Independence Day

Independence is a good thing, but let's not forget that interdependence is what makes us tick. I hope you are with your own unique tribe, grilling and swimming and lighting bottle rockets today. Have a great Fourth of July!

Impossible Project PX680 Cool Color Shade Instant Film
Polaroid OneStep SE AutoFocus Camera

Reflected Pink

Been messin' around with mirrors lately. For the obligatory profile pic of self with camera.

"Why do I need one of these?" I keep askin' myself.  "Because you are building a following," I keep replyin.' "And you are gettin' ready to open a shop."

Painfully, I marshal on juggling mirrors, Polaroid, dark shields, timer, tripod and goofy expressions. Alas, nothin.'

Except this. Huh.... Could I substitute pink petals for a portrait?

Bumbling

As I get a little older, I am more willing to make mistakes and look goofy in broad daylight. Younger, I preferred to exude confidence and keep my mistakes hidden in the back of my closet. A few more years behind you, you know you're bluffing.

Strolling through my archives today, I found this little Polaroid gone wrong. Wrong but in an almost right kind of way.

Even though I horribly miscalculated the ambient temperature that morning and over-exposed this lovely bit of Impossible Project film, I'm happy to share my mistake. Put it right out there. Where you may perhaps find it inherently charming.

Harbor in the Storm

On the day before Irene made her way up the East Coast, I was in the Hawkins Boatyard watching lobster men (and their wives, kids and dogs) haul boats out of the harbor. I had nothing to do but wander around with an old camera. And, hear tales of the worst ferry crossings the good people of Vinalhaven could recollect.

The calm before the storm was beautiful, uncomfortably still, and unnerving. The fog thickened by the minute, and I was making mental preparation for a rough ride on a small ferry with everything I hold dear the next morning.

As luck would have it, our crossing was calm. The storm bypassed this little harbor in Maine, and the hardest hit were our own beautiful Catskill Mountains. We've pumped out the basement and donated clothes to our neighbors across the Hudson River. And, we've marveled at the damage water can do.

Summer's End

Summer seemed just long enough to me, which is not what people usually say. School starts Wednesday, and the little boy is going to kindergarten. For this first time in (not long enough, if you ask me) I'm back on the academic calendar.

So after watching the school bus pull away from the driveway with a mix of tears and yippees, I turn my attention to a new project. A show of photographs down in the little Village. I'm brushing off those curatorial skills from years of museum work, but this time it's my own stuff on the walls.

There'll be lots to talk about between now and then, but for now enjoy the last weekend of summer!

Summer Rental

 

For the second year, we returned to a little house that we've come to think of as our island home. Nothing fancy really. Lumpy beds, dull kitchen knives, a broken player piano and lobster traps piled in the dooryard. 

But, there's a collection of 80's vinyl for the turntable, and we can hear the Vinalhaven Ferry fog horn when we're making coffee. No cell service. No internet. No TV. Just the sound of the ocean in the distance and the occasional apple dropping from the tree outside the kitchen window.

Of course, the camera collection was tucked into my tote bag. I gave my new old Polaroid 250 a try with a pack of Fuji instant film.

I'm in love.

Meet Me at the Fair

Today was the day we all played hookie and went to the Fair. We rode the Ferris Wheel (which for a firm-on-her-feet girl like me is way too thrilling).

 

 My little guy is thankfully still small enough to love the carousel (and so do I). While we were going round and round and up and down, he gave me a big grin and said, "I love the Fair."

The big boy amused himself on various Vomitrons like this one (alone, I might add). Safer to take pictures from below.

And, we managed to avoid all but one of the Games of Chance. There were sausage sandwiches, really good French fries, and fresh raspberries. We all piled into the car at the end of the day dusty, tired, and completely satisfied.

Stormy Weather

Yesterday the fast moving clouds of a rumbling August storm rolled over the house.

Just enough time before the big splashy drops started to fall to aim the Polaroid SX-70 skyward (without soaking it's beautiful leather skin).

Peachy

Oh, it's been a heady couple of weeks here what with the exotic beach scenes and distant riverbanks captured on Polaroid (not by me, you will note).

Right here at home it is peach season. With orchards at either end of the road and fruit stands less than a mile in all directions, it's pretty damned good to be here.

They don't keep. They don't come out of a freezer in January looking like much. There's no jam making in my near future. And so, we shall eat. Until we cannot eat any more.

Of Sea and Sand

... vacation is wonderfull ..., a photo by Norbert H. on Flickr.

dive i n, a photo by oknoahok on Flickr.

5 days. 1,394 photographers. 3,879 photographs (and I looked at every single one).  

