I can’t believe it’s Halloween again! I thought this year I would post a throwback to last Halloween where I got to spend the day with my friend Simone and her two babies Lilly & Mason. At the time she was pregnant with her third baby, Ella who is now 6 months old. Seeing these photos again make me realise how much things can change in one year and how much the babies have grown and changed! This time last year Mason was very attached to his mum & dad and didn’t really want to know about me when I was around, but now he loves to give me cuddles and is growing into such a sweet little man.

Lilly is getting smarter and maturing every single day and each time I see her I am blown away by how bright and beautiful she is. Her vocabulary is better than most adults and you can have a normal conversation with her like you would any adult and she doesn’t miss a beat. It’s a testament to how good of a mum Simone is, she was born to be one and is doing an amazing job.

Happy Halloween!

All photos taken with Canon AE-1 Program using Kodak Portra 400 35mm film.

As promised, here are the Hunter Valley Gardens photos!

In my last post I showed my road trip photos from the drive to Cessnock from the Gold Coast. It was my first ever road trip by myself and it was awesome. I listened to a lot of worship music and Kyle and Jackie O podcasts to get through and it was so fun to be alone and have complete freedom. I would love to go on another road trip in future, just gotta figure out where!

One of the highlights of the trip was going to the Hunter Valley Gardens to check out the various themed gardens and attractions they have their. It was a slightly overcast day which was perfect for walking around for an hour or two. Taking photos of my friends and family is one of my favourite things to do and Fiona & Sophie were more than willing to be my models! The Gardens are so lovely but I have to say the Storybook garden stood out the most, it truly was magical.

I loved the trip and the wonderful connected, intuitive conversation I had with Fiona & Sophie. I rarely get to experience conversations like those anymore and it was so soul renewing for me. It’s been a few months now since the trip and although I was only there a few days, I’m still adjusting to my regular interactions with people and searching for that same ease of conversation. I’ve found myself to be very emotional and feeling unfulfilled by conversations since returning home and I’m hoping that feeling passes soon.

All photos taken with Canon AE-1 Program using Kodak Portra 400 35mm film.

In late October I went on my first ever road trip by myself down to Hunter Valley region in New South Wales. Driving down the coast was a pretty calming experience, and I got to see a few things I hadn’t seen since I was a child, like the Big Banana at Coffs Harbour! I also went to Sealy Lookout near the Big Banana and was blown away by both the drive and the view – definitely worth the 15 minute detour.

I stayed with my friend Fiona in Cessnock, and our mutual friend Sophie came to visit as well. The three of us met at University in 2010 whilst studying film & television and I’ve always felt like I have a very deep connection with them. Our trio communicates so well and have so many interests and personality traits in common. I see the parts of myself that I love reflected in them, which is a blessing.

We had a really great time in our few days together – we got aura photos, went to trivia, saw A Star Is Born, and of course, went to the Hunter Valley Gardens which is where I took most of the pictures on the trip, which will be the following post, but for now enjoy the trip itself!

All photos taken with Canon AE-1 Program using Kodak Portra 400 35mm film.

Each year I like to visit the Swell Sculpture Festival at Currumbin Beach. This year my friend Simone, her two babies & I went to have a look. Going anywhere with a two-year-old can be difficult and we experienced a couple of tantrums but overall it was a nice day.

2015 was the best Swell Festival I’ve seen and this year’s was an improvement on last year’s so it fell in somewhere in the middle. The highlight was the bird, and the lowlight was the traffic cone square.

Afterwards we headed to a local park to let the kids run wild. Mason is now able to walk with a little bit of assistance which is soooo cute.

Photos taken with Pentax Spotmatic using Kodak Profoto XL 100 35mm film.

This time last year my friend Simone, her babies & I went to the Burleigh Markets & the park. The kids were dressed in matching I’m so cute it’s scary outfits which were adorable, and it was also my first time shooting Kodak Portra 400 after hearing everyone talk about it for a few years.

This is the first roll of film where i was happy with 95% of the photos and I do think it’s thanks to Portra 400. Portra has a pretty fine grain so you aren’t bombarded with it like some other films (*cough cough* Lomography) so it doesn’t distract. You get a high quality photo with beautiful colours, some film grain but no one element of the photo distracts from the subject which is something I love about it.

On this particular roll I was really happy that the close up photo of Lilly on the swing turned out to be perfectly in focus as I waited quite a while to press the shutter, and the photos of Mason on the blanket turned out exactly how I wanted them to, if not even better. I need to start taking more photos of them together as a family but in the moment it proves harder than you would think!

I recently purchased some Kodak Portra 160 and can’t wait to see what the results are like.

Photos taken on Canon AE-1 Program with 50mm lens and Kodak Portra 400 35mm film.

This little disposable camera was with me for a year and a half (January 2017 – August 2018! Seeing my friends and cousin’s babies grow in just one roll of film is amazing and a true blessing. These are the kinds of photos and memories I want to look back on when I’m 70 years old.

