Golden Half Welcome to the family

Last year my super rad boyfriend got me a Holga for Christmas, we spent the summer cruising the great ocean road and i took many a photo! Now one year on my lovely boyfriend has gone above and beyond once again and gotten me a golden half camera! Oh dear god I'm in love... with my boyfriend AND my new camera.

Ive been seriously thinking about importing these to Australia and selling them on my website, so it will be nice to take the Golden Half for a little test run. We are road tripping this year to the middle of gosh darn nowhere, My mums horse farm outside of a town called Numurkah where we will be hanging around the back paddocks soaking up the summer sun and playing with their new foal, PLENTY of opportunity to take some great photos...

With a quick jaunt to falls festival for Xmas eve and a few days at my favorite place on earth (my Nonna (grandma) pats) Ill be home on the 4th and keen as beans to get some developing and scanning done to post on this here blog!

Apologies if my posts are sporadic over the next 10 days, I will try and post here and there but will be back on the 4th of Jan! I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas, Please if your driving somewhere, take it easy on the roads, give your self lots of brakes and drive safe, sorry to get all parental on you but this time of year makes me nervous.

Toy Camera's R Us

Well Well Well... don't you just love stumbling across new photographers! I was cruising the mean streets of flickr this Christmas eve, yes I am finally too old to hack going out and getting on the piss on such occasions, and was lucky enough to come across a fellow called Matt Larson who runs a blog that goes by the name of Toy camera Play, this site is dedicated to anything with a plastic lens and Matt has a number of fun little projects on the go. You can check out more of his work here and have a peek at his blog and the aforementioned projects here.

I love the shot above, its like some kind of eery tombstone for mother earth and our natural environment.... look out world we wont have much left to take beautiful photos of if we don't start taking care of the world in which we live sometime in the not so distant future

Merry Christmas everyone.

Lola's room

Is a etsy shop that is just all kinds of wonderful! Its run by photographer Cassia Beck and is just a great place to pick up original prints that effortlessly ooze class and style. All photographs are printed on premium Matt paper and are packaged carefully to ensure they get to you in perfect condition. Click here to shop up a storm or here to find out more about Ms Beck herself.

The seaslife. Good life.

Polaradic goodness from ocean minded photographer MJ. Sign up for a daily dose of ocean here.

Kill All Artists

Check out the latest random acts of camera here and stay tuned for a all new travel photography section coming soon! Woo!

Babys first polaroid....

I came across this post here on photographer Jenny Vorwallers blog.... now this kid is going to grow up with a fine appreciation of all things photographic.... tres impressed!

Cool Christmas card

I received this environmentally friendly e-card from my food photographer today. Its pretty nifty so i just thought id share it with you all...

A delivery

There was a bit of excitement going down on Arthur ave this evening, I got home from a long day at work to find this on my door step. Its the second of 10 cameras to arrive home after 3 months of being passed around the world but complete strangers...

If this is the first you have heard of such madness allow me to quickly elaborate. Girl buys cameras. Girl posts a call out on her blog for random strangers from all over the world to sign up to receive a camera. Girl assigns a color and 12 people to each camera... cameras are put into circulation and stop for a little while with each person on the list. Once you have the camera you take two photos of something that's your designated color and pass it fwd. Its that sample.

4 months later and while I'm sad to report 1 camera has already gone missing at the hands of Australia post, 2 have made it back to me safe and sounds and the rest are, I'm assured, are on their way.... to read more about various Hey You! projects click here, here or here!

This one's for you ben

So I asked my oh so hopeful boyfriend what I should write about for tonights post, to which he simply replied "me" - Not a entriely helpful answer, unless he starts expelling Polaroids out his ears there is not much to write home about... So i thought id post this photo of his hairy face instead.

Its taken on my holga using 35mm film slide film and cross processed in the negative chemical C-41. You can learn more about loading 35mm film into your holga here and cross processing here.

"___" is coming to cronulla....

What exactly is "____" I hear you ask? Well i don't exactly know but its my fellow human being and all round creative type Johnny's Surf flick and its showing in cronulla this Sunday the 13th of December sometime after 5pm so if your in the area (and you must be in the area because how far does this world wide web contraption really travel) then come on down to El'Sol for a cinematic treat of soughts.... You wont regret it I promise.... Nothing this bloke does is mainstream and thats why i dig the dude!

Read more here

Green Island Studios Calendar is here!!

Jo Bradford is a super rad photographer and a industrious human being too. Not one to let her Polaroids fade away in the top drawer she's had them published into quite the snazzy looking calender!Like what you see? You can check out Jo's blog here, or purchase a calender here via her etsy store!

A Polaroid Fantastic

Well shit people...we've all seen Polaroids of feet, misty landscapes and sun drenched skies... but how often do you come across shots depicting decapitated dolls heads and Mary Poppins floating through a psychedelic sky....

And the fun doesn't stop there, there's weirdos dressed as tree's and all kinds of crazy shit going on at A Mission Fantastic. Jury is still out as to whether the Polaroids are real or not (that's a lot of film grant if they are) but shots are refreshing all the same....

