Oh man I'm such a sucker for old people. Seriously I heart them.
but then the real trouble comes when I break that seal and make it my personal quest to come up with new and exciting jelly belly recipes. all. night. long.
I do alot of testing.
I hate jelly beans btw.
HATE!!
It's a strong word... and that would be why I chose it.
Later I will tell you my favorite flavor, which is tutti frutti so if your only here for the super rad jelly belly convo you may now be excused ;)
but if you want to talk about film, come on in, stay for a while :)
I'm always surprised when people ask me about film because...
A. They talk about it like I'm crazy for going near it,
and B. They think I'm making movies!! haha! You guys make me laugh.
remember 35mm film? you'd load it into your camera and click the shutter button until you reach the magical 24 or even more magical 36 then it would rewind and you would drop it off at costco and see it in a few days, or an hour if you're super spendy?!?!?
yes,yes. I thought so.
Hello... My name is Jill, I shoot film.
for now.
When you look at the above photo do you see that her arms are stretched out long and dainty as if mimicking the long delicate tree branches? And/or are you thinking it looks like a bad hallmark card? If you were in my class for critique you just might.
And I'm ok with that for arts sake. But for my purposes (me being the mother of that adorable child) I kinda love it.
I saw a couple of film shooters at WPPI last week. Something they both seemed to keep mentioning is how film slows you down. It's true. I can attest to this fact.
And that is one of the things they like about film is that it does make you stop and think a little more.
For me it's been good and bad. You have no idea how many shots I missed because I metered it for the ump-teenth time just to be sure sure I got it right before I click that shutter. Oh yeah, I totally pulled out the ump-teenth card. Because that is exactly what I do. For real. come shoot with me, you will see.
With digital you can shoot like 90 miles a minute, a little glance to the lcd screen on the back tells you if you're in the neighborhood of where you want to be and if the expression stinks, it's cool you got 20 more JUST like it... minor variances only. You can move quick like and the person standing before you doesn't end up looking at you like you're an idiot when your still standing there ten minutes later getting your exposure and or timing right, because you're not still standing there ten minutes later!!!! And with sky's the limit cards you never have to worry about whether or not what you just captured matters. And what matters when it comes to photography anyway?
That is something I ask myself every bloody day.
Today while I waited for my prints to wash, I expressed to my teacher the disappointment I feel about not really having direction in my work. (honestly this is a true source of frustration for me, wanting to have images that mean something but coming up short)
and then he said something that made alot of sense. This is not a quote... don't not, I repeat, do not insert air quotes here :)
He said that I will come to learn that the most interesting photographs aren't really about photography at all. It's a person that has an interest or love for something and they use photography as their story telling medium.
He said it better. Next time I will record it. haha. just kidding,, that'd be weird.
It was a DUH moment for sure. Not that I didn't know that already but sometimes I get so wrapped up in getting my assignment done I forget what I'm shooting for which ultimately is myself. What I love. What I see and dream. My own interpretation of what is.
occasionally it happens to be a thicket of tree branches dipping it's tendrils into the glassy drink below.
{ this is the first time I've told anyone that the tree is dipping into water. It's not super obvious just by looking, but without that little element this photo would just be a bunch of sticks }
The good thing about slowing down is the contemplation that goes on. I still get plenty of stinky shots and to tell the truth I don't usually love what I get on film so far. I feel frustrated, like alot. But that is ok. I like it. If theres one thing I've come to know, it's that working through frustration pays dividends!
I've been here before. It's a good place.
now pass me a tutti frutti jelly belly would ya. I do also like the peach ones.
RECIPE:
vanilla bean + berry blue + cinnamon + island punch = vomit.
definitely not a keeper.
