It's Here ~ 'Roid Week

How is 'Roid Week going for you all? I've seen some stunning instant film photos streaming into our Mortal Muses Film Friday Flickr pool. WOW! Keep 'em coming. As we build up to sharing some of our new favorites here on Friday, here are some of my personal favorite instant film photographs that the Muses have shot during the last year. I hope you enjoy them, too.

Keep shooting and adding to the pool. Can't wait to see the new beauties!

Meghan of Life Refocused

From Lindsey...

From Cara...

From Christy ~ Urban Muser...

From Kirstin...

From Deb...

And, from me...

Mosaic Muse ~ Film Friday (and get ready for 'Roid Week!)

As a lover of film, I've been super excited about our new Film Friday feature and Flickr group. I have been so happy seeing YOU all upload your film photos into our new group, creating an ever-widening circle of folks who still believe in film. It makes my heart happy. I want to keep encouraging you to share your film photographs with us – photos from your dusted off 35mm cameras, your Polaroids, your Instaxes, your lomography cameras, and your medium format ones, too. ALL film formats are welcome (and loved).

And speaking of Polaroids...you all know of my deep and abiding adoration of Polaroid photographs, and I want you to jump in on the fun. ESPECIALLY NEXT WEEK. Why next week? Because it's 'Roid Week!! 'Roid Week is a celebration of instant film (all instant film is welcome) and the 2012 week is Aug 13 - Aug 17. Please grab your instant film cameras and join us in celebrating the glory and beauty that is instant film photography, and upload your photos to our Film Friday Flickr group. We will be featuring lots of instant photography here at Mortal Muses next week and we're so excited to see YOUR shots!

You might be wondering what we'll do for Mobile Monday given the week is dedicated to instant film photography. Fear not, Mobile Shooters. Show us your instant-film like mobile photos in the Mobile Monday Flickr group. There are great apps like Shake It and Polamatic that give you the look and vibe of instant film!

Can't wait to see what you and all the Muses have in store for 'Roid Week! In the meantime, here are some recent film beauties from our fabulous Muse community.

Meghan of Life Refocused

1. to be alone with you - 224/365, 2. Strawberry Picking, 3. (portfolio #17) IMG006 for web, 4. Flower seller, 5. getting ready for burgers, 6. Untitled

there is a season, turn turn turn

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven. (Lyrics by The Byrds)

As a psychologist and a photographer, the idea of change is often on my mind. In my "day job," I get to witness, assist, and take part in people making choices to create change in their lives. And as a photographer, I find myself documenting my life or the lives of those around me, attempting to capture a time, place, or moment before it changes. As someone who also is enamored with shooting film, the idea of change and photography takes on a different meaning. When shooting digitally, you get to see right in that very moment the image that you captured. But when you shoot film, the process of finishing the roll, sending it in for processing, and getting the photographs back takes time. Thus, it is inevitable that the moments captured have most definitely changed since you photographed them.

For example, when I photographed this beautiful magnolia tree in my neighbor's yard, Spring was just upon us. The light rains and the opening of blossoms of this season was in its infancy. Yet when I got this roll of film returned to me as photographs, Spring had started turning toward Summer, all those blossoms had fallen, and it hadn't rained in what felt like weeks. I wonder when Red Kiwi Photography shot her film photo of these multicolored flowers? What season was it for that moment, and what season is it now? What changes happened in the time that lapsed from when she clicked the shutter to when she held that print in her hand?

What season are you in? What will change before you know it?

Meghan of Life Refocused

roses in stereo by red kiwi photography

landscapes: blocked or open?

I've been focusing on not hoarding my film of late, working hard to get out and shoot my instant film. Landscapes are not usually the content at which I aim my lens, particularly my Polaroid cameras, so this theme gave me a new challenge that I quite enjoyed. I started looking at the vast prairie that surrounds my community in new ways. I noticed ponds and trees I'd never quite seen before. And I thought about what would work for a Polaroid shot.

While out at a nearby nature area with a dear friend and fellow photographer, I came upon these still-barren trees reflected in a small lake. I wanted to get closer, but alas a chain link fence prevented my desire. Still, I wanted that shot. I just knew that was the image I wanted to use for this landscape post! So I took my time, framing carefully, getting between those diamond metal shapes of fenceline. And I clicked the shutter. At first, the blurry lines of the chain link annoyed me in this photograph, but the more I look at it, the more I think they add to the charm and truth of this landscape. Sometimes landscapes are wide open spaces, free for us to roam, like in mapleeye's aptly named "room to grow" photograph below. Other times, the landscape is just beyond reach as in my image. Blocked or open, they do make for gorgeous scenery for us to capture in our minds and with our cameras.

Meghan of Life Refocused

room to grow by mapleeye

there is mystery

Like Lindsey, when I think of Spring, I think of color being reborn into the world. Where I live in the Midwest of the United States, winter is fairly desolate, a colorless void. Thus, I look forward to the bursts of pink and green, the sprouts of yellow and purple, emerging from their hibernating slumber. So as I delved into "Spring in B&W," I started to notice something all together different. 

