Month: November 2015

Running Playlist O – S

Health and Fitness
  1. Oblivion. Grimes.
  2. Oh L’Amour. Erasure
  3. Oh My God. Ida Maria
  4. Om Mangalam. Anu Malik
  5. On Top Of The World. Imagine Dragons.
  6. Our Trip. The Thermals.(this one is great if you’re feeling angtsy)
  7. Party Like A Rock Star. Shop Boyz
  8. Party Rock Anthem. LMAFAO
  9. Pass The Mic. Beastie Boys.
  10. People Got a Lot Of Nerve. Neko Case.
  11. A Pillar Of Salt. The Thermals.
  12. Pumped Up Kicks. Foster The People.
  13. Ranking Full Stop. The English Beat
  14. Red Eyed Troll. The Muffs.
  15. Rock It For Me. Caravan Palace.
  16. Romance. Wild Flag.
  17. Safari Disco Club. Yelle
  18. Safe and Sound. Capital Cities.
  19. Salty Dog. Flogging Molly.
  20. Shake It Off. Taylor Swift.

Other parts of the list:

 

“Once there was a young warrior. Her teacher told her that she had to do battle with fear. She didn’t want to do that. It seemed too aggressive; it was scary; it seemed unfriendly. But the teacher said she had to do it and gave her the instructions for the battle. The day arrived. The student warrior stood on one side, and fear stood on the other. The warrior was feeling very small, and fear was looking big and wrathful. They both had their weapons. The young warrior roused herself and went toward fear, prostrated three times, and asked, “May I have permission to go into battle with you?” Fear said, “Thank you for showing me so much respect that you ask permission.” Then the young warrior said, “How can I defeat you?” Fear replied, “My weapons are that I talk fast, and I get very close to your face. Then you get completely unnerved, and you do whatever I say. If you don’t do what I tell you, I have no power. You can listen to me, and you can have respect for me. You can even be convinced by me. But if you don’t do what I say, I have no power.” In that way, the student warrior learned how to defeat fear. ”
― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times

This day 6 years ago I faced the scariest, most heart-breaking thing I have ever experienced in my life. I sat at the bedside of my step-father as he died. It was frightening to watch him leave us forever. It was frightening to be face to face with death in such a way. But on the other hand, it was also the most profound and life changing moment of my life, too. I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.

While the time between grief stretches out a bit longer these days, it still hurts when I think about it.

I don’t ever want it to ever stop hurting.

the battle with fear

Life

Holga Love – “A game of Fetch in the Sandy River”

Photography

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I think that since the Holga Factory is closing its doors it’s a given that my photoblog posts should feature images I’ve taken with a Holga. So from now until the end of the year I’ll post some of my favorites from the archives.

Here is one I took while hiking with friends at the Sandy River Delta about 3 years ago. It is one of my favorites. I’ve even made darkroom prints of it. There are a lot of shots from that roll that I really like. You can see more Holga shots from that day on this blog post.

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Geeky Bits

Camera: Holga 120N
Film: Kodak TMax 400

Thankful for Holga

Photography, Thoughts and Opinions

I learned yesterday that Holga is closing their doors. I thought that today I would post my first shots made with my Holga and talk about what it means to me.

It was a beautiful, sunny, December day on 2011. I decided to visit Blue Moon Camera And Machine to buy a Holga. I’d done a lot of research and decided that this was the first film camera I wanted to play with. I’d waffled on this decision for months. For some reason I was afraid to take the plunge. The siren song of film was calling me and I couldn’t deny it, but it took me a long time to follow. The day I bought my Holga was also my first visit to Blue Moon. It would be the first of many visits!

The person who sold me the Holga was the proprietor of Blue Moon himself, Jake Shivery. He helped me choose film and showed me how to load it and gave me advice on how to use it. I loaded it up with some Fuji Pro 400h and went out into the beautiful Portland December day and shot this photo

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I went on to shoot a roll of Black and White film over Christmas. And many more rolls after that.

In fact, little did I know that my purchase of this camera would be the start of something big. The purchase of this camera opened me up to a whole wonderful world. If it wasn’t for this black hunk of plastic I wouldn’t be friends with all of these amazing, kind, and wonderful people all over the world. When I took the step to answer the siren call of film photography it changed my life. I am so glad I listened.

It is Thanksgiving today in America. I have a lot of things to be grateful for. But my little Holga is making me feel such gratitude for the film photography community, and the pinhole photography community. My life is so very much enriched because of all of you. Thank you.

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See the first shots from my Holga in this post.
See the second roll of film through my Holga in this post (I get a little bit philosophical).
See the the rest of my Holga shots here.