Showing posts with label city. Show all posts

WWPD 2013: Deluge Disappointment

So yesterday was the much anticipated [by me, at least] World Pinhole Photography Day. I've been making pinhole cameras all the time like crazy for something like two weeks, and then what? Deluge. Really. It's been raining cats and dogs since last night. And my biggest pinhole adventure today resulted in me taking a picture from my backyard's balcony in a ten-minute break of heavy pouring.

So this is what my World Pinhole Day 2013 consisted of: a single, instant picture taken with this instant pinhole camera in a ciggy box.


Small wonder the weather sucks, it's Sunday, after all.

World Pinhole Photography Day: what a bummer. Hope the weather gets better asap as I have too many pinhole cameras to test.

Analogue Shopping: Zenit EM and more analogue goodness!

Tomorrow is my birthday and it seems totally appropriate to celebrate it buying myself a new camera, the first one in ages. I've been obsessing over old Zenit SLR cameras for quite a long time now, looking for them on ebay and everywhere else, trying to find a working and not too expensive one, possibly not from Ukraine or Latvia as my country's customs would keep the parcel for ages. Today, after much indecision, I finally treated myself to a Zenit EM.

I decided to only buy the camera body as I'm always worried the lens might have scratches or fungi on it, so I'm going to buy it someplace else than the evil bay. I paid about £15 [+£18 for shipping], the seller seems to have a good feedback and the shipping should take about 5-9 days, but I live in Italy so you never really know ( -_-')

Do I actually need a new camera? Of course I don't. I own more than 50 cameras, plus a whole lot of disposable cameras and various pinhole cameras I made myself, so no, it is totally futile. But I can't wait to get my hands on some Helios lens and try to get some cool bokeh! [like these 1, 2, 3]

Actually, there's plenty more analogue goodness on its way to me for my birthday... A big thank you in advance to the lady below [aka my sister] - rumors have it she's going to give me some packs of the new Impossible Color Protection SX 70 film! <3
Spring seems to have finally set in, the weather is absolutely great, some less-hectic workdays lie ahead and it looks like my creative juices are hopefully flowing again - I really can't wait for some photoshooting action!

LC-A+ Russia Day: Compulsory Ice Cream Date








Whenever N comes back to the city, you are expected to get her to her favorite ice cream bar in town. And that's the only way to get her pose for you. Ice cream. Lots of :-)
I obviously only like the first picture above, the other ones are quite crappy. In my defence, I was just toying around to get to know the distance setting and the lightmeter of this little baby I love oh so much.

LC-A+ "Russia Day" + Fuji Superia 1600 [exp.2009]
Pictures featured in my last article for Lomography.

*Click on the pictures to see them on Flickr or here to see them in my LomoHome*

Canon Ae-1: Forgotten Camden Shots

















A bunch of pictures taken in Camden Town during my last trip to London last April. I completely forgot about these, I guess it was some kind of self-defense, like repression, due to the fact that they're all - let's face it - quite awful.
I didn't want to upload them, but plans are made about adding a mythical new section to this humble blog of mine. I'll most likely add it as soon as I'm done watching every single Law&Order episode ever made and as soon as I'm done with a new translation commissioned by Lomography Italia about some kind of a secret project those guys have been carrying out for some time now - I guess I'm not supposed to talk about it ;-)

I really enjoy this collab with Lomography Italia because not only it allows me to get almost anything I might ever dream of off their shop, but also because I have somekind of a "preview" on new products that will most likely become everyone's obsession within a month or so... I could turn into a Lomo-insider-trading-trend-setter if I ever were to become evil, but alas!, I'm a nice one and I always play by the rules. Too bad, I know!

Now it's 3am and tomorrow's gonna be a tough day, so let me just wish you a lovely week and see ya!

Canon Ae-1 + Kodak Ultramax 400
April 16th, 2011 - Camden Town

Konica Pop: August, Sunday Morning in the City




We don't have skies that blue so often, 'round here. I took this pictures on a hot, early August sunday morning. We went to the city centre, we had breakfast at some pavement cafè, we looked at the shop windows, at the people and the dogs passing by, and slowly reached what I guess you could easily call my city's most famous castle.

As we're all quite artsy people, we decided to visit the castle, which also happens to be my city's Museum of Ancient Art. I'm more into 19th and 20th century art, but I've also developed an interest in Christian religious art throughout the centuries since I was in junior high. There were some paintings by Gaudenzio Ferrari, who was a 16th century artist coming from the place I spent my childhood in, so I'm always glad whenever I have the possibility to take a look at some of his work.