This week I'll share some of my favorites from a long list of remarkable images (on the off chance you didn't stay up 'til the wee hours every night last week surveying the postings for Polaroid Week 2011).

Polaroid Week 2011. Friday

What I learned from Polaroid Week;

Film is not meant to sit in your refrigerator,

Take pictures where you are (because you don't actually live in Paris),

Even when a single print costs nearly $4, shot. Just shoot (and don't do the math),

No matter how narrow your obsession, there are thousands of people out there with the same obsession,

And you can learn a lot from them.

Thank You! to everyone who dug deep for Polaroid Week 2011.
(can we do this more often?)

Polaroid Week 2011. Thursday

Our garlic harvest is in. The big guy spent last evening hanging it in the garage to cure. The smell is great in that hot, dry building right now. Earthy with just a hint of garlic.

And a garlic plant has the most beautiful texture. Papery with a fringe of roots. Needless to say, a bundle of plants ended up in front of the lens for Polaroid Week (and the morning light in my bedroom window deserved a second take).

Polaroid Week 2011. Wednesday

Polaroid Week. Day 3. (can you tell it's hot here and we're mostly by the pool most of the time?)

Amazing images are being snapped all over the world this week. Next week I'll post some of my favorites for you. Two per day. Day by day. Extending the pleasure of a week of collective creativity.

Polaroid Week 2011. Tuesday

Today was the perfect summer day.

An afternoon with my boy by the pool following a lazy morning.  Hot, yellow sunshine through the bedroom curtains and pj's until noon.

Captured with grace and elegance by Silver Shade instant film. When it's good, it's really good.

Cherry Red

Shooting The Impossible Project's new Polaroid films takes time.

Yes, it's "instant" film. But it asks you to wait.

My over-used digital camera shows me my photo before I even capture it. I can review it, and it looks.... exactly the same. This fuzzy little shot, however asked me to wait. Ten minutes shielded from the light while it developed. About six hours while it ripened. And about a week for it to mature.

I scanned it and sat on it for a couple of weeks. It hadn't really grown on me when I posted it to Flickr. Then people started to see it. And comment on it. And like it. And so did I.

It just took a little time.

No! Really?

Ok, you get by now that I love Polaroid. And, if you are a careful reader, you get that they don't call the makers of the "new" Polaroid film "The Impossible Project" for nothing (but I'm not complaining).

So, it was my birthday last week, and I bought myself a little gift. A beautiful, shiny, black plastic Fuji Instax Mini 50S. It ain't old. It ain't scratched. It don't even need reconditioning.

(You need this camera. Need.)

Because it makes these. Aren't they cute? (Not a word I use often.) The size of a credit card. The biggest thrill of all? They develop in the naked light of day. Before your eyes. It will make you smile. Smile big. From blank white to misty blue to color. Color. COLOR.

(no waiting - no filtering - no shielding from light - no warming - no standing on one foot while flapping an appendage .... you get the idea)

So, if every Japanese kid under the age of 24 has one, why shouldn't you?

Peas in a Pod

Back in March, the peas went in to the garden. It seemed impossibly cold and forbidding, but up they came as peas will do.

Last week (bigger peas than these) matured, and we had one little side dish of our own peas with a drizzle of sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds.

But, not before I got them under the lens of the old Polaroid camera (as you might have expected).

Boy, My Boy

Portraits scare me. And, so portraits I must make.

Getting this close to someone and letting them just be is tricky. Cameras are off-putting, unless you are five. And you've been captured by this particular photographer about 8,549 times. And you really like to make faces.

My portrait mojo is starting to cook, and I'm feeling a little braver about heading down the hill into the little village and getting some of those great faces on film. Instant film, of course.

Stay tuned.

Summer Time

With the Independence Day weekend approaching, we're doing just what we otta be doing.

Sleeping late. Diving into the pool before breakfast. Fighting the squirrels, chipmunks, robins, cardinals, deer and that *&%!# woodchuck for the mulberries. Eating them with vanilla ice cream. And generally enjoying summer, while the ivy grows a foot a week up the side of our little corner of heaven.

Good Humor

Lately, I've been hearing the ice cream man circulate the neighborhood in his big ol' panel van with the megaphone on top. American summer.

A few summers ago, it was the little Thai push cart with a dinging bell that called us out to the curb. Every day. Then again, summer is every day when you live in Thailand.

The ice cream man's cart brought us coconut milk ice cream. You could get yours in a cup or on a hamburger bun. With or without sweetened condensed milk poured over the top. hmmm. Make mine a cup with some of those dry roasted peanuts on top.

Man, I miss that little push cart, but Good Humor will have to do.