Melbourne in a season of change

 

Lomography SuperSampler (Lomography 400CN film)

Apologies for my blog absenteeism of late. Life has been busy with family & friends visiting Melbourne; the shortening days of early winter; spreading the Lomography love in Melbourne; falling in love with my LC-Wide; watching leaves fall & trees turning into empty branches reaching for the sky.

One thing I can say Melbourne, is that there are exciting times coming for the Lomography community! *wink wink*

"Everybody says that time heals everything all in the end

What of the wretched hollow, the endless in between?

Are we just going to wait it out?" 

Wait It Out - Imogen Heap 

x Mel

The Lovely, Chanelle Davis

LC-A & LC-Wide (Kodak BW400CN, Kodak Ektar 100 & Lomography Slide 200)

The excellent & amazing Olivia invited me along to shoot with the beautifully talented Chanelle Davis a couple of weeks back. Liv shot DSLR & skirted around her with my LC-A & LC-Wide. It was my first real shoot & I have already learned many lessons from the results I got... but it was a super fun day & I can't wait to hang out with these awesome Kiwis again soon.

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

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

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

Friends in Black & White

LC-A (Kodak BW400CN)

I often forget how much I love using black & white film in my LC-A... a wander around the streets of Melbourne & a couple quiet drinks with some work friends easily changed that.

The season is slowly changing here, the nights are getting cooler, the mornings have a slight chill, jackets & cardigans are slowly emerging from closets. Soon the light will become scarce & I will be pushing 400 & 800 ISO film through my cameras & watching the leaves fall.

x Mel

NYC - City of Sky

 
 

Diana Mini (Lomography Chrome 100 X-Pro & Kodak 400VC)

In a city filled high to the brim with skyscrapers, it was amazing to find that the sky makes a beautiful & stark emergence in New York. The unmovable landscape of crystal blue that peaks & flows like a river through the jungle of steel & concrete. Over central park, the sky hung like a horizontal picture frame, skirted by the canopy of trees, reflected in the spanse of crystal water.

This sky was a hot midsummer sky, the occasional cloud dotted here & there... when the smog would lift on those heat-filled days & the ozone would disperse. A cool blue of high sky would beckon the lights of the sleepless city to waken the night.

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

milk&miel presents: New York City February!

View all the NYC February posts here!

This month to celebrate the fact I still have loads of photos from my trip to New York City last year, I am throwing the milk&miel doors open to all those analogue lovers of the big apple!

There will be guest posts from some of my favourite bloggers, lots of never-blogged-before photos from my analogue archives & generally a whole lot of love for the city that never sleeps.

If you want to get involved, then just send me your favourite analogue photo of NYC, with details about what camera & film you used, along with what you love the most about the city. 

New York is love. 

x Mel

Golden Times with SX-70

 

 

 

SX-70 with PX680 Color Shade Gold Edition & ND filter.

Over the Christmas holidays, I ventured to my home state of Queensland to spend time with my family & friends. Many photographs were taken, rolls of film developed when I returned to Melbourne & now I only have to finish the last few exposures on the films still in cameras.

One of the cameras I took to Brisbane was my newly acquired SX-70... this time with the new PX680 Colour Shade Gold Edition... I shot one pack of this film & am quite impressed with the results, 6 out of 8 exposures isn't bad at all.

While in Brisbane I enjoyed taking my parents & friends to the Matisse: Drawing Life exhibition at GOMA, they have a drawing room and cafe as you exit the exhibition with props & still life arrangements to draw & while away the day. I highly recommend it!

x Mel