I sold off the rest, it’s just way too expensive to develop and I couldn’t afford to develop the other 15 I had left. I don’t miss it at all, especially the blah slow 100 speed of it, I think I’m gonna start using 400 (Portra 400NC) for a while until I get sick of that. To develop this, I tried a new place at Yonge and Dundas called ‘ElPRO Photo’. It’s a mom and pop kinda place, but while their developing is really cheap, the scanning is pricey. I’m deciding whether I should figure out a way to scan negatives myself (film scanners? flatbeds? software? so many choices, it’s daunting and confusing). Or maybe I should take the advice from John and ask instead for (5×7) prints and just scan the ones I like (do 5×7 prints scan well? honestly I have near zero experience in using a decent scanner)?
Looking over this last roll, I realize that my main problem is that my pictures feel so ‘distant’ there’s not enough close people and joie de vivre in them. That’s something I definitely gotta work on. I’m moving out soon, so I’ll probably be talking about that next!
I’m still figuring out how I’m going to do this blogging thing, but one thing I can’t help but share is this debate between two people I consider personal heroes of mine, Will Alsop and Martha Schwartz, on landscape architecture, public space and the role as architect as master artist.
On one hand, I have to agree with Schwartz that the notion of the architect as the elite and isolated master designer of space and landscape is a romanticized notion that doesn’t really play out that way in the real world. Except for the most artistic, usually bourgeois, of places, landscape is something with a hugely diverse range of stakeholders and influences. Probably too many, to semi-paraphrase Alsop, urban design and architecture becomes too beurocratic and convoluted, individual authenticity is washed away and not encouraged in such a system - leading to banal and crap spaces regardless of budget.
I also think Alsop’s observation that, oftentimes in cities, people eschew designed public spaces for more organic, informal and community derived spaces is also a good one. Maybe the interim solution is encouraging and promoting the designed use of many smaller, intimate spaces instead of ignoring everyday beauty and then heralding the 2nd coming of jesus whenever a famous architect designs (or lends their name to) a large project. *cough* Gerry + AGO *cough*.
I was thinking of starting a photo project, much like how PatPat and Coley Brown are working on the ongoing (and excellent) “growing up” series. Of course, I’m no pro like they are, so I thought I’d start with something small and easy like photographing plants in peoples homes. I think it’s a good place to start because the types of plants people grow and how they arrange them says alot about the hidden insides of a person. Maybe not profoundly, but it’s all in fun.
I’ve kinda been thinking about getting this fancy camera strap for my Ricoh GR1v. it’s like 20$ though. But its fancy material with lots of colors and it seems like it’d be really comfy and thick unlike the cheap Canon freebie I use now - although I haven’t used it in a while since some dumb kids rubbed cake into it.
I’m thinking about a strap now that it’s summer because now that I don’t have a winter jacket pocket, I gotta figure out how to carry around the camera. I don’t want to use my pants pockets because it becomes really tight and bulgy (that and my happiness to see you of course) and also because the condensation in my pants fogs the viewfinder.
So I’m thinking maybe I should just get into the habit of carrying the camera around on a strap around my wrist when i go out instead?
Does that sound dorky?
