Home again, home again

jiggity jig

What is that, anyway? And how annoying is it that if you hit enter while you're in the title line, blogger will automatically publish your blog, even though it's totally empty. So for those of you (HA! Like I have any uber quick followers like that) who opened this post and it was totally empty, I sincerely apologize.

Anyway, went home to good ol' Sevier County for the 24th of July celebration and I have all of these thrilling pictures that I would really like to post for ya'll to see but unfortunately, I took them with my SLR so they're in my iMac and I'm currently sitting in Barnes and Noble on my laptop because the power is out at house which means no iMac and no internet. I guess I could bring the iMac down here as it is pretty portable, but I don't think they'd really appreciate it here and they may rethink their free wifi.

I'm all about the url links today. Well, actually, I'm just bored and that takes up a little bit of time. But look on the bright side, you now know what I shoot with, where I'm from, what kinds of computers I own and how I like my eggs . . no, wait . . eh, whatever.

So on Sunday (or was it Monday?!?) I went with multiple family members up to the "Elsinore Lookout Point". But don't tell ANYONE! It's a slightly illegal trail/road that a certain family member (who shall remain nameless) made on what I believe is probably BLM property. Well, you can tell people the point exists . . just don't tell them how you found out about it. It can be our little secret. Anyway, along the ride I did take a few shots with my digi point and shoot which I've got on my laptop so that's all you get for now.

Lauren, Kendyl and Kendal (aka Dad) getting ready to make the BUMPY trip

Chuck the Wonder Dog LOVES a good ride in the Ranger

Does this look like a road to you? Just wondering if I'm the only one that's a little skeptical.

And that ends the photo portion of our presentation for today. Maybe one day, when the power is back on, I'll publish the photos I actually took FROM the point. Consider this the most nail biting cliff hanger of all time.

But wait . . there's more! (I should be the next Billy Mays! Picture a thumbs up, here) Until next time, ponder this . . .

For some unknown reason, Chuck the Wonder Dog took to hanging out/sleeping under my mom's kitchen table while we were home. No idea what's up with that.

Wildflowers & Freak Storms

I went home last month and took a mini road trip down to the Cedar City area with my sister to drop her oldest son off at a scout camp. This is what we saw along the way:

Oh to be rich . .

And to be able to go to the current show at MOMA in San Francisco.

Really, does it get any better than Georgia O'Keeffe:





Ansel Adams:





Richard Avedon:





And Robert Frank:





I think the only thing that could make it better would be an additional showing of Jay Maisel's work:







Jay Maisel lectured once at RIT while I was in school there and he was by far one of the most inspirational photographers I've come into contact with. He has an amazing eye for color and design. Seriously, google him. He's amazing. I guess the only thing better than going to the show at MOMA would be an all expenses paid trip to one of his workshops. Seriously, D R E A M come true. And on that note, I think I may have to go rob a bank or something so I can have the $5k needed to go.

The Death of an Icon

No, I'm not talking about EM, FF or MJ (as sad as they all are) - but come on, this is a photo blog.

I'm talking about the death of Kodachrome. I've been depressed about this for days. I used to work for a company that published elementary and secondary social studies textbooks as their photo editor. What does that entail, you ask? It entails HOURS and HOURS of researching historical photos. My favorites were always the color Kodachrome photos from WWII. No matter what the subject matter, they were always so beautiful! The color reproduction was amazing and nothing since then has ever looked as good. (If anyone knows of a PS action out there that will create that kind of look for me, I'll promise to be your best friend for at least a week. Sorry, MJ - but not the aforementioned MJ. Goodness, this could become confusing.)

So as a tribute to the soon to be unavailable Kodachrome I propose that we all get and develop a roll, just to say we did. There are still plenty of places to get it (I'll list sources later) but only one place left to develop it. But don't fret - Kodak has made a deal with Dwayne's Photo to continue to provide processing until the end of 2010. Because it takes a different chemical concoction than regular chrome film, there are limited places to have it developed. However, I've heard that other developers will still take it and then send it out for you. Check with your favorite neighborhood professional film developer (for those of you that are wondering, I really doubt Walmart is going to help you with this one).

Seriously, it's really sad that they're discontinuing it and we should all be able to play with it at least once. Still don't understand why? Well I'm here to answer that question:

Really, does it get any better than that one?!? Look at the color of that sky!



