Digital Denial

Once I got tired of self-portraits, I found myself drawn to the the bridge itself. Details of decay, wood grain and rusted metal… These things will always fascinate me.

The property we live on is a triangle, bordered by a small rural highway, the CN railroad, and Ochre River, which is the namesake of the town.

Where the river and the tracks meet, there is a lovely old train bridge, perfect for hanging out under and having a drink, or perhaps pointing your own camera at yourself, and try to convince yourself that to do so is not vain. Or not entirely vain, at least.

(better is when you point the camera at someone else. Keep an eye out for that…)

Winter Blues Transformed Into Peculiar Behaviour.

(Or, a pictorial narrative of the writer as consumed by a young chair)

The kitchen is not only a space in which to create culinary works of art….

The winter has been stretching on seemingly without end over here, and (possibly?) as a result, I’ve been feeling pretty blah about any photos I’ve taken lately.

However, it’s (finally!) beginning to get warmer here, and (perhaps?) as a result, I’m getting stoked about the images I’m shooting again.

So here then, are more photos taken with long exposures under the light of the full moon.

More from 2006. I spent a lot of time walking around the downtown that winter/spring. I didn’t have much else to do.

I guess a love of decaying brickwork is one thing that this guy and I have in common. Perhaps we’re not so different after all.

When you review things you made in the past, old songs you wrote, paintings you made in highschool, etc, what is your reaction? 

Are you embarressed by the style and asthetic of your past self? Are you inspired, impressed at what you did then? Do you find an earlier version of yourself reflected by the things you looked at, the ways in which you were creatively different then you are now?

These are from 2006, and the person reflected in them is almost unrecognizable to me. I don’t see urban details like this to the degree I did then. Or at least, I am no longer as interested in photographing them. At this point in my life, I had no friends in the city I was living. Perhaps as I began to meet people, my focus shifted towards photographing them, which is now one of my main passions.

How have you changed since then?

A sticker I found on a lamp post, once.

Some of you will think this is wonderful, others will think it’s hella cheesy.

You’re both right.

Sometimes wandering around with one of these plastic toy cameras is so liberating.

All I’ve got to do is point, and shoot.

(more 3D magic. It almost makes my head hurt, to be honest. But it sure is neat.)

For 127 day (January 27th, a day to make a point of shooting 127 medium format film) this year, I again hauled out my adorable little folding camera from the 20’s or so (as featured in this post, when I though that 127 day was dec. 7th), and one of the few incredibly expired rolls of 127 film I have kicking around.

This time around it seemed like a good idea to pretend to be crotchety old people. Probably this was inspired by Celeste’s Old Man Sweater.

The results are kind of messy because this roll of film was colour, but used C22 process, rather than C41, which is the process used to develop modern colour film. Researc suggested that I could theoretically mix my own C22 chemistry, but I am not (yet) that much of a exparimental chemist.

I chose to compromise, and develop it as black and white film, which can be done, but is an imperfect process. Especially when your film is older than you by at least a decade.

I plan to try monkeying around with that camera so I can shoot some 35mm in it someday soon, so perhaps one day I’ll be able to use film from the 21st centry in it, and we’ll see what it can do!