One for the weekend

LC-Wide (Fuji Superia 200 film)

Oh, it's the weekend!

While late autumn is settling in with cool temperatures here in Melbourne, I can see & read about all my northern hemisphere friends welcoming in the days of spring... I'm trying not be be jealous & embrace jackets & tights. I've been enjoying the last couple of warm days in Melbourne at friend's birthday picnics in the park & slowly loading higher & higher ISO film into my cameras.

Tomorrow is World Pinhole Day... so this weekend I'm going out to shoot my very first pinhole photographs with my Diana F+ (in pinhole mode of course!). I'm throwing up between using black & white film, 400 or 100 colour negative... hmmm.

Are you shooting pinhole this weekend? What are your plans for the weekend?

x Mel

Melbourne Finders Keepers Markets

LC-Wide (Fuji Superia 200 film)

Last Friday & Saturday I had an exciting opportunity to help out the on the lovely Lomography Australia/NZ Finders Keepers Market stall... fun times! I spent pretty much the entirety of Friday night & Saturday talking about cameras & film.... I ended up a little voice-hoarse, but very happy to share the Lomography love in Melbourne.

Did you go to the Melbourne Finders Keepers Market? What did you find & keep?

x Mel

P.S. You can now find milk&miel on Facebook!

Reaching Out

LC-A (Agfa Precisa 100 shot at 50 ISO x-pro )

Sometimes you need to know when to reach out. You need to know when enough is enough. You need to let your mind focus on what makes you happy. You need to find your little happy place amongst all of the rush of daily life.

Sometimes it's the little pleasures. A good cup of coffee. A new pair of shoes. A phone call from a friend.

Other times it's just knowing that others are close by when you need them. Distance can often not only be a physical power, but an emotional one. So today, let someone know you like them, buy a friend a cup of coffee or tell them how pretty they look, offer a hug to a colleague, tell your boss how much you appreciate them or call your Mum & tell her you miss her. It's those little things that make the big things in life even more special & powerful.

We need to remember, everyday, that sometimes you just may need to ask someone - "Are you ok?".

xx Mel

Oh, LC-Wide!

LC-Wide (Kodak BW400CN)

Forgive me Visa, Forgive me MasterCard - for I have sinned! I promised myself that I wouldn't buy any new cameras this year & I did very well at this, until a couple of weeks ago, when I caved & purchased the Lomography LC-Wide. (Trust me, now there will be no new cameras for a very... long... time!)

I always have a few nervous rolls of film when I start with a new camera, it can take a couple of rolls to really feel the camera's mojo & by the time I shot my 2nd roll of film in my new LC-Wide... I can confirm that it's love!

I love my LC-A, but I must say that the LC-W is doing it's best to win a place in my heart. The wide lens is... W I D E & I was a little scared off in the beginning about having to get so very close to my subjects when shooting, but to be honest I am really liking some of these 'people from a distance" shots... something about the wide lens works so very well with the little lane ways of Melbourne.

Getting used to only 2 distance settings after using a LC-A for such a long time has been interesting & even though I've not used the square frame, half frame or MX options yet, I can't wait to really see what this camera can do.

In other Lomography news, the Australia/NZ Lomography crew are setting up a Lomography stall at the Melbourne Finders Keepers Markets on April 20th & 21st, so if you're in the fair city of Melbourne next weekend come along & have a look & play with all the cool Lomography cameras & gear. (You may even see me hanging around, so come say Hi!)

x Mel

Instant Views on Melbourne

Fuji Instax Mini (photo frames cropped)

I've been lucky enough to go on a couple of amazing photo walks of Melbourne over the past few weeks, firstly I went on a Melbourne Silver Mine Inc. photo walk run by Dave of Melbourne by Foot and secondly, just this past weekend I joined the Melbourne Polaroid Easter photo meet.  

I'm loving my Fuji Instax right now & am only just discovering how versatile it can be. I've also begun digitally cropping the frames off my Instax photos, I love how it gives more focus on the photograph itself.

On another note, one thing in life that isn't instant like polaroids is a new organ when one of yours doesn't work anymore. The lovely Elle's little sister is in search of a new little heart due to chronic heart failure, she has put a call out for people to register as a donor, so you can help save another person's life. You can see her post here with all the info about organ donation registers in various countries.

x Mel

Talking of changing seasons

Diana Mini (Lomography 800CN & Kodak BW400CN films)

The season change is coming, daylight savings is finished, the clocks have fallen back & colourful cardigans are again making their way into the wardrobe of every girl (& fashionable man) in Melbourne.

Loves of the week include: new yellow shoes of awesome, DesignLoveFest, Blogging from the Heart & Liv.

x Mel