Hiking with my Diana Mini

Before I left on vacation I sent in a few rolls of undeveloped film to be processed. Two of the rolls were shot with my new Minolta camera and the third was an unknown black & white roll. It was unknown because I couldn't quite remember what was on it. It had been sitting on my shelf for months. The suspense really builds up when you have a roll sitting that long. I start to dream up these grandiose sequences and magical images.

I felt like a kid at Christmastime as I opened up my files to see my photographs. What memories had I captured? It turns out that I had shot this roll with my Diana Mini over a period of a few months. Some of the shots were taken inside and they turned out really dark but a handful were shots of a hiking adventure my family took in the local mountains.

The Diana is a toy camera so the images aren't super perfect and crisp. But that is also the beauty of the device. You don't quite know what the results will be but that is the fun of film.

This last one is of my stepdad. There is something ghostly about him moving across the white rocks.

It was fun to relive this memory. It was a really lovely winter day and it felt good to spend it among nature. In our busy lives we can sometimes forget about these little moments. I am so glad this adventure got preserved. Do you have any film rolls lying around? Are you anticipating what those images will look like?

This film was processed and scanned by Richard Photo Lab in Los Angeles. 

My Week Through Instagram: Week Seven

Happy Saturday friends! Do you have the day off? Are you relaxing and enjoying it? My aunts are staying with us so I've been catching up with them, reading, and working on a few personal creative projects. Out-of-town family members are a great excuse for putting aside work that needs to get done. A little procrastination never hurt anyone, right? Especially in the name of family.

Here is what the seventh week of 2012 looked like for me...

Sunday: I got to go to Unique LA for the first time for their Local Love event with my brother and friends. I shared some pictures on Wednesday. It was a great show and I can't wait for the next one. I should start saving up some money now.

Monday: I spent part of the day working on a custom burlap banner for a bride I've been working with. Her bridal shower is today actually and I hope she has a fantastic time. I'll share pictures of the entire banner soon.

Tuesday: Tuesday was Valentine's Day! I packaged up this card for my Mom with a pretty doily and red heart.

Wednesday: On Wednesday night I got to watch my brother and his band Mojo Stone perform live. They always give an amazing performance. They are releasing a new album soon and hearing some of their new stuff got me super excited for what they have coming up. 

Thursday: I finished up another role of film on my Diana Mini. Excited to send it in and see how my pictures turned out. I love the anticipation factor in waiting for film.

Friday: I started working on a sewing project on Friday. It felt good to use my sewing machine again. Danni from Oh, Hello Friend gave me these cute mini scissors and they were perfect to have nearby for snipping threads. Mini things are the cutest.

Saturday: Spending more time working with my sewing machine. I love the underside of sewing and embroidery projects. The threads get all twisted together and it's kind of a mess but there is something beautiful about it.

How was your week?

Follow me on instagram if you like. My username is laurenelisecrafted. Or see all of my pictures on the computer through Followgram. Happy weekend! 

My First Adventure into Film

On Friday I blogged about the DIY pinhole camera that my brother and I put together and showed you the less-than-stellar results from that experience.  Today I want to share my first film pictures shot with my cute, new Diana Mini camera...the results are better, I promise!  About three weeks ago I shared my excitement with you when I purchased it and finally got all the results back last week.  I am happy with the results (for a newbie) and can't wait to take more shots. 

To recap, here is the cute little toy camera I purchased:

Picture: Diana Mini website

And here are the results (pictures taken by me and my brother):

Picture on the left is brother's, picture on the right is mine.  Unfortunately it started getting dark as we were taking shots and the film speed wasn't right for the conditions.  That's why David's picture is a bit dark.  But I still love the colors in the sky.

Both of these were shot by David.  I love the one on the left, such a soft and dreamy looking landscape.  These pictures were taken basically at the same time so I'm not quite sure what he did to achieve the two results.  He might not know either (we're both learning still). 

Both shot by the brother.  Even though they're dark, the colors in the sky are spectacular.  And I love the string of lights from the freeway in the picture on the left. 

Dog pictures!  Both were taken by me.  I was doing a creep-attack shot on the left.

So here is the film version of my DIY that I did for Emmaline Bride last week.  I love how these turned out, especially the shot on the right.  It is neat to do a direct comparison between the film and digital results. 

And here are a few I snapped while shooting my Knotty Bride DIY. 

Thank you for humoring me while I shared this personal journey of mine.  Film photography has been something I've been meaning to get into and experiment with and I'm so glad I can share my pictures here.  I have a bunch of other fun things to share this week so stay tuned...they will be much more relevant than just my own personal pictures. 

