I have had a wonderful affair with photography since I got my first camera when I was 9. It was a Kodak Instamatic and used 126 film. I loved that camera! I thought I was sooooo cool because I had a camera.
Most of my childhood memories were captured by my Dad and his Polaroid. It was always cool to be the kid picked to hold the polaroid while it developed and then give it back to Dad so he could peel it apart.
I remember how grown up I felt when my sister Christy gave me her old Vivitar 110. I thought that was such a fancy camera, I still have photos I took with that camera.
In junior high art class I was gently brought into the wonderful world of 35mm. There was no looking back after that. My Mom and Dad got me a great 35mm camera for my high school graduation, my prized Minolta.
I used that camera for countless rolls of film in college and took over Dad's roll of photo documentor of all family events. I now have at least 3 plastic totes in the basement of photos from all those years of film.
Then came the age of digital. Oh the technology. No more film, no more wasted shots, and wow, editing on the computer. I am now on my 4th digital camera. Started out with a Polaroid pdc640, it had an amazing .3 megapixel! Hmmmm how did we progress back to Polaroid! Then we upgraded to a Fuji FinePix A250, with an outstanding 2 megapixels (hmm, no photo available for this one). This camera actually had a screen on the back and you could view the photo instantly! Oh, be still my heart! I then moved onto a lovely Olympus, still point and shot but *gasp* it records video with sound! Oh, the advancements in technology! the other thing about the Olympus (I still use this camera at family parties so I can use the video portion) is that it had more of the look of a 35mm camera and felt like a "real" camera to me.
This past summer I got the camera I had been lusting over for several years, my Canon Rebel DSLR. Oh how I love this camera. The biggest thing I realized when I first started using this camera however, was that I had lost a lot of my photography skills due to using point and shoot cameras for several years. I had to do a review of depth of field and exposure and apature settings.... Yikes, how quickly we lose knowledge when we don't use it. So now I am still practicing with all the nuts and bolts of photo techniques again.
Please don't get me wrong, I still (in my humble opinion) took really great photos with the point and shoot cameras and the three photos I won awards with were from my Olympus. I think if you have an eye for photography it doesn't matter what camera you use, you will still get good photos.
So now, my latest adventure in the amazing world of photography is with a Holga. A Holga is a plastic fixed lens camera that uses 120 film and can use 35mm film. I got intrigued after seeing photos on various websites from this type of camera. So, of course I had to get one. I shot my first roll over the last few weeks and got it developed last week. I used 35mm B&W film because I had a roll on hand and I couldn't wait for the 120 film to arrive in the mail. I like the basic techniques of this camera. The Holga is well known for it's grainy photos and most of these cameras have light leaks and yes this is on purpose. I like how the photos look old and nostalgic. It was fun to use B&W film again. I didn't have to worry about colors clashing! So, I thought I'd share my first photos. I now have my 120 film and will be working with that soon.

So, that is my self-serving diatribe about my love of photography. It is part of who I am. I am that annoying relative always saying "let's take a picture" at family get togethers. I have finally gotten a lot of confidence in my photography and don't care if anyone "likes" my photos anymore. I just love taking them and that is my gift to myself.











Well the holidays are done and I am hoping things will settle down and get back to a "normal" routine.
I wanted to share the wonderful gift I received from my bestest friend Carrie. Carrie and I have been friends since high school and have stayed in touch all these years and visited each other even though we live in different states. Carrie sent me a wonderful, hand crafted clock that she made. I love it for it's beauty and I love it because she thought enough to make it herself just for me. I will treasure it always. Thank you my friend!



On Sunday I took another of Kelly Kilmer's wonderful classes. The class was titled "Bloom". We bound a paper journal from scratch and then worked on painting and collaging the pages. I always enjoy Kelly's classes tremendously. Kelly is such a great teacher and I always feel encouraged and motivated in her presence. Below are some photos of my journal. It is the largest I have made so far and I look forward to filling it!


