TLR cameras

Looking for a guide to TLR cameras, perhaps some reviews? or just want to look at some pretty pictures? Well look no further than Holga Blog... They currently have quite the extensive post up at the moment covering everything from general ergonomics, view finders and focusing right through to optical quality and using a flash when it comes to your basic TLR model... get reading. get shooting. enjoy.

A beautiful photo by Nath Oldfield...

If you have a spare minute or ten you should take some time ot check out his blog. The darn thing is riddled with photographic goodness!

Diana leaks light and I love it...

A fellow human I happen to know took this photo of me at the TG4 last weekend... Ive never posted a photo of myself on this here blog, but i figured you cant see my face so its OK, and the light leaks in this shot are so god damn cool I couldn't help but share it with you all.

Its like the Diana has captured the energy floating through the air that day and whats not to love about that!

Hey You! Say Cheese has has a freshn up...

What happens when you tie a disposable camera up in a public place and leave it there for the day? Click here to find out.... New photos, new look. Enjoy the random acts of photos people!

The best Polaroid contest

WARNING! Shameless copy and paste pitch below from the good people at Blur...

***Blur is proud to be the exclusive media sponsor of The Impossible Project, which is re-inventing analogue integral film for vintage Polaroid cameras in the former Polaroid factory in Enschede (the Netherlands).

The company of Polaroid stopped producing the instant film in June 2008, and the expiry date of the last films produced is 9 Oct 2009. After this, it will no longer be possible to purchase instant film – and Polaroid photography would thus be dead and gone forever.

But there is hope – The Impossible Project will launch new instant film materials in 2010. In the beginning of 2010, they will present a b&w analogue integral film for all SX70 and 600 camera models, and colour film will follow in summer, and by the end of 2010 they will bring Image film for Spectra cameras back.

To support this special photographic and artistic moment, Blur magazine, in collaboration with the Impossible Project, is organizing a big international contest of analogue instant photography under the name THE BEST POLAROID PHOTO.

The panel, consisting of leading team members of the Impossible Project and Blur magazine, will select 30 best photographs. These will be presented on the website of Blur, where readers can vote for the BEST POLAROID PHOTO. The five selected photographers will be awarded with attractive prizes, courtesy of the Impossible Project, and the best 30 photographs will be displayed in an exhibition in Zagreb.

There is a certain secret relation between photographer and his/her instant analogue camera, a strong emotional and sentimental devotion. Therefore, we don’t want to limit you with any theme. Instead, we want you to send us your favourite Polaroid photograph, the one you feel mostly attached to, the photograph you believe could win the title of THE BEST POLAROID PHOTO.

Given that Polaroid photographs are so unique, and the authors so attached to their work, you don’t have to send your original photographs, but scanned versions in web resolution. In case your photograph enters the 30 best according to the panel, we will contact you directly so that you send us your photo in high print resolution in order to be exhibited and published in all related promotional materials***

The competition is free of charge and open to all photographers, professional ones and amateur ones.... The down side each photographer can participate by submitting ONE PHOTO ONLY... I know I know! how ever will you choose?

Photographs must be scanned and sent in web resolution 72 dpi, 1000 pixels, Jpeg format, and not that it matters but the prizes are a proverbial wet dream for Polaroid enthusiasts, click here to check out the goods and enter your very best Polaroid.

Attempt the Impossible

Don't forget to pay regular visits to The Impossible Project, the good folk working tirelessly to bring Polaroid film back to the masses.

Ummmm...

They are disposable snaps OKAY

Shitness! I just love a good disposable camera shot and the image above is no exception. It was taken by my blog type cyber friend Laura Mckeller who not only is a amazing artist is pretty handy with a disposable camera.

You can check out more of her work here, here and here.

Hey You! Day at the Park

Hey You! Say Cheese is a little photographic/social experiment I run where I tie cameras to trees, park benches and other random places and leave little notes for people. I tell them to take a photo, to have a little fun. You can read more about this project here on my website....

Recently I tied a camera up at a local music festival called Day at the park, It was bound to be a great day, the sun was shining the sky was blue, King tide were rocking the microphone along with the musical stylings of Mat McHugh and the Beautiful Girls... What better time and place to tie a camera up and let the people have some fun.

Out of every camera there is only ever 1 money shot, maybe 2 if your lucky, and i quickly learnt that those odds decrease somewhat when you tie the aforementioned camera up in a park full of drunk people.

The shots above were clear winners for me. Not only do i love the lens flare on that blue sky... the typography on the Hot Dog stand in the back ground just makes the photo... Its crazy how such a small part of a photos composition can have such a huge impact on its over all presence and effect.

See more hey you say cheese results here

The art of a average day

I stumbled across this blog "Art of a average day" when its creator, whom we shall refer to as J started to follow this here blog. J made a commitment some 365 days ago to document the every day of her life, taking a photo a day and posting them here on her blog!

Yesterday J took her final photo! Congratulations j! Ive blogged about 365 day projects here and here and its always lovely to come across someone triumphant and frothing on life and the completion of their project! I particularly love this shot above, taken on the 364th day!