Babylon

I went on a couple of short hikes. Checked out the petroglyphs, desert blooms, and plenty of red rock beauty. Yep, I really like this place.

Looking for fall

The colors are slow to change here, and sometimes they just don't. Sometimes things will be just inching along towards a colorful display and then a frost will hit and all the leaves get kicked off the trees. So a couple of weeks ago, I went off with my hubby and our friend Kyle in search of fall colors. As it turns out, there is a great resource online for just such a thing for our area. We went out to Parowan, UT and took the gravel road up to Yankee Meadow and then onto the reservoir. The drive was relaxing and traveling through varying altitudes gave us a variety of shots.

I used my Polaroid SX70 Alpha camera for the square shots and my Keystone 60 Second Everflash for the others. I love that I can decide what mood I want by choosing the format and color tones based on camera and film choice. And, as always, I love unpredictable nature of using expired of experimental film. I mean, who would have thought that snow would come out looking more like a creamy sunshine yellow or that a field of aspens would come out so rosy? 

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.

Taylor Creek

I hike the Taylor Creek Trail with a couple of friends yesterday. It is found in the Kolob section of Zion National Park. The trail is an easy hike with a bunch of creek crossings, two historic cabins, and at the end of it, there's a double arch alcove. The first photo is from the alcove looking back towards the trail home. I took it on my SX70 Alpha camera using The Impossible Project's PX70 PUSH! film. For this photo I used a turquoise filter and had the lighten/darken wheel in the middle. I like that some blue came out, but that the photo retained some hazy pink tones.

This next photo is of a grove of Juniper trees growing along side the trail right by one of the historic cabins. It was taken in the same conditions as the shot above, except the wheel was set all the way to lighten. A lot more green tones came out in this photograph, which I thought was really pretty great.

I adore the new film that The Impossible Project came out with, but I have really learned to love playing with the PUSH! film. I'll admit it--initially it wasn't my favorite. I'd gotten used to First Flush (how it worked, its color palette) and it took me a while to really take advantage of what PUSH! had to offer, but I think the challenge of PUSH! is what endeared it to me. While the day will soon come when I'll finish my stash of PUSH!, I'll be grateful for the things I've learned from it. It really did help me push myself to try new things (like development temperatures, filters, lighting  settings, etc).

My new home

Having traded in four seasons for three and a quarter, I find that I have moved from one desert place to another. I gave up familiar places for something different, for a new color palette and a new life.

An old photo from my old place:

And now a few from my new neighborhood:
 

 

All of the above photos were taken on my Holga N. The top photo is cross processed slide film (EV 100S) and a photo of Lehi, Utah. The next two are Cedar Breaks, Utah, and the last three are Bryce Canyon, Utah---unknown color film.