California Love

I've had a lot of mixed feelings the last few weeks.  So take a look at these California love based pictures.  On film.  As they should be.  Courtesy of my Olympus OM-2n.

Multnomah Falls

Waterfalls really fascinate me. &nmsp;There is so much water flowing so fast, practically infinitely. &nmsp;I don’t think I had ever had the chance to see huge waterfalls before going to Portland. &nmsp;And while in Portland, I got to see a few. &nmsp;The largest was Multnomah Falls, which also happens to be the highest in Oregon. &nmsp;It was pretty spectacular. &nmsp;Here it is via my Olympus OM-2n and Holga.










I got pictures of the others we saw too, so stay tuned.

Pizza at the Beach

I noticed today that I’ve only posted here once this whole month.  That’s a problem, especially if you never visit my flickr page.  I need to do a better job of spreading the wealth between flickr and here.  

This is one more from Venice Beach.  There are so many shops along the boardwalk.  If you want some sunglasses, Venice Beach is the place to go.



This isn't the pizza served there, but is the pizza served at a place at Huntington Beach.  It was good.



Both film.  Both Olympus OM-2n.

Zzyzx Road

Zzyzx Road is an interestingly named road in southern California, in between LA and Las Vegas.  I probably wouldn’t have ever gone down this road if it also hadn’t been the title of a great Stone Sour song.  I also probably wouldn’t have ever watched the low budget horror movie just called Zzyzx if I hadn’t gone down Zzyzx Road.

Apparently the word Zzyzx was coined by some guy who owned a “mineral springs and health spa” at the end of Zzyzx Road.  He claimed it was the last word in the English language.  No word whether he thought it was physically the last word possible if it were listed in a dictionary or the last word possible to coin as he believed all other combinations of letters had been used.  He was later arrested by Federal Marshals (probably Waco style) for misusing the land (which was federal land) and for violating food and drug laws.  The buildings he built are still there, but now the land is used as a Desert Studies Center.

Let me take a minute to tell you about the movie Zzyzx.  I want to make it perfectly clear that I am a fan of bad horror movies.  Unfortunately Zzyzx Road was worse than bad; it was terribly awful.  If I may quote Futurama, this movie was “a crummy world of plot holes and spelling errors.”  Now I can’t be sure about the spelling errors, but I can only assume based on the quality of the movie that there were a good few.  I won’t give away much about the real plot of the movie by asking, but what in the hell is this Mexican family doing digging up human bones in the desert?  Not even deep in the desert, but off the side of Zzyzx Road after they stopped for some reason.  They find human bones and their instinct is not to call the police like a normal person, but to dig them up with the care of Alan Grant digging up a Velociraptor?  What?  Why?  This is just one of many confusing and nonsensical aspects of this movie.  Don’t watch it; unless you are in the mood for a truly awful movie with negligible amounts of entertainment.

Oh, maybe I should talk a little about photos?  Just a little though.  This will be part one of Zzyzx Road.  These are all film shots taken with my Holga on AGFACHROME RSXII 200 slide film and cross processed for some sweet looking and appropriately weridening effects.  Part two will be digital pictures.  I stopped off at this road twice; once on the way to the Mojave with a friend, and once on the way to the Hoover Dam.  These are all from the Hoover Dam trip.  Henjoy.

holga.8

Are you guys enjoying my film? Aside from my 365 project it’s the majority of what I’ve been shooting lately. I still have a backlog of digital to share, but I just haven’t gotten around to those yet.

This is another Holga picture, as the name would indicate. I feel like my blog posts, aside from the photos, has been boring lately. Not much funny. I’ll work on that. It stems from me not preparing posts in advance. I need to step it up. But for now, there’s just this Holga.

The Ocean

Geez I love the ocean. This is one of my favorite Holga pictures I’ve taken. Something about it works well for me. I don’t think the ocean will ever get old to me. I’d live on a yacht in the ocean if I had the means. I’d spend my days puttering up and down the coast; docking at other cities and spending some time sightseeing. West coast, east coast, Mediterranean Sea. Any would be right for me.

Chicken!

Mmmm, I love chicken.  I can’t eat enough of it. It’s a great source of protein, low in fat, no unnecessary carbs; just a quality food item.  Let me take a minute to confess something to you.  I pretty much eat chicken at least once a day.  Can you imagine how many chickens I’ve eaten?  By the time I’m done eating chicken, I’ll have singlehandedly made a dent in the ever growing chicken population.  And grilled chicken is clearly the best kind of chicken.  And grilled chicken on a pesto pizza?  Come on.

