Polaroids, new baby survival skills

Well, awesome Paul has found a way of making his old (old, old) Polaroid camera work again. I love how iconic and vintage the pictures look, as if viewed through decades. They are already nostalgic to me because the last time I saw Polaroids was when I was little, so the flaws of the images look to me like the essence of childhood.
Life with a baby; how does one do it? I met a family at the beach with nine children. I want to know: what are their secrets? They didn't look like they were at their wits' ends. They seemed happy and un-desperate, but didn't share the magic beans with me.

Willem is the sweetest baby. He is a daisy, a lamb, a child already. I delight in him, and cherish holding and caring for him. But I can't put him down! He sleeps wonderfully throughout the day, but wakes up in bare minutes if I put him down. He loves to sleep wrapped on to me with cloth, but I can't chop vegetables that way, knead bread, clean the bathroom, do anything that requires two hands in front of me.

When he does get into a deep sleep, I find myself paralyzed with all the things I could be doing! Beginning tasks is getting harder, as the interruptions are constant!
I've done this before--former me, how did you do it? Oh yeah, I cried a lot.

Perlieu in June

We went to our beloved spot in Dunn County again last month. It had been over a year since we'd last been there. I'd say that it was one of the most relaxing cabin trips yet. We even had some friends visit us.

Here's a set of pictures from the trip, including digital and film photos.

Post Seattle Trip

I got back from Seattle a while ago. It was a great to see Pat and Angela, and go to a bunch of coffee shops. I was reminded how small the coffee world is and how many connections there are between people I know. I was reminded about the hype and the ego. I was reminded that there are some really good tasting coffees out there, and there are some mediocre coffees with fancy labels.

I love that now when I talk with Pat, I can picture his life and the scenes from one of his average days.

The trip was also about photography. I hadn't intended it to be, but bringing along my favorite Nikon system was bound to do something. Walking into Jim's Cameras to get my FE2 fixed did something too. I was surrounded by old cameras. I wanted to look at so many of them that I think Jim got tired of me. Oh well.

I got home, started developing film again, and bought a Canon CanoScan 8800F scanner. I'm having a lot of fun scanning my hand-processed negatives. It's great because I can use my 35mm cameras for everyday photography and have a way to use the photos digitally, and then hand print the ones I really like.

So, my Seattle & Portland Set on Flickr is now complete with both digital and film pictures taken during the trip. I also have a set just of film scans.

If you run into me on the street or in a coffee shop soon, chances are I'll have an SLR or a rangefinder on my person.

Beginning of Seattle Trip

This is my first morning of my trip to Seattle and Portland. I'm visiting my friend Pat and going on an espresso pilgrimage. You can follow my adventures on twitter, and see photos on flickr. (More will appear daily.) I'll be taking real film photography while I'm out here too, so those shots will take a while to make an appearance. My Nikon FE2 seems to have a possible issue with a light seal, but I've already found a place in Seattle I can have it looked at. I'll let you know how it goes.

Darkroom

It waits
in the basement.
Calling me,
to come
lose myself in the safelight.

Now on Flickr

Sometimes there are pictures I would like to share, but not write a whole lot about.  Thus I've saved up a bunch of fun pictures that I never blogged.  Instead of having them forever asleep on my hard drive, I started a flickr account.  You can see new and old pictures whenever you like.  Follow the photostream far back enough and you can see past trips and previously unreleased construction photos.  Clicking on Ezra's latte above will work, as will the little widget that will remain on the sidebar.

Enjoy.

Welcome to Gibbie's 5th Birthday

Gibbie didn't land on a single theme for his birthday party this year. He ended up inviting a handful of friends over for a little Robin Hood Oo-de-lally sing along and St. George and the Dragon reenactment. I didn't manage to photograph all of the various characters, but here are a few:
Here's Robin Hood and Maid Marian.
Ezra was the Sheriff of Nottingham.
I think this is a wood fairy.

At Gibbie's request, we all had personal apple pie "cupcakes."

As a side note, I loaded-up my old Nikon FE2 35mm SLR for the event. I haven't used one of my film cameras since Ezra was a newborn (over 3 years). It still feels much more natural to me than the digital Nikon I use all the time. We'll see how long it takes for me to finish the 36 frames of HP5 and get the negatives developed. I'll keep you posted. Speaking of keeping you posted, I'm on Twitter. I don't know how long that will last... but as long as it is I'll keep a little twitter widget on The Full Cup sidebar so you can follow along... if you want to.

Happy birthday Gib.

Long Live Black and White

Back when I used a real camera, I shot black and white exclusively. This wasn't just because I could develop it myself. I've done color developing at home before, but it's not as fun or easily flexible. I love the look of a hand-crafted black and white print.

I hope to get back into the darkroom someday, but have been only shooting digital for now. I've not thought much of black and white in the context of digital photography. My camera doesn't have a black and white mode and more than that, the concept of "digital black and white" seems almost sacrilegious to my old safelight sensibilities.

