February 2017 – I dream of sumac and milkweed (and other wild things)

I think the lion says that line, in Wizard of Oz. When they’re running through the poppies and it starts snowing, maybe? I’m not certain. But it’s appropriate because February has been really odd, mostly, and now the trees are actually blooming, and you don’t need a coat to go anywhere. In February. I don’t want to complain, but I didn’t get to snowshoe yet this year. And, this stuff messes up the whole fruit season. We can’t have that.

Unusual weather, unusual cameras, unusual times.

In December I took part in a secret santa gift exchange for people who shoot film. I sent a bunch of film to a guy in Germany, and oddly the person who sent my gift (a different person than who I sent my gift to) was also in Germany. My gift took a while, but I was so excited at the end of January when I got some expired film, a Lomography baby fisheye (and they mean baby, this thing is so tiny!) with a cartridge of 110 film, plus some other awfully sweet goodies.

Although there’s been a lot of gray this month, there’s also been some color. The Luminosity installation in Detroit, for instance. The blue sky, the golden dried grasses on the marsh. Red hydrants, blue buildings, murals. Good news kind stuff. Good surprises. All colorful.

The expired film colors are a little funky, but I’m digging them. I shot this roll of 2007-expired Minolta 200 ISO film on a gorgeously warm evening on the marsh.

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This unseasonable weather business makes people happy. Well, it makes me happy. It makes me start thinking about what’s next. The spring. Hopeful things. New adventures. Like, a trip (I have one brewing). I’m about to enter the age of saying yes. Ask me if I want to go somewhere with you… I’m most likely going to say yes.

Yes to weird cameras. Yes to new experiences. Like this silly, plastic, double-wide Lomography Sprocket Rocket, which might be my favorite new thing.

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Yes to color. Yes to adventure.

Are you saying yes to anything these days?

When did February get to be such a busy month? I thought February was for being homebound. Making soup. Staying in, cuddling with the dog. It’s not really working like that this year. I don’t mind busy, but if you know me in person, you’ll know that I can do busy for only so long and then I need downtime. Like parties, socializing, being around too many people… I dig it, but I need to be in my own headspace for more time than I’m out of it.

But the mild weather has made it easy to have been outside this month. Plenty. With cameras. Lots of cameras. Weird cameras. A tiny little Baby Lomo Fisheye that was secret-santa gifted to me that came all the way from Germany. A medium format camera borrowed from my kid. A Lomo Sprocket Rocket, because it sounded fun. Color film sent off for developing (hoping to get that back next week) and black and white film that I developed last night.

So, developing. It’s not hard… but it’s tricky. I mean, to do it right takes some patience and finesse. And I seem to be prone to doing it wrong. Last night I popped the lid off of the canister during the developing process. I just did it, popped it right off in between the fixer and the stopper phases. Not fatal, but not great. And the printing and enlarging… oh my, I’m not good at this. I didn’t get a single print or contact sheet I was happy with last night.

Disappointment isn’t a deal-breaker, though, it’s an opportunity to learn.

Anyway. Some stuff I developed last night, then brought home and scanned (which although is a pain in the ass in itself is actually easier than enlarging and printing in the darkroom, at least for me, at the moment). Water marks and dusty bits and all. Medium format just below, then 35mm after that.