I was particularly impressed by a series of Vanitas paintings, most likely my favorite theme in art [I didn't mean to sound macabre]. I especially loved an almost black and white triptych from circa 1500, just a dark, gray piece, plain oil on canvas, but I've never seen anything like dating so old. I was stunned. Unfortunately, I didn't have a pen with me [which happens something like, one in a million days], so I couldn't take note of all the paintings I wanted to do a little research on: I guess I'll just have to visit the museum again - which is something I love doing!

Also, there were a few amazing stained glass works from the Middle Age from Germany. Amazing indeed, if you're any like me, they teminded me of some German Expressionist woodcuts [another of my art-favorites].

My Konica Pop [the red one] never fails me. I love it to bits. All these pictures were taken on a Lomography CN 400, which yelds quite vivid colors, add the wonderful Konica Pop's lens, et voila, colors will just pop out of your pictures! Sure the sun did help a lot, you know, everything looks perfect on sunday morning, and the city feels so much better in August. We should have summer on sundays all year long!

Olympus µ: Wannabe Medieval Castle



The city I live in is in Northern Italy. It ain't the bast place in the world, and I really don't like it. I wish I knew for sure I will not spend the rest of my days here, but I surely do not want the earth to swallow it all up. Also because all my cameras currently reside here, so you see I really don't wish it to happen.

I experienced the first real earthquake of my life yesterday. It was only measuring 4.3 but it was quite scary anyway, also because our territory is not classified as earthquake-prone so we really didn't expect this to happen.

Now, talking about the city itself, it is full of rot, but it also has its own nice quirks. Like a 18th Century castle made to recreate a medieval town. Does it make any sense at all?

Except for medieval rip-offs and earthquakes, yesterday I was quite happy as another article of mine got published on Lomography.com.

Konica Pop: Crane - To build a building



I miss snapping tons of pictures everyday. I don't have much to take a picture of, at the moment. A new source of inspiration might be on its way, though, but we're not sure about it yet.
Building a building.
The picture above was taken at sunset on May 5th, 2011. Up in the sky are some airplanes during a drill.
Camera: Konica Pop. Film: Fuji Sensia 200 cross-processed in C-41. My crappy photolab uses the cheapest chemicals around, they dilute them and use them over and over, that's why it almost doesn't look x-proed.
I'm quite fond of this photograph, anyway, I especially like the crumbled wall and the colors of the sky.

Konica Pop: Westminster Afternoon


After a yummi hot dog under the London Eye, on April 17th we also went to Westminster and Westminster Abbey. While my classmates and I attended a hearing in the House of Commons back in 2009, I've never been in Westminster Abbey. Once again, I missed the chance to visit it, but as this wasn't my last visit to London I don't really mind, I plan on doing it next time.


I've always loved Gothic architecture, and I think this shot quite conveys the dramatic feeling of a small, powerless human being in front of the majestic height of the House of the Lord, in front of the immense power of God.
I'm so fond of this little red marvel box [my Konica Pop], this was just my second roll, quite a test roll if you consider that I have got the first one developed only after shooting this one. I can't say I'm proud of myself, as the Red Beauty has no options at all: you set the ISO, press the shutter release button, pull the advance lever, shoot again. She did it all by herself, the tiny red bit!


...Looks like someone else's quite fond of their camera too! This is M next to Westminster Abbey's fence in Victoria Street. Once again, her shades made me snap a pcture of my reflection on their lenses. It's addictive, and it makes me feel miserable. So, once again, I'm the little figure holding a red camera reflected in M's shades lenses.


Coming up next: a quick photo-recap of my 21st birthday, aka the day I only shoot one single picture. Quite bizarre, I know.http://www.flickr.com/photos/sidseltilotte/6130329874/in/photostream

Canon Ae-1: Cadmen Town, Afternoon


After a not-so-light lunch we ventured out in the stalls market. It was amazing, as always. Despite liking the cyber-colossus outside, the place I like the least in Camden is Cyberdog. I used to have quite a kick-ass bag and a t-shirt from it some years ago and loved them, but the place itself is too crowded and the music too loud for me. Yeah, my days as a rockstar are over.


I like the atmosphere all around it better. I tried to look for what used to be the staircase featured on The Clash first record, but once again, failed. Also because I had so many shopping bags that I didn't really feel like running back and forth for a mere staircase.