But you know what I don’t like?  The way most chicken is raised.  All cooped up in these barns?  Wallowing in their own filth and other dead chickens?  Disgusting.  Free range chicken is the way to go.  Chickens with names.  Do they name chickens?  I don’t know, but its beside the point.  The point is, chickens shouldn’t be raised all crammed in a barn like sardines in a can.  If I wanted to eat some meat all packed together, I’d eat some sardines from a can.  Or maybe a hamburger; that’s a bunch of cows pressed together.  But only if they’re grass fed cows.  And that’s assuming I can get a hold of some grass fed beef.  But if I could do that, I’d just eat a steak.

Symmetry

I love symmetry.  When the left side of something looks like the right side of something, I’m happy.  I don’t go to the extent of being obsessive about it and seek things that are symmetrical, but when I happen upon something that fits this, I enjoy it.  Like this scene.  This was so cool I had to get it on film.  Fuji Pro 160S film to be exact.

Asymmetry has its benefits too, don’t get me wrong.  But this is a post all about symmetry.  The most attractive people have symmetrical faces.  Classic architecture produced symmetrical buildings.  Symmetry is beauty.

Free Parking

I didn’t eat here, but this sign has two things I enjoy.  Indian cuisine and free parking.  Free parking isn’t all that easy to find in Pasadena sometimes.  For the sake of ease though, I’ll pay a few bucks to park in a garage.  It isn’t all that expensive.  Not compared to other places in the LA area.  They’re talking about installing new street meters that are electronic and take credit cards.  This is the good news.  The bad news is that these newfangled electronic dealies will also inflate their prices based on peak parking times throughout the day.  Jherks.

Birthday Day!

Happy Birthday to my dad!  If you know him, wish him one too.  If you don’t know him, wish him one anyway.  Just don’t be creepy about it.  Weirdos..

This is more film.  Fuji Pro 160S.  Loving this stuff.

Halves on a Pie?

There’s something I really love about this picture.  I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s there.  It’s also my first 35mm film photo!  My dad gave me his classic Olympus OM-2n, which is supposed to be a pretty great camera.  So far, I agree.  My first roll was Fuji Pro 160S.  I really enjoy most of the shots I got on this roll.  I think I’m going to be shooting quite a bit more film in the near future.

Ivy Wall

Yet another Holga picture I enjoyed.  I took this one as insurance because I knew I had double exposed the other wall of ivy.  I’m glad I did because I think this turned out pretty nicely.  It also looks good in black and white; too bad I shot it in color.  Maybe someday I’ll share the converted version.  For now, here it is in color, as nature intended.



Also, don't forget to check out my 365 project on Flickr. I think YESTERDAY'S picture is pretty sweet!

Accidental Art

One interesting feature of film cameras is their ability to make cool double exposures with absolutely no effort on the part of the photographer.  Just take a picture, and then take another picture.  In fact, it takes more effort to not make a double exposure than to take one.  With that being said, let’s just pretend that I did this on purpose, and didn’t forget to advance the film in my camera.  I created art!

Sure, you could do this in photoshop, but who wants to do that?  Lame.  I don't edit film pictures; it's policy.

I took this/these (and the first Holga picture I shared) at the Gamble House in Pasadena.  It’s a kind of house that is famous for its architecture, kind of like a house built by Frank Lloyd Wright.  I later learned that it was Doc Brown’s house in Back to the Future.  Pretty cool.

HOLGA!!

Now this is a momentous occasion.  My first real life FILM photograph!  Not only film, but medium format film!  How cool!

Many thanks to my friend Hannah, who (strongly would be an understatement) pushed my decision to try it out.  I’m so glad I did!  I bought a Holga, which is a “toy” camera known for interesting results based on its cheap build quality.  Interesting = art, so here we go folks.  I have a feeling this is the start of something.  That something being me shooting a ton of film and going way overboard.  I don’t generally like doing things half way, so Hasselblad here I come!  (… if I like film as much as I feel I will).  Also expect me to become a film camera snob.  “Pfft, you still shoot digital?” you’ll hear me say.  OK, maybe that's just a tiny bit too far.  Anyway, enjoy my FILM photos.  I know I do.