Month: April 2013

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day!

Photography

Did you know that yesterday was Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day? It was! I didn’t know such a day existed until a few weeks ago a Twitter friend told me about it. I was super stoked to have already made a pinhole camera from a kit and tested it out. I talked my husband into the fun as well. We drove up to Zig Zag falls and took photos together. I think I may have won Raf over to the Cult of Film Photography. He totally gets my obsession now. Here are some of my favorites from yesterday!

Rafael’s shot of me
My shot: snowy trail
Raf’s shot of the forest
Raf’s shot of a picnic table
My shot of birch trees and the river
My shot of Zig Zag Falls
My shot of the Zig Zag river

It’s been fun to see pinhole photos from around the world! I love that film photography has brought all of these people together internationally. It’s a beautiful thing!

Wayback Wednesday

Life

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Saturday was my Uncle Will’s funeral in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Raf and I made the long drive to Spokane for the weekend. it was really good to see my family. We had a really great visit on Friday night when Raf and I finally arrived. The service was really nice, as was the reception afterward (as they all usually are. Have you ever said you’ve been to a bad funeral and reception?). At the reception I had a conversation with my mom’s friend about my cousin, Eddie. Eddie is the guy you see in the photo above. Whenever I think about Eddie think about this photo. I didn’t know him at all. Met him maybe twice in my life. He was a lot older than me. But I always thought he was a handsome guy.

I am not sure about the details  but, if I am recalling the conversation, he had been reunited with my uncle. He disassociated himself with his family for a long time (I believe, I could be getting my facts wrong) but he had been located. I thought, “Oh cool. maybe I will get to meet him again.”

Well, that will never happen because he died that very evening in the hospital. Apparently he was in the hospital.

Again, I didn’t know him so this loss doesn’t hurt like the loss of my Uncle Will. But, still, it is a blow to my family. It’s sad because he was so young and his death could have been prevented, I think. But there is nothing that can be done about that now. I only bring it up because it makes me think about myself and  my habits and it makes me wonder if I should be taking better care of myself.

Rest in peace, Eddie. We’ll meet again someday.

Paris In Black And White

Photography, Travel and Other Adventures

When I visited Paris in September I decided to bring four rolls of Kodak Tri-x with me – one roll for each day. I am not sure what made me decide to bring black and white film of all things, but I am really glad I did.

I knew I was going to take my darkroom class eventually and in the back of my mind I decided that I wanted to develop this film myself. So I stuck it my desk drawer until this past March. It was a delight to develop this film after having visited several months ago. It was fun to relive the memories of being there! I’ve also been printing many of the prints which has also been fun. The last time I was in the darkroom the other person in there was also printing something from when he visited Paris. It was really cool to compare stories.

Lonely statue in a garden at the Louvre
Bikes and Skateboarders at the Musee D’Orsay
Pyramids at the Louvre
Prayers at Notre Dame
A statue inside the Louvre

Friday Random 10 – National Poetry Month edition

Random

It’s Friday and you know what that means. Friday Random 10! With poetry on top! I don’t know about you, but I could use a little fun after this week of disturbing news.

I’ve got my coffee. I’m ready. Let’s do this thing!

1. Make Yourself – Incubus.
I do like these guys very much. They’ve had a couple of duds (but I have to admit that I like the duds as well). We are off to a good start.

2. Waiting in Vain – Bob Marley.
Good old Bob Marley. I heart him. I have his portrait hanging on the wall in my living room. My little brother drew it. It’s actually pretty rad. (brother’s got mad drawing skillz.)

3. Bullet with Butterfly Wings – Smashing Pumpkins
“Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage.”

4. Take Me Over – Cut Copy
Fun album. Great song!

5. An Ear For Baby – The Thermals
Yeah! The Thermals! My favorite band. This whole album if full of all sorts of wonderful.

6. All Apologies – Nirvana
This is shaping up to be a very good FR10.

7. Send Him Away – Franz Ferdinand
Another good song. Nice!

8. Rebel Rebel – David Bowie
Not much to say about David Bowie. He kind of speaks for himself.

9. Someday You Will Be Loved – Death Cab For Cutie
Didn’t this song come up a couple of weeks ago? hm.

10. Long Time – Cake
I think this is the only Cake song that I hate.

ok. now for the poem. Let’s see what we’ve got here….

If I hadn’t made me, I would’ve been made somehow
I don’t wanna wait in vain for your love
The world is a vampire, sent to drain
Do you hear that voice inside your head
Pull out your dead roots
What else should I be?
I can’t seem to feel the envy
You’ve got your mother in a whirl
I once knew a girl
It’s been a long time.

 

Wow. This one actually kind of works! Cool!

Happy Friday!

Thoughts on the Boston Marathon bombing

Thoughts and Opinions

Bill Iffrig gets back up and finishes the race. Photo by John Tlumaki

I was crushed yesterday when I heard the news about the bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. As a runner I couldn’t not empathize with the people there, running the race. The Boston Marathon is the ultimate goal for people like me. People work their entire lives to get there and to have their dreams crushed (Or, more importantly, their life lost or limb lost) is horrifying and terrible. I cried when I heard about people losing limbs. Everytime I run I am so incredibly grateful for my legs. I thank my legs. I don’t know what I would do without them because running is that important to me. I know that every runner feels this this way. My heart breaks for those that were injured.

My husband is also a runner and we talked a lot about this tragedy yesterday. We wondered why a terrorist would choose a the Boston Marathon to terrorize people. In many ways it makes sense. The finish line of the Boston Marathon represents great personal accomplishment. The person who did this wants to say that our personal accomplishments don’t matter because, look! We have bombs and can kill you or blow your limbs off. Your great feat of running 26 miles means nothing because I have explosives.

However, this terrorist has it all wrong. Runners are a persistent group.Running is not easy. If you choose to run you are entering a path of self-discovery. You will find that you are not only being challenged physically, but you are also being challenged mentally. Those who can run 26 miles are tough, as well as persistent.

Terrorism is not going to cancel out the great achievement they have earned.

Personally, it doesn’t scare me. If anything it makes me want to run the Boston Marathon one day, if I can even qualify.

This photo represents this tenacity very well. This is a photo of Bill Iffrig who was yards away from the finish line when the bomb went off. The blast caused him to fall to the ground. You know what he did? He got back up and he made it to the finish line. He said, “I ended up second in my division. After you’ve run 26 miles you’re not going to stop there.”

Nope. You aren’t.