After buying some more t-shirts and cool stuff, we went to Starbucks for my usual Frappuccino. The guy at the bar insisted for me to try it with the cream on top. "Everyone likes cream!", he said: he was quite shocked when I told him I don't like cream at all. Sorry, man. M hates coffee but wanted to be pictured with a Starbucks cup anyway. We had some poser-moments, you know. We all have.


Then we got on the bus headed for Waitrose and then our hotel, as we were already really tired. We were on the back seats, then a man sat next to us. His nails were dirty, his shoes holey, and his appearance wasn't very reassuring at all. He kept staring at the both of us with the corner of his eye, and we were getting quite nervous. He even took some dope out of his pocket and ate it.
We got off the bus, he kept following us, so we went into the supermarket, quite scared of his possible next move. When we went out, however, he was no longer in sight. We got back to our hotelroom and had a shower, dinner, and just fell asleep right away.

Canon Ae-1: Camden Town, Morning


Camden Town. Needless to say, my favourite place in London. Not only for the weird things you can find in its shops and markets, the punks and goths, the food. I love Camden Town because you can go there in your pj's, and no one would give a damn. If they ever notice.


I'm not much of the chaos-lover, I enjoy orderliness and quiet most of the time, but here in Camden nothing seems to bother me. The last time M and I went here, we were looking for an album in a record shop, and when we got out there was a massive fight right in the middle of the street, with police cars, ambulances, and tourists snapping, of course.


This time a few police cars stopped as well, but nothing cool happened. It felt much like a lazy day.


We shopped a lot, mostly in the markets, and had lots of fun as always. I know it's lame, but I have to confess that the first shop we entered as we left the tube was H&M's store, as they had great sales and... well, we seem not to be able to avoid entering any H&M store on our way.


I can't recall what's into this shop, we didn't get in, I guess, and though the picture sucks it was quite impressive in real life. I've also taken tons of pictures of the graffiti in Camden, but the light was awful and my experience with SLR so poor, that I'll better not upload them.


These rainboots. Sweet. I wish I shot this one horizontally as M did. It would have been focused better, too bad. I should really buy a pair of these next time I happen to be in Camden. Anyway, I've bought so many t-shirts i still can't believe I managed to store them all in my luggage.


But shopping was exhausting, so we ended up eating on those vespas along the river. I had a huge hot dog, though I regret not trying some ethnic stuff, but it was yummi enough. M decided to go Brit and had fish&chips, and she did actually regret it. I've had fish&chips once in my whole life and would never ever give it a try again. It just ain't my thing.


Sorry for the lame quality of the pictures, I'll try to fix it asap.

Canon Ae-1: Covent Garden

I went to London with a friend for a few days last April. It never ceases to amaze me how much I feel like belonging there much more than my actual birthplace. Maybe the fact that it feels so ordinary for me to go there is the reason to such a small amount of pictures [four rolls only] and their poor quality. Or maybe it's just because I was all about buying clothes and take the time to shoot some good photographs felt like a waste of time.


Our hotel was a few minutes away from Shepherd's Bush Market tube station. It was quite dirty, and very very small. Everything smelled like curry: the stained, holey sheets, the dark blue curtains, the dusty moquette. I could smell it on my hair too, no matter how much shampoo I used to wash it. The landlords were Paki, the whole neighbourhood was either Paki, Ethiopian, or of other nationalities.




April 15th. We arrived in the city around noon. We had lunch in a cafè in Baker Street  and got to the hotel to leave our luggage, then we went to Covent Garden. The shitty picture below was the first I recall shooting in London. Actually, I took many before, but the first part of the roll got burnt as the camera back accidentally opened. Shit happens.




In the Apple Market there is this cool shop that sells the cutest things. I bought a mug that is kinda kawaii and helped two Italian kids who were having issues with the British Coin System. Which is quite traumatic, at first, for €uropeans.




I love Covent Garden. There is something so relaxing about it. It doesn't even feel like London, to me. It was just a shame we got there a bit late in the afternoon, 'cause I especially love it around noon, on a sunny day.



Being so late, the sellers at the stalls in the Apple Market were leaving. We just walked around, giggling for being in London again. We were just happy and without a care in the world. We saw a guy with crystal balancing balls, M was snapping all the time, I almost didn't, till this shop window caught my glance. The shop was so cool, with its mirrored walls, floor and ceiling. But our feet were hurting, so it didn't feel like the right time to buy heels.




I only bought that mug and Barry M's minty nail polish. We hanged out a bit and went back to the hotel. We stopped at Waitrose, and decided that's our favorite mall in UK. It just had to be. We bought sandwiches and had them for dinner in our hotelroom [nr. 24, let me write it down before I forget it].