Sweet Rosie

Last week I needed to take a trip to Dallas to deliver a couple of my prints, and I had some time to tool around my hometown, alone, with my camera.  The first place I stopped off was the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority garage.  Before I actually got into the garage, I ran into this sweet little lady.

This is Rosie. She's 100 years old!

The moment I stepped into this streetcar, I could feel a sense of her, like I
feel when meeting a person for the first time.

I don't know what this does, but it's pretty, isn't it?

All rides are free, but please make a donation so Rosie can stay as beatiful as she is now.

Later, when I finally made it into the garage, I found out that Rosie may love her passengers, but she is a cantakerous old woman.  The head mechanic told me that she has a reputation among the streetcar mechanics of MATA.  "She'll hurt you if you let her," he told me.  I'd be a little fiesty, too, if I were 100 years old!

Find out a little about Rosie's history, here.  And here's a little movie I found of the streetcars that were in operation around Fair Park in Dallas in the 1950's, before the took them all off the road and replaced them with busses.  Legend has it that the day after they took them off the road, a huge blizzard hit Dallas.  Not a single bus could make it out.  That would not have been a problem for these lovely streetcars.  I'm so glad we have them back.



Playing with the Lensbaby 2.0

I've had a Lensbaby 2.0 for atleast a year now and I've just now gotten around to taking it out for an afternoon.  I've seen some beautiful photographs made with one of these things, both landscapes and still lifes.  I am no where near controlling this thing like I'd like to, but I'm having fun playing with it.

Here's a little video made by the inventor that shows how to use the Lensbaby that I have:

The Lensbaby website also has some videos and a gallery, so you can see what a photographer who knows what she's doing can do with it.  I need way more time with this little toy!

Vintage Photography Book Find

Lookie what I found!! Published in 1972, packed with beautiful photographs from that time AND a special section devoted to One-Step Photography. Specifically, my love: the Polaroid SX 70.

Below is a statement by a wonderful man, Edwin H. Land, that I just had to share. (Click on it to see it larger so you can read it, silly!)

And here are the diagrams from the book that illustrate exactly how this wonderful camera works. (Click on the diagram to view larger.)

Brilliant, huh?!

Through the Viewfinder - for REAL

This past weekend, I FINALLY had the opportunity to shoot some REAL TtV's!

But before I took the plunge and bought an Argus Argoflex 75 off of Ebay, I did a lot of research and found the BEST instruction on how to do this. Aside from being a wonderful photographer, Andrea (of hulaseventy.blogspot.com) is a genius explainer and I just love her sense of humor.

HERE are her instructions on how to shoot through the viewfinder of a twin lens reflex camera. In her blog post on this subject, she lists some great references - even a place to find a template for the cardboard contraption that goes between your digital camera and the twin lens camera viewfinder (to block out the light). I started making the contraption then realized it was for a different type of camera. So I ended up just cutting up a cereal box, wrapping it around the camera to fit snugly, and taping the crap out of it with black electrical tape. It ain't pretty, but it works just fine.

Shooting this way is a bit awkward at first. You are basically shooting (on the macro setting) the viewfinder of the twin lens camera through the cardboard tube and you can't really see what you're getting until you get home and upload your images. This is what most of my images looked like before processing.

But when you get home, WOW is it ever fun to see how they all came out! These are some of the images I ended up with.

So, needless to say, I'm bringing my little Argus contraption with me everywhere I take my digital camera. I love the way the world looks through the viewfinder of an old camera. This little Argus happened to arrive with lots of dust particles around the viewfinder, even a little bit of crud and I really like all the imperfections. To view more REAL TtV images, visit the Flickr pool HERE. To read TONS more information on this process, visit the Through the Viewfinder blog HERE.

And have fun!

Anna