Summer on Film #4

The last days of summer are always sort of bittersweet. I don't miss the heat, but I do love the long days, wandering down alleys and cut-throughs to get to the water, listening to the sounds of chatter in backyards and in restaurants with open doors. And something about this summer in particular brought about the most amazing sunsets every night for the last half of the season. I don't pretend to understand weather patterns or atmospheric conditions; I have no idea what caused it. All I know is that we've been spoiled with brilliant pink and orange and lavender skies so stunning they've stopped me in my tracks nearly every night. And when I look back on this summer, so much of it will be tinged with pink. :)

Summer on Film #3

Walking down any particular block, you're likely to come across a mix of homes, from stately and ornate to simple ivy-covered brick. I love that about this place. I know we won't live here forever, and when we go, I'll probably miss taking walks the most...even though the lumpy and lopsided brick sidewalks have tried to kill me more than a few times. ;)

P.S. That house in the top photo is my favorite house in Old Town; look at that roof!

Project 365 - Week 10

You might have noticed there was no Project 365 post last week. I haven't been feeling too great, and I sort of put everything on hold. But I have a couple weeks' worth of photos that I hadn't posted yet, and I finally got around to editing some today. I'm hoping I'll feel better soon and can pick it back up again. I miss it.

Day 64 - Trying to get in the habit of taking breaks every now and then and being mindful, which is sort of the whole point of this project. I have a tendency to spend too much time in my mind, if you know what I mean.

Day 65 - Looking up.

Day 66 - Wrapped up a present for my nephew. Apparently, he loved it so much he hid it from his younger brother because he was afraid he might have to share it. :)

Day 67 - Trying to cool off by a fountain on a super hot day.

Day 68 - I love that plant in the center; it reminds me of Sideshow Bob's hair. :)

Day 69 - Finding little pockets of nature here and there between sidewalks.

Day 70 - We walked out on a dock to watch the sunset from Daingerfield Island on a sleepy Sunday evening. One day I'd like to live on the water and walk out on my own dock.

Hope everyone is having a good week! xoxo

Summer on Film #2

I love the unpredictability of film so much, the fact that a strange color cast can appear on one photo and not the next, even though they were taken with the same camera settings and in the same location. It might have something to do with the fact that all my manual cameras are old and were bought secondhand. Or perhaps someone who's more knowledgeable about the inner workings of film cameras and the developing process could explain it away with technical jargon. But I prefer to think it's all alchemy and light and maybe a little pixie dust sprinkled in the mix too.

I can remember being a small child, completely amazed and not really being able to wrap my brain around the idea that cameras could capture a moment in time and hold it forever. It was pure magic to me then, and it still is. Don't get me wrong, I love digital photography too, mostly for the immediacy and convenience of it. And on a related note, the internet wouldn't really exist as we know it without digital photography, and I'm definitely team internet, so there's that. But I never really stopped thinking of film cameras with the same wonder and excitement I had as a child, so they just feel more special to me.

I guess I'm just feeling a little sentimental about it lately because I keep seeing blurbs about this film or that film being discontinued, and I know at some point, they will probably stop producing film altogether. But I hope it's not for a long, long time.

Project 365 - Week 9

Hi, guys! I hurt my finger, and it's a little hard to type, so I'll keep the captions brief this week.

Day 57 - Early morning light when the day was full of promise.

Day 58 - An afternoon at Jones Point. Something about that tree in front of that lighthouse pulls at my heartstrings every time.

Day 59 - Jam and bread for breakfast.

Day 60 - Peter thought I should snap this photo. It looks like the entrance to an enchanted forest or something, but it's really just a cut-through next to a park. It makes me wonder what Alexandria looked like before it was developed. A few years ago, archaeologists found a spearhead in a cemetery nearby that's 13,000 years old! It's both hard, and somehow not hard at all, to imagine people walking and hunting on this land 13,000 years ago.

Day 61 - I don't think I've ever shared this little gallery wall in the living room before. I bought all of these pieces when we were living in different apartments, and I didn't hang them all together until we moved into this house. But at this point, I feel like they belong together, all these little creatures, and it will be weird to split them up when we move.

Day 62 - Morning coffee.

Day 63 - Pink skies.

Summer on Film

I'm still doing my 365 project, but I have some film photos taken randomly here and there that are their own thing, so I thought I'd do a little series of posts...just a few pics at a time.

Taken on my Pentax in one of my favorite gardens (Dumbarton Oaks). There are a few places here so lovely in summer that they somehow offset the stifling heat and humidity, and this is one of them. :)

Project 365 - Week 8

This week was really busy, and I didn't have a lot of time during daylight hours to photograph anything, so most of these photos were taken either early in the morning or late in the evening. That's not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you don't mind photos of my breakfast. :)

Day 50 - Waffles are probably my favorite go-to breakfast food when I'm in a rush. (Side note: has anyone watched Stranger Things? No spoilers...but that scene when Eleven walks out of the supermarket carrying all those boxes of waffles, I was like SAME...though to be accurate I would be carrying TJ's waffles, and it would be a miracle if there were even that many boxes left in the case as our store is always a war zone, but I'm getting off-topic. Anyway, watch Stranger Things if you haven't already.)

Day 51 - Making my to-do list on my "DO or DIE" notepad. Isn't it cute? (It's by Rifle Paper, if anyone's curious...I have way too many of their products.)

Day 52 - In the evening, we stopped by the rose garden for a little while. I like to come here because it reminds me of my grandparents, who grew beautiful roses in their garden. After they passed away and the house was sold, my dad made rose cuttings for each of us and has been nursing them at his house until the time comes when we can transplant them. I hope one day, when we're more settled, to transplant my roses from Nana and have a garden that does them justice. :)

Day 53 - Watching the sun sink and fade from my cozy spot on the couch.

Day 54 - We spontaneously decided to drive out to the nearest Krispy Kreme for late night doughnuts, and it was the best decision ever.

Day 55 - My friend Marieken emailed me one day to let me know she saw one of my pink hedgehog brooches in an old issue of Flow Magazine. I was like "No way! I love Flow!" Marieken was kind enough to email me a scan the next day and then mailed the actual page too! (And I learned a Dutch word; egeltjes means "hedgehogs.") :)

Day 56 - Marieken also sent a bunch of beautiful prints and papers as well as a tiny notebook she made! Peter was laughing at me as I went through each thing in the package because I think I was squealing and saying "Oh my God!" a lot. I love everything she sent so much that I had to photograph it all the next day. And she also sent some recipes for quiche that I can't wait to try out as well. So needless to say, I'm working on a "thank you" package to send to her that I hope will be half as awesome. :)

Happy weekend, guys! As soon as I hit publish, I'm heading to the kitchen to bake some cookies and then finish a movie Peter and I started earlier. He's been very patient waiting for me to finish this post, and by patient, I mean napping. Perfect Friday night if you ask me. xoxo