checking in

Hello, friends!

The end of April is the end of many things for me... I'm finally done my BFA, and done all 18 years of school that I will ever do (well... maybe). I'm pretty much done my film, Sand, although I feel you can never be truly finished with a film. Annnd it's the end of this carefree student youth life I've been living. I've got to start my career!

What better way to start your adult life than to have your parents visit and treat you to dinner and drive you around town for a few days?

This week we had a few film screenings at school: AltDoc, where we screened the course work from the alternative cinema production and documentary production classes, and we had the Persistence of Vision Film Festival. The work put out by UBC students this year was truly phenomenal so if you're looking for a film school or just looking for local talent, please check it out. There are DVDs available from our program office on campus. If you live in Vancouver and missed the festival this year, it'll be back next April, so make a note of it!

Furthermore...

The annual camera trade show & swap meet in Burnaby was last sunday, which is the Mecca for all the crazy people like me who feel like they need more than 10 cameras at a time. It is always fun, and everyone is so friendly and happy to talk to young camera and film enthusiasts. Alec and I scored some Impossible Project film for my Sun 640 from the Camera Traders table, as well as 150 feet of 16mm Kodachrome from the late 50s/early 60s, a Canon 310XL Super 8 camera (with an exposed cartridge in it!) and an Olympus Trip AF Motor point and shoot. What fun. Alec even talked a kid into buying an Olympus Trip 35!

Also, since my dad was with me, he found out that I have a Pentax system and that I want a slide viewer, so he's going to donate some gear to my cause the next time I'm in town. Wicked.

So, I have lots of new material to write about soon, so stay tuned, or whatever.

I want to bring up that it's been about a year since I started Dusty Shutter. Thanks to anyone who reads it regularly! Since I'm starting my career I've got a lot of creating to do in my near future, and I'll be happy to share it all!

xoxo
-C.

Well, that's it! School and work are officially kicking my butt and Dusty Shutter, which started as a summer project, will have to be put on the backburner.

Here is what I plan to do:

Instead of trying to provide a thorough guide to a camera or an insightful look into photography itself every week, I'll do one of those or just share some photos I've taken. This will help me stay on top of the weekly schedule while hopefully offering something worthwhile to the worldwide web.

Enjoy!!

Taken with a Pentax K1000.
Velvia 100 and Ilford XP2 Super 400.

Family Photos

Alright, so I lied. I still don't have a home... or a scanner... or any new photos that I can otherwise share with everyone. I'm moving into a new place tomorrow so we'll be back on track soon.

However, rather than not share anything this week, I've decided to just talk about one of my favourite blogs: Awkward Family Photos!

This is such a great idea for a blog for so many reasons... It really ties a lot of people together through a common thread in most of our lives: embarrassment about our family! It's nice to look at pictures of other kids from the 80s and 90s and see them just as pissed off or ridiculous-looking as you might have been yourself in those awkward years...

Also, there are photos from the 1800s on here! Families were just as goofy and messed up back then as they were in the 80s and as they are now! 

And you know... finally there's a place for these photos to be remembered and enjoyed rather than hidden away and forgotten (or painfully remembered). Turning unpleasantness into joy and sharing that joy with the world, this blog is kind of a model for a way of life I think everyone should strive for...

While the memories might fade, the photos will stick around like a bad tattoo. Rather than worrying about it, why not laugh about it?

Stay awkward!
Caity

Bedbugs & Such

Hello, readers.

It pains me to say that there will be no (real) post today.

I recently returned from Edmonton to Vancouver. Al and I were supposed to sublet a room, but after we arrived and moved some of our stuff in, we discovered that there were bedbugs in the building... So we left right away, and now we're living on our buddy's floor. A lot of our stuff that we brought into the infested building is currently sealed up in garbage bags, and needs to be inspected and/or blasted with Raid before we'll feel secure taking it out.

So, you can guess what is in those bags.... All my cameras!

In normal circumstances, I might do a post about something else photo-related, but as it is I have no scanner and limited access to my computer.

I'm sorry! Hopefully we'll be back in business by next week. I have lots of photos from my trip to Edmonton to share!

Cheers,
Caity

take 2

Blogging is a really foreign thing to me. I've tried to do it before and for some reason I find it easy to spend hours upon hours cutting, pasting and photocopying a zine together but sitting down and writing a blog entry on a regular basis is incredibly difficult.

That being said,
 I intend to try again, starting now.

My first post, which will happen whenever I'm finally done with this term at school, will feature the first 35mm SLR I bought, the both ridiculed and beloved Nikon EM.