Picture postcard {7}...

Today I am sharing with you a postcard from 1905. What I fell for on this card is that incredibly sunny image of a beach scene on the front. It looks so warm that it makes me want to pack a bag and head for warmer climates. The caption on the front reads Aberystwyth, from Constitution Hill, and the blurb on the back reads:


Dear Dulcie
Can you come up here after tea tomorrow, tuesday 
and go with me to see Nellie.
If it is fine come about six o'clock.
Love Mother

Of course this isn't really all that interesting except that with today's various means of contacting one another it's hard to imagine sending a postcard via snail-mail to make an appointment...with your daughter.
I also looked up old Aberystwyth (Wales) and found that it would be a lovely place to see, so now it's on my bucket list of places to visit...judging by this photo it doesn't look all that different a century later.

Wishing you some sunshine today, wherever you may be!

Photos by: me, Kinga Subject

Oh Monday...

Things have been busy...
Way too busy...
My schedule has changed which makes Mondays very nice but the rest of the week very long...
I eased into today with a latte and a muffin...
Then I settled in for some serious work...
I hope your week is off to a great start...

Photos by: me, Kinga Subject

The sketchbook project...sneak peek...

My time with The Sketchbook Project is almost up. I am mailing it out today and I admit I will be very sad and kind of nervous to see it go. I have really been enjoying filling the pages with all kinds of craziness.

At first I had a plan for this book...I chose the "monochromatic" theme and I wanted to fill it with my best work but then I realized it is a sketchbook like any other and probably shouldn't be getting any kind of special treatment (how unfair would that be?) so instead I filled it with experiments. I did collages, painted some pages, drew with ink on others. I explored a lot and let go of my own expectations...

In the end, it has turned out just like all of my other sketchbooks; a small inventory of the veritable nonsense that is in my head...one day last week I even pulled it out to scribble a to-do list...

Photos by: me, Kinga Subject

Generating piles...

I was on the Poketo site browsing a while back and came across a wallet that has the art of Mike Perry on it. I read the blurb at the side about Mike and discovered this gem...

“Doodling away night and day, Perry creates new typefaces and sundry graphics that inevitably evolve into his new work; exercising the great belief that the generating of piles is the sincerest form of the creative process. “

Anything that even remotely describes someone’s creative process is a treasure for me. I want to save it, put it in a box, keep it fresh in a zip-loc bag, near by, so I can reference it on those days when my own process seems to be misbehaving/ failing/non-existent. This is by far one of my favourites “exercising the great belief that the generating of piles is the sincerest form of the creative process” and I come back to it often. I think I identify with it because so often I sit down to do work and can’t get much out...especially if there is a plan. I freeze up if things aren’t going according to that plan (not a good thing to admit) then, when I am doodling while watching t.v or at a coffee shop I usually end up with bits and pieces that evolve into finished work. It's interesting how that works (and kind of obvious, I know); that when there’s no self-imposed pressure there is better flow. Mike's "great belief" implies that to get to good work you just have to do work...a lot of it...enough to make piles...

Sometimes when I'm having a creative malfunction I find myself saying...(to myself, because I'm cool like that)...”go generate some piles”...   

Photos by: me, Kinga Subject

A precious reminder...

A hundredth of a second here, a hundredth of a second there - even if you put them end to end, they still only add up to one, two, perhaps three seconds, snatched from eternity. - Robert Doisneau

John Berger said "All photographs are there to remind us of what we forget"...I have forgotten so much! I forgot I captured these moments. I forgot how little our nieces once were. I forgot that for a while it was just the two of them (now they have another adorable sister)...When I looked at the film canister these photos were trapped in I had no idea what I would find...What a precious and welcome reminder...

Photos by:me, Kinga Subject

Picture postcard {6}...

Hello again....today I am sharing yet another postcard...as you can tell I could probably keep this going forever. This card is from 1909, Chingford Essex and it reads...

{addressed to Miss N. Hambly}
6.11.09
I had almost for-gotten to let you know about this evening -
I had taken it for granted that you would know.
Y

Why do I get the sense that this was a romantic exchange? I'm going to let my imagination run wild here and postulate that Y is a young man who has fallen in love Miss N Hambly. On the evening of June 11, 1909 he had a gathering, an elegant soiree with good friends, classmates and neighbours. They enjoyed fabulous food and a great deal of laughter. When the sun went down they sat around a fire with wool blankets, mulled wine and hot cocoa. Y and Miss N sat beside each-other, sharing stories about their lives, getting to know what makes the other laugh, falling in love. When everyone went home, Y couldn't sleep. He could not stop thinking about Miss N and before another minute could pass he decided to write her a note on a beautiful card hoping she would get the sense that he was grateful he invited her...and maybe she would read between the lines and see that he would love to spend more time with her...

Mysterious and charming...I'm with my imagination on this one, it is definitely a love note...you can't convince me otherwise...

Photos by: me, Kinga Subject

Good Golly Miss Molly...

