about me!

about me!

ok, so that is my face. 

Anyways, my name is Valerie. I grew up in Kenora, a small city in Northwestern Ontario. I always loved music, played a lot of instruments and thought I was going to be a music teacher one day. That didn't happen. At the end of high school I decided to to study business and open my own store. That also hasn't happened. Yet...

Moved to Hamilton for a few years, studied Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Music Business... How does this have anything to do with photography, cameras or blogs? Still not sure.

I later moved to Toronto in 2010 and got a job at a camera store ... See, now it is sort of coming together.

Learned bits an pieces about photography and a friend mentioned to me that I should get shoot with film. I thought it would be a good idea to learn how to do everything manually and maybe it would make my pictures turn out better. Or help me explain things at work without sounding confused or silly.

So I went to the St. Lawrence Market north building on Sundays for their antique market and right then and there I became so interested in everything analogue. Bought a camera because I thought it looked cute. It turns out the film was hard to come by. There is only one store that sells it and luckily they had some in stock. Loaded the film, starting shooting, waited weeks for the film to come back and fell in love!

It was great. The grain, the detail. Perfect. 

Then I started to buy more and more cameras. Testing out the cameras and filling up a photo album and a giant photo box. It is actually a wine crate. So many photos.... A friend at work also started lending me his old cameras to test out, which is awesome since I can't go out and buy every cameras. 

I thought it would be interesting to post the cameras that I bought and the pictures they produce. Over time I could look back and see the improvement or differences in photos from then to photos from now. Anyways, I turned my Tumblr account into a flea market camera thing and recently thought I should move it all over to blogspot. 

Right now I work to pay off debt and will hopefully raise enough money to open my own business in a few years. 

So that is about it! It is also common knowledge that I am a crazy cat lady. 

This blog right now is for fun and learning I guess

Aires 35 V meet Fuji Provia

Hello Blog World!

So the other day my friend at work lent me 3 of his old cameras. The Aires 35 V, Yashica Electro 35 and this crazy Russian Camera (I will post a picture soon). Pretty exciting. Went to the Lomography store in Toronto and picked up a roll of fujichrome provia 100. It was only $5 so i'm pretty sure it is expired.... However! I have never used slide film before and i've never used expired film before... AND I've only used a rangefinder once! This should be interesting. I'm very excited.

What an experiment. Fingers crossed that this doesn't turn out terrible. haha.

Maybe I should let you all know what I shoot with on what cameras.

Usually when I test out a 35mm camera I purchase "Blacks Processing Included" Film. It is inexpensive, made by Fuji and the processing is included! I usually get everything scanned to CD so I don't waste paper. Another bonus is that if the film doesn't work you get another roll for free! Best deal for me at least, for testing cameras. (The Aires 35 V camera is the exception since I had the film on hand).

Now, everything else I pick out for my cameras after I test them is usually what is on sale, inexpensive, or sounds interesting! Since I use a variety of film (35mm, 120 and 127) I get them at different stores in the city (I live in Toronto). Usually Blacks, Downtown Camera, Henrys and Film Plus.

I usually buy film with a low ISO since what I shoot most (as you can probably tell) are outdoor/daytime/street photos. I'm still new to all of this so I don't have a lighting kit or anything fancy.

Here's what I have in my cameras right now...

Aires 35 V - Fujichrome Provia 100f
Pentax MX - Ilford FP4 or Delta (100 or 125)... I honestly do not remember
Ricoh RF 500 - Blacks PI film (400)
Holga - Rollei Retro 80s (B&W)
Kodak Vigilant Junior - Ilford HP5 (400) (B&W)

I'm pretty sure those are the only cameras I have that are loaded at the moment. Too many if you ask me! I guess I need some more days off to go out an take photos.

I am also going to post a little "about me" and a picture of the Russian Camera




-Valerie :)

Yashica Electro 35 GS and Aires 35

Borrowing some new cameras! wahooo! Very excited. Hopfully some photos posted from these two in the next few weeks. Right now I have my Pentax MX, Kodak Vigilant Junior and the Ricoh 500 RF with film still in it. So I guess it would make a bit more sense to finish using those cameras first before loading these guys.

Yashica 44 - second set

Here is the second roll of film from the Yashica 44! I borrowed that camera a while ago and have now returned it. I really enjoyed playing with it. Here are some photos!

Kodak Pony!

The Kodak Pony 135!

This was my first time using a rangefinder and I will admit, I am only posting a few photos because a lot did not turn out so well. Trying out all these new cameras is really helping me work on being patient and figuring out my settings and making the perfect picture happen. Here are some of the photos I took around downtown Toronto.

Best of All! Some crazy double exposures

Instax Fun (Fuji Instax Mini and Fuji Instax 210)

Hello!! Here are some photos from my Fuji Instax 210! It is pretty exciting to see how I am adjusting to the camera. It is a bit tough since it is so cold out and the instant film is quite sensitive to that. I must look like a lunatic on the street taking a photo with this beast of a camera and them holding the film in between rubbing the film for a few minutes and then shoving it in my pocket. Luckily, I am not watching myself. Haha.

Store in China Town

Japanese Ramen Noodle House in China Town

A Church on Church Street, surprise surprise

Allan Gardens in the freezing rain

FUJI INSTAX MINI!

Union Station Toronto

Royal York Hotel

CN Tower

And of course I couldn't help myself. This is my cat mowgli (brown) and my room mates cat, Casanova (orange)

Hope you enjoyed! Thank you

- Valerie

New camera! Kodak Vigilant Junior six-20

Very excited to use this camera! Everything seems to be in working order. I was thinking about going to buy film for it and for my brownie twin 20 but I do have 5 cameras that are loaded right now (7 if you count my instax cameras).... One thing at a time I suppose.

quick update

i'm still new to this blogger/blogspot thing. I sent away another roll of 127 to the outlab and will get it back in a few weeks. First time cross processing and second time using the Yashica 44 camera. I had to return that camera though.

And I purchased a lens online too! Pretty exciting, hopefully will get it mailed in the next few weeks. Then to either, find an adapter and borrow an NEX 5N, find/borrow a rangefinder and test it out... orrrrr sell it. that is always an option.

I get paid this weekend and I am hoping to wake up early enough to check out the market and maybe pick up another fun camera before work on Sunday.

I have a couple half finished rolls in various cameras. trying to find the time to finish the rolls, process and then hopefully post on here! that's the idea, right?

Anyways, here is a photo of the Toronto Waterfront

Thanks for reading my ramble. Photos soon! I hope!