M.I.A.

Where have I been?

a) busy

b) chillin

c) running around withOUT my camera

All of the above. It's proven to be a tougher challenge than I originally thought to take a photo each day. I'm still going to try though. I have to take my GREs which will either make or break my financial situation for a grad school I have in mind, so that's been occupying the mental shelf space that I had reserved for photographing something each day...

Anywho, I did shoot a few photos today. I visited my friend Melanie, whose maternity photos I shot some time ago. We went to visit a verrrrryyyyyyyyy talented artist by the name of Chinedu Felix Osuchukwu [check some info on him here] is using one of the photos I shot as an inspiration for a series of paintings he's working on. We got to see the work in progress today and I was blown away! I've never had an artist use something I shot as a means for their art, so it gave me the warm fuzzies something serious. I don't want to show the entire work just yet, I want him to be good and finished before it's revealed, but I did get a couple shots in his studio:

This is Langston, who was inside Melanie's belly for 9 long months :)



When we shot her maternity photos [in a sweltering AC-less room on a summer afternoon], I shined a light on Melanie's stomach to get the desired effect, and Langston responded soooo strongly! It was amazing. He's a great baby, very chill.

Felix's studio:



Melanie, being inspired by the work, and writing. She's currently pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at Lesley University and is a phenomenal writer. She read two pieces that she wrote off being in Felix's studio:



If you stand away from the computer screen, approximately 2 feet away and hop up and down and make a noise like an ostrich, you can see a glimpse of Felix's 'BellyProject':



Hard @ work:





Felix is soooo talented! I wish I could paint 1% as good as he does!

Once he's finished with the project I'll be sure to post some pics of it.

----

So...the other day, in my quest to become a better photographer, and try out different formats before I begin my MFA, I saw an old Twin Lens Reflex sitting on a shelf at Penn. I made an offer for $20 and it was mine. I did some research [after doing an extensive cleaning; I hope I didn't inhale mold and/or powdered syphilis while scrubbing and air can puffing :( ], and learned it was made in the 1950s!

And, as my dear hubby so eloquently put it, it's a 'Bobo.' Kinda like when you're not able to buy Nikes, so you buy Bikes instead.

[Admittedly, instead of Nikes, I had L.A. Gears and Pro Wings, so I can completely relate to this]

It's called Wardflex, and was manufactured for Montgomery Ward.

I planned ahead. I found and printed out the instruction manual:



And the catalog it appeared in during the 1950s:



And even bought film.

But something wasn't right.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't rig the little switch to adjust the aperture. I was sad. I really planned on using Wardy, The Old School Camera in my mission to photograph more often. Especially now that I have darkroom time with my large format class.

I decided to return it Friday. I saw another one on Ebay and was going to make a bid today. I found one with a nice case and everything! In working condition! I was soooooo excited! And no one bid on it! Oh joy of joys. Wardy, The Old School Camera Jr. Esquire, was going to be mine and we'd build a legacy of 2 x 3 photos that would last a lifetime.

And then...I fell asleep. And missed the auction by 10 minutes.

I want to kick myself.

I'm just hoping they put it up for auction again soon.

:(

Someday, my TLR will come.

Posted by Marlene at 9:18 PM