I'm delighted to introduce our sweet girl Molly...a.k.a Molly Pop, Snuggle, Ducky Bird...well she has a lot of names really but mostly we call her Molly. A little while ago I showed you the overwhelming amount of film I had exposed but never developed...well, I took some of them in last week and finally got them back. These ones of Molly were among the pack and they were taken over two years ago on a roll of old Ilford-Delta 400 B/W film. They were a sweet surprise because she was just a pup then, a few months old and much smaller than she is now...but she still loves to sit on the window ledge behind our couch and watch the world go by.

For some reason the lab didn't scan these black and white ones so I scanned the negatives myself and as you can tell I didn't bother to clean the glass of dust and lint. I like the result though, perfectly imperfect, so I don't think I will fuss with re-scanning them...

I also have to mention that if it weren't for the lovely "For the love of Film" series by the super talented Daniella Marie it would have probably taken me another two years to get around to developing some of those old rolls. If you don't already follow along with her posts, you must! Her photography is gorgeous and so inspiring...and, if you have exposed film kicking around, her blog just might motivate you to go do some developing...

(Thanks Daniella for reminding me of the beauty and anticipation that comes with film photography...I felt like a kid on Christmas morning opening these envelopes...)

Wishing you a wonderful Monday!

Photos by: me, Kinga Subject

Ingredients of a Sunday...

Quinoa salad...
Sketchbooks, pens and pencils...
Warm sunshine...
Inspiring tunes...
The traveller is home and the suitcase is empty for now...
We're all together again...
Casual...

Sunday...

Photos by:me, Kinga Subject

That's nature...

The rain has washed the great white blankets away. It is mild. Then, it is freezing cold. Then, it is mild again. There are patches of ice and torrential floods... all in the same day. Rubber boots or winter boots? That is the question...

Photos by: me, Kinga Subject

I'm back...Sort of...

Hello friends...I would like to apologize for my absence. The past week has been quiet, reflective and productive as I have been taking a bit more of a time out to sort through some of my plans. I arrived at a fork in the road and all signs pointed me in the direction of just tuning out the noise and reflecting on my decision making process...Thanks for being patient with me as I take these small breaks from blogging (without warning) from time to time. It has been really nice to let things go quiet and just listen...I'm confident that all will resume a normal pace in a few weeks.

On another note, I was trapped in an elevator by myself over the weekend (fun!) for a brief period of time...I wonder if that was just another universal "time-out"...

Photos by: me, Kinga Subject

Quiet Sunday mornings...

The smell of coffee and fresh toast with berry jam...
A pile of magazines and books...
Easy morning conversation...
The sun shining in...
Quiet...
Simple...

Sunday...

It is winter indeed...

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, 

for the touch of a friendly hand and for talk beside the fire: 

it is the time for home - Edith Sitwell

...I couldn't agree more. Winter is the time for home...as in staying home! This morning, during my early drive to work I realized that people forget how to drive in these conditions. There were a few maniacs on the road which made me a tad grumpy. On wintry days like today I definitely yearn for a simpler life; a place in the country, working from home and curling up near a crackling fire with hot chocolate and my pup (she is the best snuggle buddy in the world). I love winter...but don't misunderstand me when I say that...I mean I love the pretty country white blankets of snow kind of winter not the guy in the pickup-truck driving all of two inches behind me as I am stuck behind a snow-plow spewing salt and ice chunks kind of winter...big difference!

Hope you've had a great Monday.

Photos by: me, Kinga Subject

Progress...

Hello and happy New Year to you! Did you have a nice time celebrating the start of another year? I'm really looking forward to all 2012 has to offer and excited to take on new challenges and creative endeavours. If I were to choose a word to define the upcoming year it would be progress because I plan to make much of it. I don't do resolutions and instead approach a new year with a plan...it's really just the same plan that has been in motion for a few years I just tweak it and add to it and cross off things that I've already accomplished...

Anyway, for Christmas I inherited some fabulous vintage camera equipment from my father in law (as you can see from the photos above), and when I pulled out the box of various other camera equipment I have acquired over the years I came across a bunch of exposed rolls of film that never got developed. The funny thing is I have no idea when I took these, how old they are, what's on them...I haven't got the slightest idea. I knew they existed and I have just been putting off getting them developed and now so much time has passed that I can't even guess at what might be hiding in these little canisters.

So, I'm starting the new year with clearing out the clutter and making room for my new old equipment, a 1954 Kodak Brownie Bull's Eye and a Canon AE-1 manual from the late seventies, and I'm also developing those rolls from years gone by...if that's not progress I don't know what is!

If there is anything worth sharing in there, I promise I will, and I also found some 620 film for that Brownie online so I'll be putting it to use. When I opened it up I was surprised to find a spool still in it which should make this little cutie fully functional...but we'll find out I guess! Now I just have to find a place that develops 620 film...hmmm...if only I had a darkroom...

So cheers to clearing out clutter, making room for new possibilities and of course making some serious progress!

Photos by: me, Kinga Subject...ps. does anyone know where I could get 620 film developed?