Happy Monday friends!

How I Spent My Thursday

Sorry for my lack of a Font Friday post everyone.  I have a great font to share next week but until then, you must check out my friend's picks: Jenna from Little Bit Heart showcased the work of an amazing calligrapher today and Kerry from Super Swoon highlighted a font on Tuesday that is filled with all kinds of great details.  Also, our little font movement welcomed two new contributors today: Jen of Blush Printables and Chelsey from Fourth & Folded shared their first font picks.  Be sure to check out their Friday posts as well as the rest of their beautiful blogs. 

Today I want to share pictures of the adventures I had yesterday.  My brother David was home from school for a few days (it's his spring break this week...I know early right?) so despite having all kinds of work to do (still swamped with projects & Etsy orders), I spent the day with him.  My brother has expressed some interest in photography, specifically film photography, and so for Christmas, I bought him a pinhole camera kit that I found at Barnes & Noble.  I figured it would be something fun we could do together and the whole do-it-yourself kit idea reminded me of our childhood.  So yesterday was the day we finally decided to make this thing.  It took about three hours for us to complete the camera.  And when I say "we," I pretty much mean "me."  I did most of the work.  David insisted "but you're a pro at this craft stuff so you should do it."  But he provided a lot of moral support and sat with me the entire time.  He also helped me comprehend the directions when they got crazy confusing (which was often).  

We were so proud of our ghetto, little camera when it was all finished!  Here are a few shots from the day:

The kit came with a book that showcased other pinhole camera artists' work.  We definitely knew our first shots wouldn't be too amazing but this provided us with a lot of inspiration and hope.  Film photography takes a lot of dedication and work, especially when you are a newbie.  

Side note: my brother was wearing a hobo bum sweater!

The directions.  They got a bit confusing and the pictures were sometimes dark.  There were definitely a handful of times when I was like, "Well, I think this is what I'm supposed to do."

My treat while working was this delicious soda that I found at Trader Joe's (the best place on the planet).  It is Blood Orange Soda and it's from Italy.  Run to your nearest TJs and get it.  It's so refreshing!  It reminded me of being in Italy.

Pinhole camera kit components.

David's treat was just an actual orange...grown in our hometown!

At times, we had to wait for the glue to dry.  David snuck away and played the piano and I snapped pictures.

A few black & whites because I don't post them enough and they really are beautiful.

BROTHER!

The most ghetto-fab camera that I ever did see!  Such high-tech equipment.

The rubber bands add such a nice touch!

After making the camera, we went on a walk and shot a roll.  And...I have the results to share with you even!  Now let's just preface these pictures with a public service announcement: clearly, we are not film experts yet.  In fact these next few photos are the only ones on the roll that even came out slightly.  I'm not quite sure what happened to the rest of them...possibly the film was exposed when I was trying to rewind it (oops!).  So our first experiment with this pinhole camera didn't go so well but I'm not giving up.  I want to try taking some shots with it when it is brighter outside.  So here we go:

The best one is the last one, ha!  It's of my Mom walking Scout.

For some better film pictures, check back soon because I'll be sharing my first shots with my Diana Mini camera.  Now those came out a LOT better, promise! 

Happy weekend!

New Purchase

A few days ago I bought a new camera!  Nope, not of the digital variety (I will need to save up awhile before I can upgrade camera bodies) but a film camera.  The Diana Mini is now in my possession!

Isn't that the cutest thing you ever saw?  But wait it comes in white:

Ok, now that is the cutest thing I ever saw!  I got the white one!  I am so excited to buy some film today and start shooting.  Photography is definitely a passion of mine and experimenting with film is something I have been wanting to explore for awhile.  I actually have a Holga camera but the one I have only shoots 120 film, which means I have to send the film away to get processed.  It is kind of a hassle so with 35mm, I can just take the film down to my local drugstore.  So I can see my results faster and really feel like I am experimenting and learning.

Here are some examples of shots I could be taking:

Notice how the last two shots are two pictures put together?  This camera has the ability to take pictures in two different formats: the square format (like the first two examples) and a rectangular format (like the last two) which is a half-frame size.  So when you shoot in half-frame mode, you get 72 shots on one roll of film!  Now that is exciting...so many shots.  For a film newbie like me, that is such an asset because I am learning and need all the shot opportunities I can get.  Ok, enough geek talk for now.

I will document my results as things happen but I had to post something now to express my utter excitement.

Happy weekend friends!

(All Diana Mini pictures found here.)