Scissor Quirk

Diana Mini!

As a little treat for surviving a year of full-time work and full-time classes, I treated myself to a Diana Mini the other day! :) I've been wanting to delve back into film photography for a while now - after all, I did have a film camera back in the day before it all went digital...lol...so that's where I started, for me.

I want to find a vintage camera one day and learn to shoot manual that way, but I really wanted some film to take to Europe with us that I could learn quickly enough to get some good shots, and the Diana Mini won my heart!

photo source.

Here's some inspiring stuff she can do, if you're curious:




photo sources: 1/2/3/4/5/6

I'm psyched about her dreamy grain, double exposures and colorful flash light gels!! I'm also excited about the 72 shots/roll that it can pull off (yay, half-frames!). I love the idea of scrolling forward through film as far as I chose, too, and the super-cute little size of this camera!! (It's about the size of my palm!) So fun. I picture at least one roll of black & white film for Paris, of course. :)

Speaking of, has it been ten years since I bought film, or what?? It's expensive!

I've been learning the basics from this guy's Youtube channel, and shooting a bit - it rained like crazy today, but I hope to get out and shoot some of the blossoms so I can see how I'm doing before we leave!

Do you own a Mini? Any tips for me, you'd like to share?
I love having no idea how my pictures will turn out... :) he he.

And the Sun Peeks Out.

It was a crazy weather day on Friday - crazy!

The sun poked out after class in the morning, and since I didn't have to race off to work like usual I wandered around with my camera until I could put off errands no longer: dropped off some shoes I had to return, left our paperwork off at the tax office, and attempted to get my eyes checked.I have to do all the un-fun stuff in one fell swoop with this crazy schedule of mine...lol. Not fun.

I did walk down my favorite stretch for a little thrifting to balance out the errands on the way home, though (where $15 luckily got me a pair of leather gloves, a cute teal cardigan, a grey skirt, and a blue flower pot!), and when I got out of the last shop the sun disappeared and it rained/hailed, got sunny again, and rained/hailed again all on the walk home! Oh, Spring.

Mister husband reminded me that in Bulgaria this month is 'Grandma March' - like a woman, the weather changes her mind from day to day...on a whim. :) It always makes me giggle.

We took a walk today, too, and sat on some swings and just talked and ignored the massive amount of homework I need to do for a little bit...and admired all the buds peeking out, everywhere. :)

I can't wait until the sun is a more usual thing around here, again! The rain wears on me, by this time of year...although it sure does make for cute blooms.

Hope you've had a little sunshine in your weekend!

A Closer Look...

Here are a few more shots from my nature walk, the other day - from a closer perspective (these shots are always my favorites to do & see!)... :)























I could take photos like this all day...he he. :)

I love that there are still bright flowers here, and that everything's at that stage when things are dying for the winter, but still have a bit of the bright - like those rose-ish flowers, up there...such a lovely stage! Fall hasn't quite taken over everything and the sun still peeks out, so I'm still dreaming of camping - even though I know it's way too cold...lol.

What's your favorite part about this season?

I'm really loving getting more familiar with my camera outside, too...I now know what shot I want to get, and I can get it without taking 10 million shots before it - woo-hoo! lol. It' super nice to be getting to know my camera more and more. :) Yay!

Welp - off I go: homework for the night - study these natural beauties with my pencils and watercolours!

Picking Up.

off to school - bike + backpack in tow, today.

Oh my word, guys - it's busy around here, but I'm starting to come to terms with it, though - which may or may not be a good sign? lol. I have midterms next week, already (Agh! Fortunately, only one of my two academic classes is giving us a test - whew!) but I seriously feel like I just started school. Midterms?! There's already talk about signing up for Spring classes, and I'm still feeling like it's still back somewhere in June...lol. Oh my. Anyhoo - things are going swimmingly! We're finally mostly unpacked in our new place, too - we've had to go slow due to homework and things - it's starting to feel like home. :)

It's just killing me to not spend all my time decorating, right now, though!

I started work, last week, too - Thursday was my first day back and I'll be in the animation studio for the next few months working part-time. It makes for a busy schedule, but I'm super-thankful that this contract has come up! And it's a super-cute kids' show, so it's all good...

You see, after I signed up for school last year, I knew I had to work to pay my rent while going to school - and, the clincher - I have to save some tuition up for next year, too. I only had my first years' saved. I was just contemplating a move back to retail (which is super-hard to consider after years of Monday-Friday salary work) - when, lucklily, the industry got so busy that I was able to take a flexible contract - yay!

But with salary pay comes a few more hours than retail would bring. lol. Last week was my full school-then-work week, and I was pretty sleepy at the end of it all. This week is feeling like more of a routine I could get used to for the next short bit, so it's going well. :) I mean, 2 am seems to be my normal bedtime, and Monday mornings have me getting up at 6 - but who needs to sleep, right? Give me coffee and I'm functional, because I know it's only for a short time.

I'm already dreaming of a warm vacation - or at least a little thrifting & house-decorating time - as my reward.And sleep, my old friend sleep.

A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!
I am super-thankful & fortunate to be able to do this all, in the first place. :)

So here's what my weeks look like, now:

Mon - Class from 8:30 - 7:00 pm. Mondays are hard.
Tues - Class from 8:30 - 3:30 pm. I like Tuesdays.
Wed - Class from 2:00 - 5:00 pm. Art history day, so 3 hrs of class feels like 8.
Thursday - Work 9:00 - 6:00 pm.
Friday - Work 9:00 - 6:00 pm.
Saturday - Work 8:00 - 4:00 pm.
Sunday - Work 8:00 - 4:00 pm.
Repeat until December. Spare moments = homework.

I have to admit, making yourself work self-guidedly on a weekend in a silent office is waaay harder than I thought! lol. (opted for listening to Pan Am episodes while I worked to keep me focused). Other than that, it's really just an exercise in being suuuuuper organized. lol. What homework is due when, what I need to get for it all and when, running errands when I'm close to certain places to save time...all that good stuff. And it's working out okay, so far. :)

Family and dear friends - if you're soon wondering why I haven't called or written you in a bit or am slow at e-mailing back, this may be why.

Have you ever been in a situation like this, work + school?
I have in film school a few years back, and found I forgot just how busy it gets.

Any tips for staying on top of things?

Nature as Inspiration.

Whew! I haven't told you guys much about school yet, have I? Mostly because I'm floundering around trying to get used to doing homework on time, again - lol. Not to mention writing research papers, which are a whole new thing for me. I need to get better at sharing this stuff, here - so here we go:

There's been a lot of focus in the last few weeks in my design class on using nature as inspiration: we've had to collect natural objects to study, draw, interpret them in our own ways, and start making something that's inspired by said natural object(s). We were encouraged to walk around during our first week to gather things and snap photos of naturally occuring/groups of texture & pattern outside - which I realized I naturally love. lol.

Here are some of the quick snaps I took on just the walk to school, one day:

Oh, nature - you're so pretty. :)

It was kind of a nice departure to look for the pattern in a place I've never looked for it, before. Refreshing, you might say.

Are you naturally drawn to taking pictures of nature?

For some reason I find people really daunting to photograph - I find that I can't always portray them the way I see them in my mind's eye (it's something I definitely want to get good at for myself, one day).