Tots OSL: a preview

Double down.

Tots Gone Wild. Time for a lick of outtakes. Tots OSL F/W 2012 shoot for Rhymes with Orange; the shop run by the women of Oh So Lovely (my sis)!

Good grief these kids are cute. Personality for days.

What shrimps. Olive has grown from baby to big girl like magic. She makes a mean grass salad for a three year old. Rollin is a really interesting young boy with a builder's mind. It was incredible to watch him build a dog house in Stef's backyard out of found scraps on a Sunday afternoon. Grey light and calm. When I asked Rollin where the dog was, he gave me a look that read that's not the point lady. OKAY! Keep going. I am happy to get to know both kids better. As I lay thinking about the shoot later that night, it really struck me how good it is to be in Winnipeg.

Feels good to be home.

Days like Sunday afternoon are a big part of the reason to return to this city. Thanks to everyone who participated and also to those who take time to look from here on. Be sure to check Erin and Stef's post at OSL in due time. New beginnings for those women! Congratulations Erin and Stef!!

COMING SOON: Vintage kidswear from the women of OSL. Yeeeehaw!

Meet Olive and Rollin; buds for life.

Alternatif

Words are few and far between today. 

I did get to know Craig's 85 year old grandpa Cornie Stoez interview-style at a weiner roast this afternoon. He was a good recipient of my questions and answered full well. Listen up, Grandpa's speaking. At one point around dusk, he held up his charred hotdog after the first bite and peered at each one of us around the table through that little pierced hole and encouraged us to stay positive and never dwell on the negative, no matter the situation at hand. You are as young as you feel! Wise words from a sharp gentleman.

Here is another contact sheet depicting recent travels with the Kiev 60. All over the map as per. Trying to shoot for proper exposure. The arrival of Audrey Lily to Heather and Julian sent me running for the camera. Last of the Rainbow Trout work. Winnipeg band Smoky Tiger was incredibly fun to shoot. Depressing Waterslides was shot with Andrea in mind (because your response to the color version made me want to go back and shoot it again with contrast film--which I did on a day trip to Selkirk from the back of Craig's truck at the Skinner's Drive-thru) thanks.

The following four shots after the Depressing Waterslides were shot in and around Selkirk, Manitoba (a really awesome port town home to a sweet Legion). 

No hats. Click to enlarge for a better view.

Contact sheet. Winnipeg/ St Malo/ Selkirk. End of August 2012.

Weird collection of found papers today after a rural Manitoba thrift scoop resulting in a simple MP Scollage. It has been too long since the last. Tis the season to do just that (scanner collage). Oh la la Autumn. I love how you roll in. Trench coat season COMMENCE. Amen. 

Click to enlarge some weird-ass cats.

For Simon

For Simon, where ever you may be today.

The Wilderness and Beyond

Beyond was all around me.

I would have no problem being alone in the Alaskan wilderness on this grey Tuesday.

Q B

Quality Builders.
Quality Baller.
Quad Babe.
Quick Baby.

Queen Bitch?

Hi. What's new? I wouldn't know as I have been busy working underground. The darkroom is my place of choice these days. Sometimes I get so caught up in the To Be Printed mountain that I forget about life beyond the safelights and darkness of the basement.

Danger! I swear it's not malicious avoidance, it's just exciting is all.

Craig and I joined forces once and for all this week and created a super darkroom underneath his house. The progression has made a world of difference to the process. Sliding through the heavy light barrier into the stairway leading to the basement gives me tremors. 'Been balls deep in a recently-shot family series this week: Mum, Dad, big sis and baby sis all on the family bed, disgruntlement and delight both present on the family faces over the recent addition.

Strong work takes time, this I am learning. No galloping in the darkroom!

Working towards quick turn over as a film photographer over here. Worked on printing a single breast feeding photo for HOURS yesterday and still came up short with only two 8x8 prints, both crap (too contrast >  ^ < too grey). Where is the balance? Dissatisfied by the million test strips but hungry for more, I will head back down and try again tomorrow.

Thanks for reading and putting up with this old song.

Here is a new print up from the darkness. Click to enlarge the effects of a filthy negative.

Malin Jams/ Trout- Aug 2012. Scanned copy of 8x8" print.