Black and white photography brings a totally different mood to the image and moment being captured. Compared to the eye candy of my last post, my photo today feels (and tastes!) very different. What intrigues me most about "Spring in B&W"is that it brings about a sense of mystery. I couldn't help but wonder what lies behind that ivy-covered window as I photographed this building. Similarly, in SuperDewa's dreamy Polaroid photo, what lies at the end of this tree-lined lane?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on looking at Spring through black and white. What do you notice? Did you see a mystery, too?

Meghan of Life Refocused

 

in between by SuperDewa

eye candy

One of the things I like most about photography is the simple pleasure of photos being eye candy. So let's reflect on candy for just a moment. Sour Patch Kids (one of my favorite candies), small as they may be, pack a lot of sensory punch. They are very sour at first, making your tongue salivate immediately upon placing them in your mouth. When you first have that candy on your tongue, you notice the bumpy texture of those little white bits that cover each Kid. Then after a short while, the candy loses its sourness, and becomes a sweet little burst of fruit flavor. And the texture is no longer grainy, but a noticeable smooth and gummy. Much like a Sour Patch Kid, photographs are multi-layered. The colors, the contrast from foreground to background, the flare, the bokeh...it's all like a sensory explosion for the eye.

My photograph and this one from Marvett Smith are pure eye candy to my view. There is so much happening in each of these nature photos. So many layers. You just have to spend some time paying attention. Just like when you eat Sour Patch Kids.

blossoms by Marvett Smith

Meghan (candy lover) of Life Refocused

i am...

I am grounded. On solid footing. {most some of the time}

I am a lover of film. A worshiper of Polaroid.

I am Converse tennis shoes and magnolia petals on a Spring day.

I am a worrier who trusts that the Universe is unfolding exactly as it should.

I am a cancer survivor.

I am a journaler, a traveler, a lover of connection.

I am an East Coaster transplanted to the Midwest longing for the West Coast.

I am playing with paint and mixed media. Making up for lost time.

I am a planner, and organizer, a do-er.

I am the one who was always in trouble for talking in school.

I am more and more comfortable in my skin every day.

I am practicing. Every day. Practicing.

As I reflected on this post, and then wrote it, I realized that we all are so many things. There are simply a million parts to each and every one of us. And all of those pieces combine to make up who we are, a whole that is infinitely greater than the sum of its parts. I got to thinking about jan_clickr and all the parts that make up who she is. I was so grateful that she shared this part of herself with all of us.

Meghan of Life Refocused

pensive by jan_clickr

the mood of music

As I've been reflecting on music these past few weeks, I've come to notice how much music shapes my mood, and likely the mood of anyone within earshot. I love when an old favorite comes on the radio when I'm driving, and if it's nice weather, I will roll down the windows, crank the volume, and sing my (can't-carry-a-tune) heart out. Those moments make me feel so happy, so alive. I'm also that girl who, when I need a good cry, looks for my "sad music" on my iPod or amongst my CD collection. Elton John's "Sorry Seems to Be The Hardest Word" gets me every time.

I also love going out to hear live music. Seeing music performed brings the experience to an entirely different level and has a mood all of its own. Look at the intensity in the accordion player's face...I can feel emotion spilling off of him as he sings and plays. Where music, in general, fills your sense of hearing, watching live music allows for more senses to be filled, creating that much more mood from the music.

This music photo by PictureHappySue so strongly conveys a specific mood. I adore it (and it has that vintage-vibe you know I love). I can feel a somberness, with the old record playing, maybe a favorite song of long-lost love, and the rain coming down making it's own rhythm on the window. Yeah, music is full with mood.

Meghan of Life Refocused

 

rain music by PictureHappySue

 

the charm of vintage

I'm thrilled to share my very first post as a Mortal Muse! I had so much fun guest posting back in early December last year, and I never dreamed back then that I'd actually be a Muse just a few months later. I love how the Universe works. Thank you for welcoming me into this beautiful space and community.

Merriam-Webster defines charm as "a trait that fascinates, allures, or delights." I find so many people and things in life have charm but when it comes to photography, film and vintage are what fascinate and delight me. I'm sure that as you all get to know me, you'll clearly see my love for Polaroid and 35mm film. And that love is because I find Polaroids and film photographs, along with most things vintage, so filled with charm. I adore the vintage look of Polaroid film. Shooting with a pack camera and using peel-apart film, harkening back to the 1960s, couldn't be more charming in my book. Watching a photograph develop in your hands or peeling apart the negative to reveal the image is simply magical. I had so much fun coming across this vintage-looking sign, then shooting a photograph with my 50 year old Polaroid pack camera, and finally peeling the photo away from the negative to find what I had captured. Pure charm.

Meandering Path came across some charm herself while out on a Sunday drive. Just look at that vintage flooring, that old-timey pram, and wooden chair? Vintage charm! 

Meghan of Life Refocused

 

sunday drive finds...the pram by Meandering Path