This weekend I finally got the first two rolls of film from Wyoming processed and scanned. I’ve been a bit off my game since I moved out because I’ve only shot two rolls. Now that I’m starting to get settled in at my new gig here, I’m hoping to shoot more using my Holga. I’ve gotten into the habit of keeping it in my truck at all times, and I bought a second body so I can have two different types of film ready depending on the weather and exposure outside. I made some modifications to the Holga before loading the second roll. I removed the 6×6 mask inside the camera to allow for increased vignetting and a more imperfect picture. You can see the results of this in the edges of the third frame below.
Black and White
A memory for Valentine’s Day
On Friday, I was assigned to shoot a portrait of Francis Oline, a local WWII veteran living at the Cheyenne VA Medical Center. Oline submitted a touching story about proposing to his late wife to the paper for a Valentine’s Day feature. I was trying to make a nice portrait of Oline with a framed photo of him and his wife, but I kept getting frustrated with myself. The background is too busy. There’s a glare on the frame from my flash. The window is too hot. As this self criticism was running laps through my head, I was having a pretty nice conversation with Oline as he reflected on his life. At one moment as he talked about his late wife, Dolorus, he paused and looked away from me as he reflected on a story in their life together. I snapped a few frames. It was a touching moment, and by far the best photo from the assignment (seen below). It might not be the best composed image, but for me the moment completely trumps the composition in this case. After I had taken several frames, I listened to about another 45 minutes of old stories from Oline, including a very interesting one about hunting buried train robbery treasure near Cheyenne. I felt bad as I had to leave soon thereafter in order to make an afternoon meeting back at the newsroom. Oline is a lovely gentleman and I hope my pictures represent him well in the newspaper.
School children donate hair to Locks of Love to honor teacher with cancer
Christmas snapshots
The older I get, the more I enjoy the holidays. So it has been especially difficult this year since I was forced to work Thanksgiving, Christmas and this Saturday on New Year’s Day. Such is the life of the intern I guess. Somehow I managed to make it home a couple days before Christmas to have an early celebration of sorts with my mom’s side of the family. It was great to see all my cousins that I don’t often get to see. As usual, I had my camera on hand and took a few shots.
Happy Hanger closing after 30 years
There were more laughs than tears on Friday as Sylvia Straw, owner of Happy Hanger in Peoria Heights, prepared to close her store after 30 years in business. The store is closing due to retirement as the owner plans to walk away to focus on painting and traveling in her retirement. The store offered a special on Friday: $1 for a bag full of anything in the store except for clothes hangers or furniture.