one kid, one roll, on film :: march

gratitude

Oh, hey, we're back! It's time again for One Kid, One Roll, Once a Month. You may remember that I joined in on this project, which was founded by my friend Jen Golay,  last month and includes some other wonderful Film Mamas. You might also remember that I whined and moaned my way through the whole thing, but that's a story for another day.

I was not thrilled with last month's photos. Not technically at least. My story of not being thrilled but being willing to feel that way resonated with a lot of people, at least. Hold it lightly.

So I had some goals for this month. Aside from just "take a picture!" I wanted to learn and do better and manage the light and focus better (so, "everything") than in last month's photos. I challenged myself a little by shooting a new film (Kodak Portra 800), but you know what? It did go better! I bought myself Elizabeth Messina's The Luminous Portrait and learned so much from the tips she shared in that book. If these photos fall down on being too much the same (style-wise) as last month, they're world's ahead in gaining understanding of light and focus. And my limitations. Plus, Cal got a haircut.

But that's not the story I want to tell this month. I've talked a lot among my forum about how Cal had grown uncomfortable with me taking his picture in recent months. Prickly is too tame a word when it comes to describing his reaction when my camera came out. I blame myself. This summer when I was starting to teach my Intro classes, I used him as a model a lot. Too much, really. Combine the struggle in our relationship with my deepening artistic funk...well, you can see how unhappy I must have been.

That all changed with film. I loaded up Christine's camera and took Cal to the back yard and snapped a couple of shots of him. "That's it?" he said, when I said we were done. Yes. That's all. Not "let me take one more," over and over again. Somehow, with film, he's thawing. He likes its renaissance nature. He likes that it's old fashioned. He likes that I don't take forever. He doesn't always want to help me, but dare I admit it, he likes making me happy.

And the camera I took these shots with? My Pentax K1000? He got it for me for Christmas.

Please go check out Michigan Film Photographer, Dena Robles and her gorgeous work this month. The work in the circle gets better and better as the women grow closer and closer.

spring creeps in

It's been such a funny disjointed winter. Had you heard that thing about New Year's Eve, where whatever you're doing at midnight is the "theme" for your year? Have I talked about this yet? Seriously, I can't remember. So, I thought we'd be in for big excitement this year based on our New Year's Eve. Fireworks! Dancing!

Hmmm. I got it wrong. I think the theme for this year was hunker down. For this winter, at least. We've definitely gone into survival/hibernation mode around here. And then that snow. Things have been disjointed and weird. My classes are keeping me busy, but even they've been on the skids a bit with lots of canceled sessions and make-up days.

I'm also taking a class. Embrace the Grain, with film photog extraordinaire Joyce Kang. It's been exciting and fun and hard. I've gained some empathy for my own intro students as I struggle with understanding. My first scans should be arriving at the lab today (black and white, YIPES!), so maybe (maybe) I'll share some here. That was a big push out of my comfort zone, but you know what? I'm getting ready to load another roll of B&W in the camera today.

But the weather is warmer. Capricious March. (one of Cal's vocab words this week. "Capricious." Not "March.") Baseball practice started last week and games start this week. I love the frenetic pace of it all. But it takes getting used to, no lie. The laundry change alone takes getting used to! Practice pants, uniform pants (why are they ALWAYS white!). Crock pot dinners, altered car pool schedules. Everything has shifted. Time speeds up in the spring.

And blogging. I'm not even sure how to blog anymore. Monday, Wednesday, Friday? Tuesday, Thursday? Never?! I'd love to recapture the structure of this space, but my weeks have felt more reactive than anything. I don't like that. And yet the rhythm of blogging grounds me and keeps me feeling connected to the me-ness of the crazy days and weeks ahead. And you! It keeps me connected to all of you. I'll figure it out. In the meantime, I'm here today. And I'll be here Thursday. And Friday is another installment of One Kid, One Roll, Once A Month. I'm loving that project!

What are you loving these days? Life as it speeds past?