I was inspired, however, after looking at the first few photos on K-Saki's flickr page. They're beautiful black and whites, and completely digital. Even the "film grain" effect is purely from the low light exposure mode.

I decided to try a little myself and have been pleased with the results. I little contrast tweaking with gimp and I think Mary looks much better in black and white. Specifically, the distracting background is much tamed and I love the dark tones of her shirt.

I can almost smell the Dektol. Maybe doing a little digital black and white will spur me on to start doing the real thing again.

Downtown Treasure

I love downtown St. Paul. I got to know it when I worked at the big public library there several years ago. The skyway system is such a wonderful mixture of new, old, vacant, and glorious.

Walking through one building in a abandoned restaurant exterior you look up and see this:

Anyone know what building this is?

Menomonie Weekend

We just spent a wonderful weekend both in my home town of Menomonie and at the Perlieu land. We got to see both of my parents, go to my 10 year high school reunion, and relax at the cabin. Probably the highlight was a stretch of about nine hours on Saturday that Libby and I got to be around Menomonie without the boys. It turs out that, given the chance, we still really enjoy hanging out together!

Here's a small album of photos from the trip. They're not regular family vacation photos, since some are things we found interesting (signs, Menomonie's green algae-rich water, graphitti) as well as the normal cute kid shots. As always, I recommend the slide show option for viewing them.

Conservatory Photos

Libby's been excited for me to post the some pictures I took while we were at the conservatory last week. I like this one because of how Ezra put his foot on Mama's.

I find the interplay of the natural and unnatural at the Conservatory visually interesting.

Conservatory and Photography

We went to the conservatory at Como park in St. Paul. It's a great "outdoor" indoor place to go on a winter day - full of light, warmth and humidity. As we walked in we were met by several young men with sketchbooks. An art class was having a field trip. The conservatory is quite the usual spot for artists and photographers. I have to admit that I've displayed a couple of photos I've taken there myself. After having sold some prints recently, I've felt encouraged to do real photography again. To me real photography involves film and chemistry and has at least as much to do with the forming of the print in the darkroom as it does snapping the shutter. I understand that some do digital as art; I'm just not one of them! I don't know and enjoy the digital process like I know and enjoy the chemical process. I mentioned in a post last spring that I think of digital photography as a kind of sketching. I can compose the image and capture it without going through the finishing process of development and printing that would make it a final print. It's a practice in seeing, more than anything.

The above is a small example. It's a kind of photography that I see in a lot in coffee shops, am very tempted by, but mostly avoid. The photographer's eye is attracted to beauty. Sometimes that beauty comes in the form of someone else's art and it's very tempting to photograph that art and make it into your own art. In a way there's nothing wrong with that. The photographed art is composed and executed in a way that is unique to the photographer and becomes it's own thing. It still feels like kind of a cop out to me, though. I don't think I would display something like this picture, but it was fun to "sketch."

These fish were the boy's favorite feature of the conservatory this time around. I had a hard time keeping Ezra from licking the rocks. They must have tasted good. Salty, maybe?

My Walk Home

I've been walking home a lot lately. For me, getting exercise just doesn't work for its own sake. It has to also serve some other purpose, like transportation. I could wax gross about the practicality and economy of walking, but really I do it because I like it. Today I was thankful for the rubber overshoes Libby got us at Fleet Farm last weekend. It was slushy!
I used to bike a lot, and probably will again when I get my bike overhauled someday. Still, there are many things that I don't notice about my surroundings even at a bike's pace that are an enjoyable part of the walk. This great doorknob, for instance, I would have never noticed while biking. It's kind of like how I don't often wear headphones in public. I want to be aware of what's around me. While walking I'm most aware.

The walk can be a great prayer time, too. I think I'm best able to be present with someone while having some minor task or habit to do. Drinking a cup of coffee works well while talking with Libby or another friend. Walking works while talking with God. Like I said, noticing things is a big part of the walk. Here's where my new little digital camera comes in handy. Today I realized that it can be my form of sketching. For any kind of artful photography I'd hang on a wall I'm still a big believer in traditional film photography and hand printing in the darkroom. What's digital good for in my mind? Every day photo-doodles.

I've always chuckled at "fine art" pictures of architecture and sculpture, etc. What makes it a good photo is the painstaking work of the architect or sculptor, not the photographer. Sure, you've got to compose the image well, but it still seems like a cop out to me. Nevertheless, here's a nice picture of a wooden sculpture I found on my way home.Sometimes I see stuff that's just weird. This abandoned origami in the snow is kind of visually odd. It's not the weirdest by far, but interesting for today.

The last picture is the view from the footbridge over I-94 on Mackubin Street. It can be exhilarating walking over the flowing river of traffic. It makes this small town boy feel very urban.
Just a couple more blocks after the freeway and I'm home.