A place to return to

One of the local spots that I like to go back to over and over again is the Red Cliffs Recreation area. Normally it is somewhere I hike with friends, but on occasion, I like to go when I know it will be quieter and I walk through the hills and canyons alone.
On one of those quiet days, I took the following Polaroids:

standing in sunlight

its' complicated

season attraction

Of the above photo, my Flickr friend Jacki wrote, "Like a dream that fades into the light when you wake..." I really love her way with words. For me, words and images occupy separate and distinct places in my brain. If I am thinking in imagery terms, that is when I photograph what is around me. If I am thinking in terms of words and verbal connections, then I write. But writing about my photographs has never been my strong point. It is something for me to work on, for sure.

view of red cliffs

This last image wasn't actually take at Red Cliffs, but just outside, in Leeds, UT. It is a pioneer-era building that is now on the edge of a mobile home park. It was such a contrast. There was this old stonework building still holding on, still claiming the shape of a home after 120+ years, and it was next to so many pre-fabricated quickly constructed homes. 

homestead

The blue-toned photos were taken using Blue 100 Type film on my Polaroid 350 land camera.
The remainder of the photos were shot on my SX70 Alpha camera using PX 70 Color Shade film from The Impossible Project. These were some of the first photos I shot on this film.

The rest of Polaroid Week. . .

It was such an amazing, inspiring week. There were people that came out of the woodwork, so to speak, and tried their hand at using their old Polaroids and found that they could work magic. There were people who had taken an amazing shot months ago and held onto it to share it during Polaroid Week. And there people like me, running around taking road trips so that they'd have a few new sights to share. Granted, I didn't get that far away from home, but I still wanted to try to share a few new things, some stuff out of my comfort zone. . .
So here are the rest of my submission from Polaroid Week:

at the dock

curious lamb

little lambs

beachcomber's collection

radishes

wading

homestead

view of redcliffs

How I spent my Easter

First was church, and enjoying the real meaning behind Easter. And then when everyone else was doing family dinners and such, Jon and I took a drive with our dog out to Arizona. We took her on a hike with us and I took a bunch of photos of the storm that rolled through. We thought we'd be avoiding the bad weather by driving south, but instead we got caught in the middle of it. It made for some pretty nice photos though. There were lots of mountains, clouds and Joshua trees.

The first shot was taken on a Polaroid SX70 Sonar camera. The film is PX70 PUSH! from The Impossible Project.

As a comparison, the next two shots were taken on a Polaroid SX70 Alpha camera using The Impossible Project's new PX680 film. I was using a beta test pack, so it has some tiny white specks, but those are sure to disappear when the real stuff rolls out on May 5th!

The next two were taken on a Polaroid Spectra System camera using expired Softtone film.

The last three shots were all taken on my Polaroid 430 land camera using expired 690 film.

As you can tell from the last photo, the storm didn't last terribly long. Within a couple of hours it was all but spent and the clouds really started to dissipate. Our pup did awesome for all the new stuff we were throwing at her on this excursion, and we really enjoyed being out in nature. 

Ridiculously lucky

So earlier this month Jon and I had the great luck to be able to visit my folks in Texas. We ran about taking photos of all kinds of things we don't have around here and just enjoyed ourselves. On our last full day there, we all drove out to Galveston and wandered around taking photos of downtown before heading out to the beach. That is one big thing that I miss living in my landlocked desert. I was so grateful to have that day though. And now I have photos to remind me of that wonderful day spent in saltwater and sand.

I am still waiting to get some of my film back, but I do have Polaroids of that day to share:

Sand dunes captured by my Polaroid Spectra camera. Softtone film.

More sand dunes as seen through my SX70 Alpha camera. PX70 PUSH! film.

These next two shots are ones that I feel really lucky to have caught. I mean, who doesn't have a few shots (or fifty) of seagulls flying overhead? I remember some pretty lame shots of birds half cut out of the frame when I was a kid. Then the digital age came around and you could snap a few hundred photos and either keep the ones you liked or Photoshop them to make them into something cool. But these shots? They are straight out of a Polaroid camera--no photo manipulation is involved. This is where the luck comes into play.

The first is overexposed because it flew right away from my black box (where I put my film the second it comes out of the camera to keep it from getting overexposed). Normally I hate it when my shots get overexposed--they get all washed-out and boring. But not in this case. You still can tell what's going on and I think that the pink adds to the dream-like effect. Plus, just check out the way the birds posed for me while flying:

Geometry in flight.

Seagulls captured on my SX70 Alpha camera, PX70 PUSH! film.

The second photo has a more flowing geometry. It is much more organic. But again, I lucked out-- it isn't too busy and I caught several birds completely in the frame and focused. Did I mention that this camera doesn't have auto-focus? I had to dial it in and capture it while the gulls were busy doing their thing. 

Lavender Gulls

More seagulls, this time in a more loose pattern. 

SX70 Alpha camera, PX70 PUSH! film. 

Please stop by to check out my Flickr photos if you have a moment. 

Flickering leaves

I just had to get a photo that really demonstrates how well the new 680 film by The Impossible Project captures blue skies.

This photo was taken on my SX70 with PUSH! film a while back.

I love the effect, don't get me wrong. But magenta is not the color that the sky was that day. And the mountains the background were not purple.

But look at the sky in this next shot:

Blue. Yes, indeed. It just may have made my heart skip a beat to see it fully developed.

Things are growing around here

We've been at work trying to get our little garden to grow. I've been in charge of the flowers and starting seedlings.
This is what we've got so far:

Hyacinths. SX70 Camera, PX70 PUSH! film.

Tomato starts. SX70 Camera, PX70 PUSH! film.

Nasturtium. Olympus OM-1, Lucky film 200iso.