the melancholy

i was diagnosed with depression in march. it came as a shock, even though i had been joking about being depressed for years. years.

you see, whenever i didn’t have plans or a job to go to, i would just stay in bed or lay around and feel sad (this happened at least monthly, sometimes more ). and then i would feel like i was wasting my life by not using those moments productively or adventurously. when i was a kid, i slept in a lot and my parents always told me i was wasting that time… you should get up early to seize the day. but getting up early was never my thing, i couldn’t do it. so i beat myself up over it for years. years. like thinking what is wrong with me? why does everybody else have this figured out? (i know that’s not true but brains like to get dramatic, don’t they?)

carpe diem

i’m learning more and more every day to appreciate the present. this is one of the things that I have always enjoyed about shooting film.

i’ve gotten away from shooting and sharing film these last few years. i am coming back to it, back to this space, and back to flickr. 

baby steps. here we go. rise and shine, world.

mamiya c33 / kodak ektar 100 / spring 2014 / home

finding your way

If you’re feeling frightened about what comes next, don’t be.

Embrace the uncertainty. Allow it to lead you places. Be brave as it challenges you to exercise both your heart and your mind as you create your own path towards happiness, don’t waste time with regret.

Spin wildly into your next action.

Enjoy the present, each moment, as it comes; because you’ll never get another one quite like it. And if you should ever look up and find yourself lost, simply take a breath and start over. 

Retrace your steps and go back to the purest place in your heart… where your hope lives. You’ll find your way again.

+ + +

february 2013  |  ladd’s addition, portland, oregon
mamiya c33  |  tri-x 400 |  developed by citizen’s photo  |  self-scanned
quote from the television show Everwood.

happy national cat day!

this long neglected space has been in desperate need of an update. what better day to start than national cat day?

here is the story of my beloved cat and her surroundings on a pleasant spring day.

mamiya c33 | kodak ektar 100 | developed by citizen’s photo | scanned by me

more soon!
—vanessa

$5 print sale

Hey friends,

Happy friday! I’m having a $5 print sale over on my instagram account, right now.

They are 5 x 5″ prints of my film work (you may see a couple of 5 x 7″ in there too though). The prints are more beautiful in person, all printed professionally on lustre paper.

Don’t we all need more art in our lives and on our walls? Well, you can’t beat this price. And if you snatch up two or more, I will include free shipping anywhere in the USA. See the deal just got sweeter!

Here are some of the photos for sale but there are a lot more over on instagram and I will be posting throughout the weekend. First come, first serve, there is only one of each print available.

 

I will probably run this through Monday and then call it good, this is definitely a limited time offer! Check it out!

 

Have a great weekend.

it’s tulip time!

hey there.

let’s get back to film shots, shall we? i just realized my last two posts were digital photography, which don’t get me wrong, is totally awesome. but film has my heart. i prefer to shoot it, but i can shoot any camera really {I mean that in the least conceded way possible}.

a couple weeks ago i spent an evening at the wooden shoe tulip festival with a couple of my very talented photo friends (katie and danielle). it was a gorgeous night, but also very chilly. i am so glad i went. the light was ah-mazing! it was so cold it took most of the ride home for me to warm up again.

today i am sharing my instant photos from that evening. i took some 35mm and some hassy shots too but we will save those for another time. it’s good to stretch out the tulip bounty a bit, it’s just so much pretty. and it’s good to save a bit of color for the dreary days. {in Oregon, there are always dreary days ahead}

*before you go on, may I ask one favor? Each photo, please pause and give them a second. Give them your full attention for that second. Don’t just scroll through. Really look at them. Think of it like a museum exhibit. Thank you for visiting. And for giving each images it’s due.*

the wood bordered shots above are the impossible project PX680 american woods edition made with my polaroid 600 // the shots in-between them are fujifilm peel apart film FP-100c made with my hasselblad 500c/m.

these last four were made with the impossible project PX70 and my sx-70. this was with the film dial set to the middle. i was a bit disappointed at first cause they are so washed out but i’ve learned to love them. 

they are more like paintings of what the tulip fields would look like in a dream.

this last shot here… definitely a fave. 

thanks for visiting. see you again next week.

one.fourteen.thirteen

hey friends,

i just got a scanner at home so i thought i would share a couple of instant photos that i took this morning (and a few of their iPhone counterparts).

these flowers at my kitchen table were my muse.

i hope you are having a lovely week.

