SnapShots

Me and my bestie:

Overexposed and faded out, but you can't deny how much I love my girl x

Instant gratification

After the end of Polaroid I was so upset. I totally missed the boat with Polaroid and got into them rather late, by the time I wanted to invest in one I found out that the Polaroid company had gone bust. Was this genius art form really gone? The man at the specialist camera store laughed at me when I went in inquiring about film. However I had seen rumblings on the internet suggesting that a wealthy Austrian had bought the factory and was planning on bringing back the format. I quickly invested in my SX-70 just in case and was right to do so as my £55 camera soon rose to £300 when the announcement was made that it had been saved. It shows that people's love of vintage can at times be so strong that we can stop the charging train of technology to enjoy the simplest of pleasures. Just like the battle between the vinyl and CD (in which it looks as though vinyl is about to win by the way). Polaroid too is clinging on and refuses to make way to digital photography. With the start of the Impossible Project "polaroid" cameras are making a comeback. They're going to be huge too. I've noticed high street shops selling camera's instore and online for £135, when you can find the same camera in full working order for just £35 on ebay!

The proof? Here's my beautiful limited edition Polaroid 636 Close Up. It came in this great collector's silver tin, inside a silver mini backpack, in full working order for £35. It's truly a one of a kind and doubles up as a little fashion accessory. I can't wait to do a fashion post with it.

SnapShots

Brunchfest:
Sometimes the best things in life are so simple. Yesterday I enjoyed Brunchfest at a friend's house. The concept was simple, everyone had to bring an ingredient for brunch. I took flour, cream and fruit for pancakes. Others brought eggs and bacon. Yum.

Fallas!

This year I have many trips planned abroad. My Instagram account went into crazy overdrive as I tried to keep up to date and in control of posting the many things I was seeing/photographing. On most holidays this can be a challenge especially with digital photography making capturing every last detail so easy. It means you don't think about the pictures you're taking you just shoot continuously. This trip, however, was unique and even more difficult to control the use of the camera.

I went for the Fallas festival in Valencia, Spain. The festival is held in commemoration of Saint Joseph. It's history seems to be linked to the spring equinox when artisans disposed of the broken artifacts and pieces of wood they saved during the winter by burning them to celebrate a new beginning. It has come a long way from this very traditional beginning, in a nutshell the city has groups of people who pay to make a Falla monument made of papier-mache on a wooden carcass. On the last day of the festival these vast monuments are burnt on the spot! The festival gives you just three days to run around Valencia seeing as many monuments as possible before they meet their inevitable fate.

There were so many pictures from this trip the only way to fit them into this post was by creating a issuu flip book to fit them all in. But I have posted pictures of a burning and a video for you to see it in action too. If you can, go and see it for yourself next year.

Counter Culture

I'm not really sure how I feel about the Olympics. Especially when it appears that it will impact heavily on my life, being advised to expect up to one hour wait to get to work doesn't really install much British pride in me. One of the things I do like about it is the regeneration of the land around the stadium and the little gems that are starting to crop up all over. Directly across the canal in Hackney is The Counter Cafe a beautifully rustic looking place that's a little bit rough round the edges. It's all exposed brick work, reclaimed furniture (one of the seating options is a row of cinema seats) and the divider between the kitchen and the counter is simply a hole that's has been smashed in the wall.

This in no way extends to the food or the service, the staff being extremely friendly and the food absolutely delicious. This little cafe happens to be housed in the same building as a gallery which means you can pick up a bit of culture before or after your feast too. It also benefits from fantastic views of the Olympics stadium. And so it was on the cinema seats that I sat to have blueberry and banana pancakes topped with maple syrup and flaked almonds, pondering my opinions of the whole ceremony. What a great way to start the day. 

Shake it like a polaroid picture

When I decided to start this journey I wanted it to encompass different forms of photography. Mainly because while I love the fashion (and the excuse to buy new things so that I have material to write about...), photographing things is probably what I love the most. A passion that stems from a deep regret that I have no photographic evidence of my life as a young teen having always entrusted others with the task of documenting my significant moments. I can't possibly tell you what happened on my 18th not because of drunkenness but because I no longer speak to the best friend who photographed the whole night, and just like a messy divorce she got to keep the memories.

In an attempt to use different forms of photography I am now faced with the issue that Polaroid/Impossible film is just so expensive. Even getting film developed is a tad more than you'd normally expect to pay. However, I live a (relatively) vice-free life and, of all the things to spend far too much money on, photos doesn't seem to be a bad one. I've already been using my Canon AE-1 to take some of the photos on this blog, so here is a selection of my favourite Impossible images taken with the delicious Polaroid SX-70. Enjoy!