. It was mind-boggling and amazing. I was delighted to have stumbled upon this place.



A tribute to John Wayne and Kiefer Sutherland. (Young Guns was filmed out there, something that I don't think I knew back in the day when I *loved* that movie.)









Smokey AND a surf board. Go figure.





There was a helicopter flying overhead the whole time I was out there and as I was buying a couple of postcards, one of the owners started telling me how this time of year, there are always low flying helicopters flying around, looking for weed crops. He said, "yeah, that's how everyone makes a living out here, growing weed."

I had no idea.

On my way back to Santa Fe, I decided to drive through Galisteo just because I was enjoying driving around. There was a storm coming and the lightning was pretty awesome to see in the distance. It's so beautiful here in New Mexico and I really don't take the time to get out of Santa Fe often enough.

In Galisteo, I came to a "T" intersection and decided to go right since there was no signage to tell me which way I should go to get back to Santa Fe. Of course, almost immediately upon turning, I realized I was going the wrong way and in fact, I had no idea where I was going if I were to keep going that way. (I would have ended up hitting I-40 near Moriarty.) All I had to do was turn around, but it was a two-lane highway and there were absolutely no pull-outs for miles and miles. So I just kept driving and driving in the wrong direction. I was vaguely distressed, but not really, and it was so incredibly green out that way. I could hardly believe it. I took a lot of pictures in my head while I was driving and that was good enough for me.

I was finally able to turn around and made it back to Santa Fe without a hitch. All in all it was a pretty awesome day and I really need to do things like that more often.