 

i will share more words here soon. but not tonight. i just wanted to say hello and wish you well.

1: polaroid 101 with fp-100c // 2+3: polaroid spectra with TIP PZ600 UV+ // 4+5: iPhone 4s with vscocam

by car, by boat, by foot

Just over a week ago, my boyfriend Cal & I, my Dad & his girlfriend Diane, and a couple of my Dad’s running friends (Dana, Mary Lou, & Ron) all travelled up to Victoria, B.C. to run some road races. Cal & I ran the 8k road race; Dad, Dana & Ron ran the half-marathon. Mary Lou and Diane were our cheerleaders. The weather was amazing the whole time and we all had so much fun.

I took this whole roll that day starting with the ferry ride. I took many more photos along the way but I thought sharing this one roll, taken over about 8 hours on the first day of our trip was a nice way to tell this story. It has the feeling of an adventure.

It was a lovely 4.5 hour drive to Port Angeles, then an hour and a half ferry ride into Victoria. I fell a bit in love with the look of the water from the Ferry.

We got into Victoria around 3 p.m. We all stayed at the Empress(!) so we got off the ferry and checked right into our hotel.

 

How awesome is my boyfriend for carrying my bag there? He’s pretty awesome.

 

 

The shot below is the view from our room. I love all the ivy growing on the Empress. Such a gorgeous place.

And this next photo was the view from my Dad & Diane’s room. I wanted to go check out this little courtyard but never got a chance too. Next time!

Aren’t these old ships awesome? I would love to take a trip on one.

We took a trip to Spinnakers on one of the little harbor taxi’s, so fun!

Had to have a beer, to try out the local brews… I went for the tasting option. 4 beers instead of 1.

This was the view from our table at Spinnakers. Not too shabby.

We headed out just as the sun was setting. We had a long walk back to our hotel and once the sun was down, it really started to cool off.

It was a perfect first day in Victoria. I hope to share more photos from the trip here soon.

All photos in this post were made with my Olympus OM-2n, 50mm 1.8 lens and a roll of Kodak Ektar 100 film.

maryhill

Where can you find an art museum, a winery & a replica of stonehenge within a mile of each other? Why Maryhill, Washington, of course!

It’s such an unexpected place. My parents took me there when I was a wee child and I have fond memories of it. I have always meant to return there. Last September, just over labor day, my dad invited us to go visit with him and his girlfriend (now fiancé). We willingly took him up on it. (Us and we always means my boyfriend Cal & I. :)

Here is what we saw on that gorgeous, late summer day.

a new appreciation

I’ve been looking through my photos a lot lately because I recently saved all my film photos to my phone. I am really enjoying having them all in my hand. It’s also making blogging easier.

These photos are from mid-January, and initially I thought them to be too dark, too boring. Now, here in almost October, I’m finally seeing their beauty.

Have you looked in your archives lately? I bet there are some jems in there.

words

As many of you know, I participate in a photography project called Words to Shoot By. Every couple of weeks we shoot three new photos (in any format) interpreting a word. We had a special post today that had our normal crew plus 16 guests! I have to say, it’s one of the most beautiful posts I have seen in a while.

Below are the three images I contributed for today’s post. Our word was water. I made these images with my Olympus OM-2n, 50mm 1.8 lens, and Kodak Ektar 100 film at the end of August while boating across the ever gorgeous Redfish Lake in Idaho. Such a lovely place.

This was a really fun one to shoot for! Now go check out everybody else’s!

behind the scenes

one of the perks of being a graphic designer (well, i consider it one) is being able to get behind the scenes at a print shop. i shot these photos back in april when we did a tour for my work. i always meant to share them here so since i am trying to catch up on my 366 that i post to flickr… why not post the rest of them here too?

this is looking inside the digital press… i loved seeing all the ink.

a digital press is a rather complex machine…

this is a bigger, more standard press…

so much paper. i love the smell and feel of it.

binder waste… fun to see it in action.

they had a letterpress on hand too. so cool!

the light was a bit low so i had a hard time with theses, hence a bit of blur here and there. i wanted to take so many more photos but felt a bit conspicuous with my big camera.

All photos here were shot with my Mamiya C33 on April 10, 2012.