Ghostified

So, for one of my 30-Day, month of January photo challenges, I was supposed to do a "faceless self portrait." I went on a multiple hour photo spree that evolved from things replacing my face, to me using a ND filter to long-exposure blur my face, to using that, plus light manipulation, to create multiple me's. I have also been noticing that I have developed a very grungy style when I use my make-shift studio equipment. Im fond of it for the most part. I think its because I am still transitioning between Lightroom 3 to Lightroom 4, plus Im using VSCO here and there. Needless to say, I had a blast, and here are my favorites from my photo escapade.

 

Test Dummy

I live in a little sunny town, in a little blue house, in a little messy room. In this messy little room is a messy little Parisa who loves photography, portraiture to be precise. That messy little room is where most of the magic happens. Granted, it is no studio, by far, but I make it work. I have light stands, umbrellas, a tripod, and my camera with a handy-dandy Speed-light. Sadly, I dont have models on demand, just hanging around in my room, however lovely and pleasant that may sound. So, in lieu of this recession of models lounging in my abode, I take it upon myself to test creative ideas, lighting, equipment, etc. I am my own test dummy to say the least. This can be a difficult task due to the fact that a human arm is only so long or that getting the focus adjusted correctly before setting the shutter timer is a pain, and not always accurate. I wish I had a helper monkey that could be behind the camera (If only my cat, Shakespeare could be of use in that area). Despite these difficulties, I manage to get a few good shots every once in a while. In the past year, here are some of my favorites:

Surprise B&W Holga Film!

As it being my first post, I should probably introduce myself to you. 

I am Parisa, currently a Junior at Fremont High School, and a little over a year and a half ago, I started my own photo business. My main target market is my peers, high school and college students alike, but I have also done events, family shoots, product shots, and sports games. I am also a photographer for Flashback Media Productions, a small start-up photography company that is contracted with a few Pop Warner leagues. We shoot and film games, and allow the players to take photos in our photo-booth for custom player cards. 

Apart from working with my Canon Rebel, I thoroughly enjoy shooting 35mm film. I shoot on a variety of cameras; my most used are my Nikon N90 and my Lomo LC-A+, but I also like to tinker around with Holgas and disposable cameras. Once I have sufficient funds, I hope to delve into Medium Format.

Photography is a passion of mine as well as writing. The title of my blog alludes to the saying that "a picture is worth a thousand words" and I will be supplementing all of my photo posts with some background of the photo, my day, and how the world is doing through my eyes.

I hope you enjoy keeping up with this blog as much as I do living it.

~

Shooting new film is always fun. Shooting a type of film you have no experience with is thrilling. It is also risky. Just this past week, I found some old Holga B&W film in my dresser drawer and, never having shot black and white before, I thought I'd pop it into my Nikon and play around with it. Now, Holga cameras are the cheapest toy cameras and are notorious for their toy plastic lenses that create a very dreamy and unpredictable effect to the photos. I had never heard of Holga actually making film, but from knowing that a Holga camera is supposed to lower image quality and be unique and possibly artsy, I had a hunch that the film was not "Top Quality" either. I had no idea what to expect, especially since I was shooting this film in a very nice SLR. 

Once the roll was finished, I was faced with the dilemma of "Where the hell do I get monochromatic film developed???" I get my regular color film developed at Walgreens down the street, but they dont do B&W because its not C-41 processing. Well, I do love the Darkroom.com for developing film and I have a voucher for a free development, but I just didnt want to have to wait so long for results. I decided to go to Keeble & Shuchats in Palo Alto because they seem to be knowledgeable and I could pick it up the next day! I dropped off my film Sunday picked up the results on Monday. I paid a whopping 16 bucks JUST for negatives and a disc... Normally I only pay about 8 bucks. And then I was pressured into buying expensive film that is really good quality, but that means I'll save it for a special occasion. So, I still have no film to shoot... I spent $30 total, and when I looked at the photos on the disc, I nearly cried. Holga film was worse quality than I thought and I spent $30 to develop it. It is super contrast-y and has grain like I've never seen before. Also, I dont know why I thought that it would be a good idea to shoot at dusk for a few frames, because what a waste of film and money... After looking at them for a bit, I started to see the good in them a bit. They are, indeed, very artsy and unique, and I did get some good shots in. Im just a bit bitter that I spent so much money on less-than breathtaking film. These are my favorites from the roll:

Now, after knowing what Ill be getting in to, I put my second roll of this Holga B&W film in my actual Holga, and will get that developed by sending it in to The Darkroom. This film isn't worth that much money. I am quite excited to see how this roll will turn out. I have a feeling that it's going to be interesting to say the least...

Happy Sunday!