Can I just tell you how much I LOVE this last one? I think it reminds me of my Dad. I think I may have to take my Kodachrome home and do a photo essay of the old farmers in town.

If you still need more examples to convince you, google Kodachrome or look it upon flickr. When I searched flickr I found 55,637 images that were keyed with with the word Kodachrome. And with it being retired, there are sure to be many more listed soon. There's also a flickr group dedicated to both modern and vintage Kodachrome. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.

So I've been doing some research as I've been writing this on where to get the film. Calumet is the only place I've found that has it in stock (other than one place listed on Amazon but they were charging $25 a roll plus $10 S&H - uh, no thank you). If you find anywhere else that has it in stock, let me know. As for now, I've ordered two rolls from Calumet for $9.95 each, with free UPS ground shipping (can't beat that). I looked into it and I think it's going to be about $10 a roll to be processed. So in the end, it will cost a pretty penny but well worth it in my opinion.

Now I can hear you asking, why should I try this film, Janis? What should I do with it? And I am here to help.

Document the older people in your life using their native film

Make a photo time capsule of your home town or an historical landmark.

Document the younger people in your life because they'll never get the opportunity to do it themselves.

Do a photo essay on your favorite WWII Vet.

I'm sure there are tons of other things you can do but it's lunch time and I'm starving so I'm not going to take the time to list them. But if you've got any grand ideas, feel free to leave a comment and let me know. I LOVE feedback.

And when you get your projects done, link back to my post and forward it on to me so I can check it out too. And I promise when I get mine done, you'll see it here too.


CALUMET UPDATE: I just got an email from Calumet verifying my order and it said (although it didn't mention this face on their website) that the film is backordered and they're waiting for a shipment from Kodak. I ordered from there because EVERYONE else I checked into said it was back ordered and I thought I'd struck oil (or gel as it may be) by finding it here but sadly, they misrepresented. I'll keep you updated and hopefully I'll get my film - eventually. If anyone else finds a source that isn't backorders please let me know! Thanks!

Bluffdale Demolition Derby

Last night my roommate and I went to the Bluffdale City Demolition Derby where her father had volunteered to drive the water truck that they use to wet down the arena in an attempt to keep the dust down. She called me last minute saying that he'd sneak us into the pit and we'd be able to sit on top of the water truck to watch the event which means we wouldn't have to fight for a seat amongst the many, many rednecks. And with such great seats, I couldn't resist taking my camera. I do believe a good time was had by all (except for the guy that was tipped over).

fix-it friday (on sunday)

So in my internet wanderings this afternoon I came across a photo blog that entertained me for quite some time. It's called iheartfaces. If you've got a moment, pop on over there and check it out.

Every Friday (or at lest the last 14) they post a photo and send it out into the www for their followers to fix, hence the name "fix-it friday". I'm not normally one to participate in these things but I've decided that I want to practice and play around with my photoshopping skills. I've also been really obsessed with photoshop actions as of late so I've been playing with a bunch of them. So anyway, here are my fix-it's.

Original

first fix-it

second fix-it

Tulip Festival

Last Friday Marion and I went to Thanksgiving Point to check out all of the hype around the Tulip Festival. While the flowers were beautiful, the sky . . not so much. As usual, I went shutter happy so I've got tons of things to touch up but I thought I'd post a couple of quick pics for everyone to check out (and gush over). Actually, I was wandering down a trail changing the settings on my camera when Marion noticed it and said, "That looks really cool - and like something you'd photograph." And right she was. It's great to have friends that can anticipate your moves when you're not even paying attention. And in my humble opinion, she was totally right and it's an awesome shot.

Enjoy.


I don't know what the deal is but for some reason the colors never look as good on blogger as it does on my computer. Kinda bugs. Stupid blogger. But trust me, it's awesome. If anyone has any suggestions to stop this from happening, I'd be happy to take them. Other than that, thoughts?


Okay, I obviously didn't take this one. It's totally credited to Marion. But it's one of the few pics of me that I've ever liked. Could be that you can't see my face, but I'm still unsure. Either way, Marion did a great job with the composition. You're awesome, MJ.


Wrinkles? What wrinkles? I would never commit PS fraud and remove the crows feet and wrinkles that give us character. That's so wrong. I think we took at least a dozen pics almost exactly like this around different areas of the park trying to get trees or tulips behind us. I guess we could have handed the camera to someone else and asked them to take it, but what's the fun in that?