Diana on Diana

Hello, my name is Diana, curator of our.city.lights, and very grateful to give Rebekah any help needed, even if it's a blog post to let her relax- she's one of the hardest working women I know.

Unlike most women I know, one of my favorite things to buy are shiny new toys and this guest post is a perfect example of it. My love for toy cameras has expanded beyond analog- I have the chance to customize it with digital, the two different worlds coming together is elating for me, and very excited to test out my Diana lenses.




There's an overexposed charm to them, very much like the original Diana camera. Since it's digital, there is no grain to it, but a very whimsical light leak.


With the original Diana camera, work must be done, and unfortunately, sometimes money is wasted on the film not developing properly. With a digital Diana lens (used on a Canon), I played with manual settings, and each shot was like Christmas- I had no idea how it would come out, despite my meter.



The fashion district in LA was the perfect setting- bright colors, natural lighting, and what has become one of my favorite photos


Thank you Rebekah, for allowing me to babysit your blog. xo

Coquinete

coquinete

I've been dreaming a lot of vacationing lately, trying to make an effort to get out of the city a little more, even just as a day trip. Or even finding more pockets in the city where I can escape a little. Unfortunately the weather at the moment has made me want to do nothing more than stay in bed or under quilts on the couch! Not that it would be much warmer where these photos were taken, but that icey blue and open, empty expanse are totally fueling my desire to...just go! For now I'll just dream and get lost in the rest of coquinete's incredible photo stream.

Happy Tuesday, friends!

Just quickly...

Just a quick note to say that the wooden bunting photo shoot went really, really well yesterday. I am so happy with the results and can't wait to share them all with you! Maya really was the best model, and I couldn't be happier with how the dress worked in the photos. Once we were done shooting we sat around drinking tea and eating raspberry crumb cake with the sun streaming in. Not a bad day at all!

Five Senses Friday

Five Senses Friday is something I've been meaning to take part in for awhile now, and well I guess I have but up until now it has mostly been in my head. You can see what it's all about over at the incredibly talented (and lovely!) Abby's place. Taking time to stop and reflect is something I'm trying make a habit of so I'm going to attempt to do this on a fairly regular basis! Let me know if you decide to play along, I'd love to see!

:Tasting:

Blueberry pancakes for dinner, buffet lunch at All India Sweets and apple cinnamon pretend cheerios.

:Touching:

Heathered yarn and smooth wooden needles as I attempt to start a Barn Raising Quilt.

:Hearing:

Creedence Clearwater Revival and Richard singing along while he makes pancakes.

:Seeing:

The amazing early colour photographs by Russian photographer and chemist, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii. I was floored the first time I saw these on Enhabiten, the colours are just incredible. I've been looking at these one's in particular as part of some research I'm doing for a project I'm working on. I love all the amazing textiles and patterns in them. If you want to see more, there are some fantastic landscapes and rural scenes, go take a look over here.

:Smelling:

The freshness of the city after rain.

Happy weekend, lovelies.
xo

Resolution Number Four: Photos

When I left high school, I went pretty much straight into a Media Arts degree in Journalism with a heavy photography minor (there wasn't actual minors, I was just taking all photography electives) as I had already mapped out my career path of cutting edge photojournalist (National Geographic and/or Rolling Stone here I come! Two magazines I would have no interest working for now, ha. Oh, 18yr old self). I really loved the photography aspect, and the writing aspect...but soon came to a realisation that as a journalist you don't go straight onto writing feature articles and opinion eds, or travelling to war zones and the like. Not that I felt working my way up was beneath me, not at all, but I'm actually a really shy person so the idea of having to go up to people and shoot questions at them for sound bites absolutely terrified me. Perhaps something I should have thought of beforehand? Ha, oh well.

Anyway, photography has continued to be one of my favourite things to do, but I feel like over the years I've gotten a little lazy with it. Or like reading, this past year I have struggled to make the amount time for it that I would like. Adele has this great post up over at her blog, all about comfort zones (she also designs and sells super sweet paper goods over here, worth checking out!) in respect to being self employed, that I totally identified with! I could also see how some of the excuses she talked about translated over into my photography and being creative in general. I'm constantly thinking about how the equipment I have isn't good enough (we have a crappy point and shoot digital, with a cracked screen that has a giant black spot on it), or how especially this last year I didn't have the time, or how expensive shooting film can become, etc, etc. But I forget the most important things like how much joy I get from doing it. How much I loved working in the darkroom so that I would stay in there for hours and not be able to see when I walked out into the sun. How thrilling it was to pick up a printed film, and that I would wait until I found a spot to sit down to look through them all. Were all my worries and insecurities (because lets call them what the are) really worth missing out on all that?

So, when Anabela mentioned she was taking part in 365 (a photo a day, for 365 days), and that it wasn't the one where you had to do a self portrait every day* (eep!) I decided to jump in and join her. Those up there are some of the shots from this week, and I have been really loving it. It makes me take my camera out of my bag, even when I'm busy, and document my life. I'm trying not to over think it, and just capture everyday moments (I can save my over thinking for my more serious photographic endeavours, ha). There are so many other great people taking part in it, too. Some that I already knew, and some that I've met since (Hello Jen!), and it is a really beautiful way to follow what they are up to, and what they see.

Would you like to take part? Maybe you have a photo that you've taken from each day since the 1st, or maybe you just want to start as of today. I'd love to know if you do so I can follow along!

Stylin' 101

red cottage pillow by enhabiten

I'm so sorry I've been such a slack blogger lately, craft fairs are coming up, sickness comes and goes, not enough hours in the day, etc, etc. I do have a new post up at Poppytalk however, on styling product shots if you'd like to go take a peek! I have some posts stored away in my head (must start writing things down) though, so I will be back to regular programming soon I promise!

xo

Oh snap!

custom state/province outline via treefox

I was recently asked by the lovely Jan over at Poppytalk, to do a couple of guest posts on product photography (which I must say, I took as a huge compliment as Jan has just about the best taste that anyone could have!), and my first one is up there now if you'd like to go take a peek! Also, have you seen the new Design*Sponge desktop wallpaper? It's designed by one of my all time favourite artists, Camilla Engman, and up for grabs (its free, so some for everyone!) over here! We uploaded ours this morning and I love it, so.

Happy Monday, friends!

xo