Supersampler Early Winter

Supersampler - Lomography 800CN film

Oh Melbourne in winter, there is always that chill in your bones that often disappears in hot showers & cosy beds, but always reappears with a sudden jarring moment familiarised by the term 'burrr'. Then there are the sunny days, that aren't necessarily any warmer, but they give a heightened illusion of warm, even if just to the eyes. They make the cold that much more bearable & all the layers, socks, scarfs & coats worth it.

I've been lucky enough to have a couple of my wonderful interstate friends & my awesome family visit in the last few weeks. It is always lovely to have visitors, show them 'my' Melbourne & share with them my favorite cafes, restaurants, galleries & lane ways.

This time last year I was preparing for a trip to New York City... a summer break from the Melbourne winter chill... this year I will just have to layer up, curl up & think warm happy thoughts.

x
Mel

Melbourne Streets - Autumn 2012

LC-A (Lomography Redscale XR 50-200 - shot at ISO 50)

It seems fitting to use redscale film now that all the leaves in Melbourne are turning to the warm glow of orange, red & yellow...  Lomography Redscale XR 50-200 has been a favourite of mine, but you can also easily make redscale film at home!

Here are a few make your own redscale film tutorials:
- Redscle Technique - The Principle of Light Penetrability.
- DIY Redscale Film
- How to Make Redscale Film

Have you tried redscale film before?

x
Mel

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

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

Reflections on Blogging

LC-A (various film)

A couple of weeks back, I started the 'Blogging from the Heart' e-course by Susannah Conway. I wondered while I clicked the registration button, "Am I the kind of blogger who will benefit from this course?"... then in the first week, it hit me that this is exactly the kind of course I need.

Those of you who follow me here at milk&miel know that I mostly blog about photography & rarely about myself or my experiences. This really has nothing to do with me hiding behind my photographs or a lack of want on my behalf to reveal myself, but more to do with not wanting to bore people who are after a "photography" blog with personal make/hate/love lists.

But over the last couple of weeks I've discovered that maybe, after all, revealing more of myself on my blog won't drive away the masses, but will perhaps endear more people towards it.

So let me know what you would like to know... what would you like me to write about? 

Because if left to my own devices I will post about my love of Mexican food, my endeavour for the perfect pair of yellow ballet flats, the arguments for & against skinny jeans, Mac versus PC, my longing for New York City and ultimately the dreaded analogue versus digital photography debate (amongst other things).

x Mel

NYC - Subway Yellows & Reds

 
 

LC-A (Lomography Slide X-Pro 200, Redscale XR 50-100 & Kodak BW400CN)

One of my favourite parts of New York City was the Subway.... & thanks to my LC-A (& her handy light meter) I managed to capture some of my favorite parts... including the rush of a train arriving & departing the station... the yellow green light of the platforms...  (& almost) the sticky humidity of the hot days of July.

I loved people watching on the Subway... such a different variety of people all on the same train carriage... the whole time I tried to not look like a tourist... a art student who is into analogue cameras - yes! Tourist - no!

Some days/nights I was dressed to the nines... other days/nights in jeans & a t-shirt... from 23st to Union Square... from Times Square to Astor Place... always with a camera ready.

Heart NYC, heart the Subway!

x Mel

New Year Film Giveaway!

Thanks to to excellent Film Festival store on ebay I have 10 rolls of 35mm film to give away to one lucky milk&miel reader! What a great way to experiment with different films without having to buy multi-packs of each!

All you need to do to enter the giveaway is head over to the Film Festival ebay store, have a look around & then leave a comment on this blog post letting me know which one of their films you would most like to try along with your email address.

For an extra entry you can tweet:

I just entered the Film Festival giveaway at milkandmiel.com! @milkandmiel

and/or follow milkandmiel.blogspot.com on google reader or bloglovin!

This giveaway is open for all, including those who do not live in Australia!

Entries close at 9am UTC 4th January 2012.
(Giveaway is now closed... I reveal the winner soon!)

Good luck!

Diana F+ & Madison Square Park

    

   

Diana F+ (Lomography 400CN film)

Back in July (how can it have been all those months ago when it only feels like yesterday?), while I was in NYC I went to a couple of workshops at the Lomography Gallery Stores in the West Village and Gramercy. One of which was a Diana F+ workshop, my first time using the Diana F+. 

I fell hard & fast in love with the beautiful 120 soft focus. I knew pretty quickly that my days of 35mm exclusivity were drawing to a close, but I was so happy that I had the opportunity to get some 120 NYC mementos to take with me.

A couple of months after my return from NYC, I relented & brought myself a early birthday present of the Diana F+ Parisian on sale at urbanoutfitters.com. I am still very much in love & can't wait to spend the summer experimenting more with my new little 120 film plastic wonder.

x

It's always darkest before the dawn

LC-A (Kodak E100G)

Once upon a time, instead of creating photographic snapshots of the world. I took syntactic snapshots in the form of poetry. I would never regret my move into photography, but some days I look back on my poetic past and ponder over those lines of words I created.

Today I stumbled on one of my favorite poems, written, what seems like a lifetime ago. To forget about these small stanzas would be akin to forgetting your own child, as every creation has a parent. So here is a that little poem for you.

More Fuji Instax in NYC

I returned home from New York City with almost 100 Fuji Instax photographs... other than a handful taken in Washington DC, they are perfect little glimpses in the streets of NYC. I love how Instax, like polaroids, give a raw sense of the moment the photographs were taken, as if a little piece of time is preserved in that little piece of emulsion. 

x Mel

Fuji Instax in NYC

My little Fuji Instax Mini 25 has become a fast favorite of mine & while in New York City I loved having it by my side... here are just a few of my first batch scanned. I love how it picks up colour & gives you bright little glimpses into the long hot New York days.

(It is lovely to have such memories of long hot days when you're back in a cold Melbourne winter.)

x Mel