Sun, Fog, and Time | Natura 1600 (Fujifilm) #AllTheFim

Last Autumn, one of my longest and dearest friends was moving and found herself in a predicament in which she was going to be making a move without help. The move also happened to fall on the weekend of her 40th birthday, and marked a bold new chapter in her life, upon which she was making some major changes.

The night after she told me about moving without help, I had a dream that I surprised her by showing up unannounced to pitch in. 

This didn't seem like much of a realistic possibility, considering hat my middle-aged lifestyle doesn't afford much spontaneity.

The following morning, I awoke to tell my significant other of the dream.  He caught me completely off guard with the phrase "Let's do it".  Four days later, we set out on the road to make the journey from Nashville, TN to Asheville, NC to spend a weekend with my beautiful friend, on her birthday,  and to help her move.

The trip was amazing.  Breathtaking views, good company, good food (Korea House in Asheville is fantastic!) and good vibes.

The weekend we were there, she happened to be house sitting a home that's magazine-worthy.  I'm not exaggerating.  I mean seriously, I can't believe people pay her to stay there, it seems like it should be the other way around.  The decor was comprised of original artworks that included sculptures, paintings and drawings that were mind-blowing.  The beds were like clouds.  There was a pool table.  The furniture was charming, and the view....OMG The view!  

But first, CLOCKS.

This unique keeper of time played a beautiful melody on the hour.

I'd never seen anything like it before.

And now, let's get to the VIEW....

This is from the deck...did I mention someone lives here???

Lucky.

The neighbors.

The birthday girl and her birthday gift.

I wish I could say that I shot more of this roll later that day when we were exploring downtown Asheville, but the F100 is pretty heavy, so I opted for my lovely Fujifilm x100s instead.

I did wake up early the day after returning home to a dense fog, so I set out for a walk around the yard and finished up the roll.  The rest of these are from that walk.

One of my neighbors.

I feel pretty fortunate to live where I have these views.

Oh, and I saved one frame for the moon.

Goodnight, moon.

Until Next time,

xoxo- Leah

The technical details:

Nikon F100

Lensbaby Composer Pro + Sweet 35 Optic

Lensbaby Composer Pro + Edge 80 Optic

Nikkor 20mm 2.8 AF-D

NIkkor 70-210mm F4-5.6

Sigma 105 2.8 EX DG Macro

Processed @ Dury's Camera in Nashville. TN

Scanned on Noritsu

The Magic Forest | Kodak Max 400 #AllTheFilm

I've been chipping away at a bag of accumulated film.  I'm not very organized, so some of the rolls are labeled, but the majority are not.  It's kind of like playing the lottery when I drop film off for processing, as I have a multitude of (mostly expired) test rolls from various cameras found at thrift stores, eBay, yard sales, craigslist and hand-me-downs from relatives who think that film is a relic of the past.

Some rolls are a bust, and some are magic.

This one is magic.

My face lit up like a kid at Christmas when I opened the envelope and revealed the contact sheet of preview images. They instantly transported me back to the day they were shot, which was a particularly good day.  My dear friend Amie and I took our chances in between late Autumn rain showers, and headed into the woods.  I spent a majority of the day in front of the camera instead of behind it, which is rare for me. It was so much fun playing dress-up, dancing under the bare trees and above the limestone and fallen leaves.  Seeing these images brought back memories of that long afternoon spent with one of my favorite people, playing in the magic forest, like children.  I could hardly wait to get home and load these into the laptop.  The first half of the roll was shot in what Amie lovingly refers to as "The Magic Forest", which is in a top-secret location (in order to protect it's magical powers, of course), and the second half of the roll was shot in the woods across from my house, where an amazing, abandoned home from God-knows-when rests, full of all sorts of relics and decay.  I would say that there's something magical about it, too, so we will just refer to this grainy, warm-toned roll of expired Kodak Max 400 as "the magic roll of the never-ending film bag".

Now do you see why it's called the Magic Forest? 

I plan to go back to the abandoned house and get more of the inside, the shed, and the back of the house, as I didn't have an extra roll with me and it started to rain on my walk home so I couldn't go back.  I'll have to wait until the fall unless I get some pretty good boots or a lot of nerve, since we live in rattlesnake / copperhead / moccasin country and it's so overgrown this time of year that it would be difficult to get to without acquiring poison ivy or an anxiety-induced panic-attack from the potential of killer snakes from hell seeking me out and destroying me.

I like taking risks with expired film, as it's always a mystery, and I hope you've enjoyed the results of this one.

If you want to see more film posts, click here.

Also, follow me on instagram for an eclectic mix of film and digital, as I share a pretty random combination of images, fueled by a serious case of ADD, mood swings, a rad shoe box of various films, and an ever-growing collection of more than 40 cameras.

I'll keep chipping away at that bag of mystery film, so check back soon. I have several waiting to be blogged, and a few waiting for me to pick up (one cross-processed Velvia 100!)

Until next time, 

xoxo-

Leah

Technical Details:

Nikon F100 | Sigma 15 2.8 EX DG

Kodak Max 400 (expired)

Processed by Dury's of Nashville

Scanned on Noritsu

Film Friday | Agfa Vista 200 | Expired | #AllTheFilm

It's been a while since I actually did a Friday film post.  The holidays, a bum wrist, and sick kids have taken their toll; but with the promise of Spring on the horizon and the few pops of Spring-like weather we've experienced lately, I've managed to find the motivation to spend a little more time outside shooting film.  I also have a pretty good stockpile of film (mostly expired), so there's always that little box of goodness calling my name.

I'm not going to ramble a lot today (you're welcome), because it's beautiful outside, a storm front is approaching, and well.....there's a box filled with expired film calling my name.

So, here you have it. Agfa Vista 200, expired.  I want to give a big shout-out at my sweet friend Shonna for the film.  She sent me a magic box filled with vintage cameras and film, and is sort of like my new film fairy godmother.  (Hey, Shonna!)

This roll was shot on my trusty Nikon F100, and two walks on my road and in my yard on the same day; early-ish morning and near sunset.  I have a habit of rating and shooting at box speed, at least the first time I shoot any film stock. I know with any expired film, you need to over expose (and some films in general yeild better results when slightly overexposed, for example, Portra). However...I like to live dangerously, so I don't always overexpose expired film, and this roll was no exception.  With that in mind, you will see that most images were slightly desaturated, have a matte finish, and have a fair amount of an acidic green tint.

I didn't bother making any adjustments to this roll (I didn't even clean off dust specks or scatches), as I wanted to accurately represent the results of this film, slightly expired and rated at box speed.

this one and the next few are the results of my fascination with morning light and the remnants of the previous night's rain.

this is the top of a burned tree stump, where it appears the squirrels have been enjoying breakfast in the sun.

This old house is just beyond the tree line at the end of my driveway.
 I shot a roll of Fuji Superia 800 here this week, using the wide angle 15mm to shoot inside, so you can expect some of those shots next week.

This is the single-lane road we live on. As you can see, it's rather quiet and secluded out here. It makes a great place to walk and shoot film.

To be honest here, I had to shoot three frames of this at different exposures to get it right. Shooting with an in-camera meter so close to sunset is still pretty tricky for me.

Until Next Time-

xoxox

Leah

Technical Details:

Nikon F100

Agfa Vista 200 (expired, rated at 200)

Nikon 28 2.8D

Sigma 105 2.8 EX

Processed at Dury's of Nashville

Scanned on Nortisu