So we sneaked away for a few days. This baseball-loving family headed south, way south, where spring begins when pitchers and catchers report to Major League Baseball's Spring Training. I took a leap of faith and traveled only with film cameras and my phone, so my real post on our trip will come later, when my scans come in. As always, fingers crossed.

There were some mishaps. Cal caught a cold. I lost a dear and beloved button (decorative, but did I mention beloved?) for my camera. We didn't get enough beach time (better planning next year) and we were stuck in the Newark airport for hours on the trip home.

But. But. Why have we never done this before? Leaving behind 36ºF and sleet for 82º and sun and sand was just about the best idea any of us has had in awhile. And Spring Training itself? Well, give me this over a regular season game any day. I'll tell you more about our adventures when my film scans come in, but let me say this: Neel and I plan on retiring right there in Clearwater Beach, and working for the Phillies. Hopefully next year.

Nantucket has been wind-swept and snow-covered for most of this winter (have you seen these photos of the slushy waves?), but since we're traveling this week, I thought I'd share some photos from our trip there this past Thanksgiving.

I look at these photos now, and I'm eve more convinced that hold it lightly is the way to go. When they first came back from the lab, I didn't love them. They were my first shots on Kodak Portra, a pro-grade film (I'd been using cheap-o drugstore film up till that point), and I was using a found, new-to-me camera as well. Even though I'd run a test roll through that camera, turns out it was shot (RIP), and my images reflect how it was fading.

But patience is key and waiting cures many ills, and it turns out that I quite like many of these photos now. I see their flaws and their technical issues, but the truth is that they feel like Nantucket to me. It's always storming when we go there it seems, and these photos feel like those windy beaches and lowering gray skies. Charcoal gray cast against ivy green? Yes, that says Nantucket to me.

All images shot on Kodak Portra400, on a PentaxK2 (RIP).

spring break/spring training

nantucket on film {life}