on inspiration (why staying up late and getting up early is still the best combination).

last night after work, some friends and i watched a few movies. aferward, i walked home, enjoying what was a pretty warm night for this time of year (read: 0 degrees, celsius). half an hour later - just before bed, home and warm in my room - i drew the blind and saw a blizzard, well underway.

now i've long been a fan of night photography for quite some time, long exposure particularly. i leaned back in my chair, looked to the camera, then out the window, then back to the camera.. you see the pattern developing here. to make a long story short, bed was far too appealing and my camera never moved from the desk. i woke up after a great sleep, somewhat regretful that i didn't take advantage of the opportunity of what could be (ha..?) the last storm of the season, let alone one at night.

thankfully, it snowed again tonight. i got some shots (here's hoping they turn out!) and am really excited to see the results. i picked up some ridiculously cheap film a few days ago and am anxious to see whether it's diamonds in the rough, or.. just rough.

i can't be alone in feeling like too many ideas have just slipped away due to circumstance.. time to make an effort to act upon inspiration.

was that me or did i get a bit cheesy there at the end?

here's something of whimsy to go with that, via the google lat long blog.

No Photo

now that the weekend is almost over, i find myself looking headlong into another wintry week here in nova scotia. the weather has gotten warmer by a small margin, and i've stuck to my resolution to take my camera everywhere. there's a roll in the camera that i plan to finish today and develop either tomorrow or tuesday -being my next day off- and pack up my canon for send-off at the same time.

the most fun part is the complete lack of an actual viewfinder on the camera. the detachable fisheye on top serves as an aid in estimation, but is by no means a true preview.

a topic that i've often discussed with people in person, but haven't talked about much on here is knowing your rights as a photographer. as a person that used to live in a city with a subway system and no shortage of police officers, i often questioned where i was and was not allowed to take photos. rumors flew about everything from people being arrested for taking photos in stations down to a simple request for the photographer to delete the items from said camera. on the contrary, i had also heard about people that stood up to this kind of bullying when taking photos in certain places was obviously a-ok.

here's a story about new york resident robert taylor's experience with the NYPD.
No Photo Ban in Subways, Yet an Arrest.
via [New York Times]

and for internet / obama geeks like myself, here's a bit of amusement.



via [BoingBoing]

let me hear your balalaikas ringing out...

while browsing through my last post, i noticed the fact that i wrote the word area way too many times.

in other news, i developed a fresh roll of film from the trusty fisheye this afternoon. initially i was kind of displeased because a number of the shots were too dark to be used at all, but then when i got them home i was a bit happier. if you ever get the chance to take some photos with a lomo camera of any kind, i highly recommend it. very fun.





so i believe, now that my digital is going to be fixed for free (thanks, Canon!), i'm going to start the infamous project 365. once the digi comes back, it's game on. i guess the goal is to ultimately implement the philosophy into your life in a broader sense - so hopefully all things bloom.

i've got 2 asides today. one is that i've been particularly enamored with back in the u.s.s.r. lately, and today when i opened youtube, i was presented with this little gem - from the movie heartbreakers - in my recommended section.

the second aside is to say that it's impossible to be creative without inspiration, and i'm going to start using this as a space to promote other creative people i know. recently i had a talk with my friend clayton about his new business card. he got a pretty cool one done, and in light of my most recent business trip to halifax, where we got to see the facilities of bounty print, i've been inspired to design my own and get a bunch printed.