Sunday December 6th dawned cold and clear. No sign at my house of the snow that hit other areas. No matter.... I was determined to go to the BazBizBos regardless of what mother nature had in mind. The BazBizBos is an annual crafters fair, this year being held at the Cyclorama in Boston. This was my second year to go and I am hooked. It is well worth paying a bit more for admission to get a ticket for the early bird shopping. You get to go in and shop with only 99 other people from 11-12. The doors open to the general public at 12. Beleive me the crowd that gathers is HUGE, we are talking thousands of people.
After doing my usual prep for driving somewhere I haven't been before (maps, directions, google earth views, charged cell phone) I headed out. The ride was very very easy and I shouldn't have been at all concerned. But I am a novice when it comes to driving in Boston. Put me on the T and I can go anywhere with confidence...put me behind the wheel and I tend to be a bundle of nerves. Well I made it fine, found the parking garage and was only 45 mins early!
The doors opened and all the early birds headed in with excitement but orderly. The main reason I love this bazarre is the creativity of the crafters. It isn't your typical craft fair with conservative items my by granny types. These are hip, young crafters pushing the limits of their selected mediums and having a blast doing it.
I don't usually buy a ton of stuff. While I am admitted shopping fiend, I love to go and just enjoy the creativity that is abundant there. It gives me inspiration to try things in my own art because I see others thinking outside the box.
After I shopped and browsed I headed out for a stroll over to a store called The Paper Source. I have been wanting to check this store out for awhile but the only locations here are in the city. Soooo, I walk over and have a great time browsing but alas don't make any purchases. Don't get me wrong, they have wonderful things and a HUGE selection of great papers....but it seems it is the same stuff I have seen online and at other stores before. Still worth the walk and browsing is never bad.
I also was trying out a new camera that day. I purchased a Holga plastic fixed lens camera. This camera is used to practice what is called Lomography. It is nice using such a simple basic camera sometimes and creating interesting photos with out the use of electronics. Still have to get the film developed, can't wait to see what I made!
The only snag I had is that when I prepped my directions for my excursion, I didn't think to do some for when I had to go home.... The street I came to the location on was one way so I wasn't able to just go back the way I had come which is my usually departure plan. Soooo, I let intuition be my guide and held my panic in check and low and behold made all the right choices and found my way to Comm Ave which led me right back to the highway and my escape route. Thank you travel gods for your guidance!

Here are photos of my BazBizBoz purchases:







I completed constructing the first journal using the one of the embossed copper panels I made. I am mailing this off to a friend tomorrow.






I took a wonderful collage class last night at the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury with Marie Zaccagnini. Marie is a wonderful and talented teacher who inspires your creativity. We started out with painting techniques using acrylic paints, gel medium and water color crayons. It was fun playing with the colors and those water color crayons are AWESOME. (hmmmm, perhaps some might find their way into my stash for christmas)



After we painted our pages we practiced collage layouts. I always have a blast choosing focal images and trying out different compositions. I had such a great time and learned lots and increased my collage/journaling confidence. Thanks Marie!





Haven't posted in a while. I took a second class at the Scrapbook Cupboard in E Bridgewater a few weekends ago. This class was to learn more techniques working with metal.
So I had some time yesterday to play around. I made two metal panels that I will be using on journal covers.
I had fun and think they came out really good.


On this panel I used an old key I found while digging in the garden a few years ago. I just did random positioning and then used some blue and purple inks to lightly highlight the sanded areas.


This small panel was done using a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I don't have a Cuttlebug machine so I just used a rolling pin and it worked fine.

I will post photos of the completed journals when they are done.
I took a really fun class at Scrapbook Cupboard taught by Kim Parkinson.
I had such a great time. We embosed metal and then used it to assemble a journal. We used 6 techniques to decorate the pages and prepare them for journaling.

It was so awesome to get my hands all paint covered and just be able to create with abandon.

















Gene and I made our annual trip to the Marshfield Fair and had a good time. I love seeing all the animals at the fair and watching the people. Thought I would share some of the photos I took.


This cow was too funny, I have no idea why it was doing that with it's tongue. Sorry it's sideways... couldn't get it to post the right way.
lots of pics of my flowers after a night of rain....