Now it is the morning. Andrea and Tiff, this contact sheet goes out to you two. Rags, can you spot your gin grin? I love that face, both of those gin grins actually. Milky and Rags, the ultimate party duo. Tiffany, you are a most excellent hostess.

Blue Moon Lagoon

The moon looked full enough to stop my bicycle and lie under on the ride home from Martha Street studio this evening. Sutherland is not dark enough for my liking so I rode on. When I got home, Erin told me on the telephone that tomorrow marks the fullness of the Blue Moon (two full moons in a single month). Major intersection sprawl planned for then. Janelle Chanel ma belle please join me. No one else understands quite like you. I had to defend Lady Moon and the powers of to two ignorant men at the bakery today. WHAT ABOUT THE EFFECT THE MOON HAS ON THE TIDE? That query usually puts an end to mindless conversation about the moon. MEN. Sheesh.

The neighborhood smells like fresh buns right now.

My Martha Street studio days have picked up once more. Took an inventory of the good ink left in my cubby this evening and unfolded the mountain of fabric stored away like nuts of a squirrel. Spread out that bounty.

Fleur and I

Last night we settled into a lumpy bed in a little house called the Sugar Shack deep down in a Manitoban valley. Gully after gully after gully, we rounded the last corner and reached the familiar path in the old faithful Toyota. When the dark came, there was nothing around but us. Candles alight, wood stove cracking, crickets wailing.

We woke to hot light pouring in through glass and acorn percussion on the tin roof. Strong coffee black. I drank the rest of the wine by ten in the morning and banged off a couple of letters on the old Olympia while Craig roamed solo through the valley. Lunching in underwear and cowboy hats around a lazy fire.

Tonight the noises are different. Heat of day lingers upstairs. Trains wail instead of crickets. Humidity in place of fire. Funny how one can feel so at home in a home so far from home. I have always loved that little shack in the valley and am lucky to be able to visit it when the spirit leads.

Found and read this today, tucked away in yet another bedside book. Funny what travels with us through time and what doesn't make the cut.

Out Walking

That I Like

Today I brought a roll to the film lady, Juliana at Shoppers on Portage in the West End. She called me ten minutes after I had left her counter to confirm my initial hesitation. The roll I had dropped was not C41 but indeed contrast film and was now ruined. Crap. Bulk rolled film stored in mix 'n match cassettes is confusing as hell. In the process of ruining yet another roll of film to light, I learned to trust my instincts and always process for contrast when the gut says so. I forget every shot taken on the roll from the partycam (probably because majority were inebriated attempts with flash while riding in a thick bicycle pack) but I was sorry to lose one shot of a wooden rocking chair sitting on a stoop in the dark.

Flash is a beautiful thing. The recent addition of a flash kit on my Kiev is a new and exciting avenue. Creme lent me his and I spent the weekend at the Rainbow Trout music festival experimenting with light and subject in the dark! It was exciting to process to say the least. Besides a few minor misfires and soft focus shots (irritating), the lot of four turned out pretty nice. Characters galore. If your roving eye can spot them, my favorite shot from the Trout weekend was of a wonderful Franco Manitoban couple who caught my eye at Magic Hour. Flash added warmth to the composition and a lucky twinkle under Buddy Guy's bucket hat. Bonus!

Enjoy some fruit of this week's darkroom labor. Come this time next week I will be a studio student once again. Stencil meet Color, Color meet Stencil. I anticipate a happy relationship to come. Color film, get out of my way. We are experiencing a BREAK. The love/ hate affair with the stuff makes me laugh.

Contrast vision. Besides, there is nothing better than developing contact sheets of 120 negatives. Giant preview! That I like.

Enjoy. No fuss contact sheets shot over the course of summer. From shows at Negative Space to Andrea's patio, Folk Festival to St. Malo. All over the map essentially; hauling the Kiev along for the ride.

Troutscapades

Trout! Trout! Trout! was a very good time. I shot many photographs. Upon return to the city, I dropped off two rolls of crapola color at Shoppers and hopped into the dark with the four contrast rolls.

Color vision commence. Shot in and around magic hour in the bushes near St. Malo, Manitoba. The great Roseau River ran through the land there and I couldn't help but think of a woman named Marj.

Ken and Natalie's brainchild. Hand crafted fish scale collages done up in the Maxi Lounge. Garbage Mountain.

My campground neighbor.

Happy people all around.