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Still Not Dead (Yet)

Malcolm pointed out to me today that the last thing I had posted was about going on this cross-country road trip and some of you might think I'm dead. Thankfully, I am not! We did have a hairy little incident where we drove through a break in a tornado-infested storm front in Kansas, but other than that I'm great.

Making me even happier is the first two rolls of film I just got back from my Diana+. They're from about a month ago, I'm guessing, from a trip to a local playground & water park. Ali still had her big three-tooth gap going on. You can check out the shots in the increasingly misnamed Holga Archiva.

I also got a couple of rolls back off the Fisheye2 from a short family vacation we took last month. I tumbled those puppies.

Ali The Photog

If you follow my Tumblelog, you probably saw a picture of Ali holding my WOCA about a week ago. She actually took three pictures, but only one wasn't way out of focus. So, without further ado, I present Ali's first lomo shot. Not too shabby for a five year old, IMHO. There's one I took of Kaylee and one of Ali in the Holga Archiva picture gallery.

New Toy Cameras

I got a little referral kickback in the way of an Amazon gift certificate from a buddy I hooked up with some freelance business. Thought about what to get, and I decided on expanding my toy camera collection. My Holga has a pretty bad light leak (example) that would entail a fair amount of detective/repair work to get rid of. You can buy "fixed" ones online, but then you start spending $40 for a camera that costs $15 and... I just can't bring myself to do that.

Instead, I'm hoping to replace it with a Diana+ (shown at right, click to enlarge). Basically the same idea as the Holga (120 film, saturated colors with that "dreamy" vibe), with a little more "modern" manufacturing process that keeps the film safely tucked away in the dark. Of particular interest to me is that it seems to have some method of making it easier to take the panoramic shots I so enjoy. You can also pop off the lens, set the aperture to it's smallest setting, and make a pinhole camera! And, it has a shutter lock for long exposure fun.

My second purchase is the Fisheye 2 (at right, clicky 4 biggie). I've always enjoyed playing around with fisheye photography, so this guy seemed right up my alley. It looks like it'll be a lot of fun to play around with, especially on close-ups of people's faces. It also has a shutter lock, and I'm looking forward to playing around with some nighttime shots. Added bonus: it uses 35mm film! This will make it MUCH easier to get film and to get it developed (not to mention prints!)

I'd like to get a bag (maybe like the Domke F-803) that can hold both, so I can just grab one bag, head out the door, and shoot whatever strikes my fancy. "Don't think, just shoot" as they say.

Mr. Smee(r)

This is what happens when your child falls asleep with pirate face paint on. Her hands (and pillow) are also quite black. It's like she's been working a coal mine or something.

Friday Phone Clean Up

Alright, let's see what's of interest on the ol' mobile phone. Click on the thumbnails for bigger versions. Pardon the very rough formatting. It's almost quitting time...

Kaylee loves to make her "monkey face". She actually calls it "Danny David Monkey Face" because our friends Danny and David (brothers) are the ones who taught it to her. Very cute. Of course.

<—As long-time readers of my blog have been aware, I have searched the greater Orlando area for a breakfast burrito that matches the quality and quantity found at countless independent restaurants in Souther California. Or at least Del Taco. Beto's was certainly a hit, but I was pleased to see that Wendy's added a breakfast menu with a breakfast burrito. I got a coupon to get a free one, tried it out, and have to dub it the best fast food breakfast burrito other than Del Taco's. I've included some items for size reference.

This bug was on our bumper. I have no idea what it is, but it looks COOL. —>

<—We had a birthday cake at work the other week. Then later in the day, the lady at the grill on property gave us some free cookies. And so I decided to combine the best of both worlds and create the "cake cookie". Notice that this is different than a "cookie cake" that one might find at Mrs. Fields or whatnot.

From bottom to top we have: chocolate chip cookie, icing, thinly-sliced sheet cake, and then more icing. It was delicious, but after about two bites I had to throw it away.

Okay, funny story about this picture. I bought this belt because I'd never seen a buckle like it before. You can kinda see that it's got this sliding bar thing that presses the leather against the buckle, holding it (mostly) snug. That means that there are no holes, which means the belt can be as infinitely fit or loose as you'd like. It doesn't matter how much weight I lose (about 25 pounds so far), I'll be able to use this belt.

So, I'm taking this picture to show all you wonderful people this amazing belt technology. I'm standing in my cube, with my shirt pulled up, and photographing the buckle. And in the midst of this, my co-worker (not near-worker), comes around the corner to talk to me. There I am, apparently removing clothing to photograph my "lower" regions.

He stops, takes one look at this, says "I don't want to know", and turns around and leave. Classic.

Here's a picture of our Thanksgiving turkey that I wrote about earlier. Witness Laura in the action shot!

<—Am I the only one who likes to leave the wrapper on blow pops and pretend it's a super-hero cape?

Cleaning Off The Camera Phone

Let's see what the ol' brain thought was funny, interesting, odd, or cute over the last few weeks...

Driving to the grandparents and Kaylee didn't even make it onto the freeway before falling asleep. Nor did she get through more than one bite of her breakfast.

Got to visit Josh & Tina a few weeks ago, meet their baby, and do other assorted fun things (photos of bats and butterflies to come). This lovely sign was by the pool at our hotel. A little... dramatic, methinks. I mean, your whole head popping off?

Saw this product in Walgreens. Apparently it's a "Hot Buy".

This was from the tail end of a photo shoot on Monday at work. The surreality (surrealness?) of lighting a light was not lost on us.

Happy Bishop-Of-Denny's Friday

That's A New Genre

Went to a Middle Eastern cafe/market last night for dinner. Very good food. Laura wants a Middle Eastern/Aladdin type theme for her 40th (!) birthday in December, so we wanted to check it out for catering purposes.

Anyway, they had a selection of CDs in the dining room area that you could purchase. Does anyone know how you get classified as "Old Music"?

European Lions

Went to lunch at Quizno's last week in a strip mall near work. Right next door was a shipping place, and out in front of the store were these two statues of lions. We're getting out of the car and one of my co-workers says, "Why does that lion have armpit hair?"

Happy Ice Cream Friday!

Treat yourself today.