I busted this roll out of the disposable camera myself to avoid excess shipping costs which is why I think there were the leaks on the photos. I don’t mind; it just adds character to the photos.

This disposable diary series has been a joy. I bought a 10 pack of disposable cameras back in 2016 and have been slowly getting through them. I’m not sure if this series will continue once they’re all done (there’s about 3 left to finish!) due to all the wasteful plastic, but it is an absolutely joy to truly just point and shoot.

View more from the Disposable Diary series here.

Recently I’ve been getting really into film photography again and have been going through my camera & film collection to try to use what I have, and also sell some unused items. I realised that I have a lot of SLR cameras and that the Zenit EM was the one I enjoyed using the least, despite it having an absolutely beautiful lens (Helios-44M) which is known for it’s swirly bokeh. Even with the lovely lens, I still found it would take me a long time to finish a roll of film in the camera, and instead I would prefer to use my Pentax Spotmatic and Canon AE-1 Program. I knew I wanted to keep those in my collection, so unfortunately it was time for the Zenit EM to find a new home.

I listed the camera on Gumtree & Facebook Marketplace and later that day it was sold to a lovely girl called Jessica who was new to film photography. I showed her some basics about how to use the camera, gifted her some film, and sent it on its way! Before she came to pick it up I had to quickly finish off the film in the camera and I had about 5 shots left to take, which ended up being some of my favourites I’d ever taken with the Zenit EM.

This specific roll took about 3 years to finish – I just wasn’t inspired by the camera and I didn’t connect to it the way I wanted to. I really hope the new owner loves it and finds a connection I never had.

Last week I got 5 rolls of film back! I’d been shooting some of them for a long time, and this is definitely one of them.

I got a Pentax Spotmatic with a 35mm lens off eBay back in October 2015 (Cost: $180) and for some reason didn’t shoot much with it. It took me 2 and a half years to finish the first roll of film because I just wasn’t inspired by the camera once I got it. The camera is in great condition, came with a great carry case and a good lens, but I just rarely picked it up.

The Pentax Spotmatic is very easy to use and is fool proof. I would definitely recommend you consider it as an option if you are looking to get your film camera. I also really love my Pentax ME Super – Pentax film cameras in general really work for me. They are more compact which makes them easy to carry around with you.

Shooting film is such a joy and although I wasn’t very inspired by this camera at first, after seeing the results and falling in love with them, I’m very excited to shoot more with it over the next couple of years, especially as my Pentax ME Super (former favourite SLR) needs a repair.

My beautiful friend Chynna turned 25 this month. We ventured up into the Scenic Rim with our friend Brittany to have a gorgeous tea party at Tea & Niceties, and explore the local area.

The three of us have known each other for over 12 years but had lost touch since graduating high school in 2009. This year I reconnected with them and I’m so grateful to have them in my life again.

Brittany is full of life and laughter, and is the person I go to if I want to connect with nature and be brought back down to earth. She is very adventurous but also loves spending time relaxing at home which works well for me.

Chynna is one of my more spiritual friends and is the most heartfelt, beautiful, and emotionally connected person I know. She is a kind and generous soul. We spent a lot of time together during our teenage years but didn’t connect on a deeper level and speak about what we felt and were going through until this year.

Photos taken with Canon AE-1 Program with 50mm lens on Kodak Portra 400 35mm film.

A couple of months ago I was given a Pentax Espio 738 by a family friend. I was pretty excited to use it due to the self timer feature and the ease of use of the camera. It’s been really fun to use and I enjoyed carrying it around with me – in fact it is still the only camera in my handbag.

The shots aren’t fantastic, but I’m hoping they will improve as I use the camera more and put a higher speed film in there.

Back in 2014 I purchased my first medium format camera – a Lubitel Universal. It was about $60 on eBay and for some reason I was really nervous to use it because I was not confident in my ability to focus or to set the correct settings for each shot. Surprisingly, the results were so much better than I had anticipated! I love when that happens because sometimes you are completely disappointed by a roll – even though the shots I took weren’t very interesting, I am now confident enough to take the camera out and to use it in various other settings and hopefully capture some fun shots.

Let me know your favourite 120 film in the comments below. I used Lomography Earl Grey 100 for these shots.

Last month I was fortunate enough to contribute a guest post to Kasia’s blog, Dipped In Rococo. I had decided to share some of my favourite shots from Swell Sculpture Festival this year but I had a bunch left over that I wanted to share with you.

In case you have never heard of Swell Festival before, it’s an annual festival where artists have their sculptures and creations displayed along Currumbin beach. I went with my friends Janice and Sarah this year and had the most wonderful time.

I used my Pentax ME Super with Lomography Color Negative 100 ISO and Fujicolor Superia 200 ISO film. 

Not sure if you will remember but months ago I said I was going to do a camera challenge called Camera of the Month. The challenge was meant to be for me to use one of my cameras per month and post the results. Unfortunately, that was too big of a task for me – as film is so expensive I really try to use film when I want to capture memories and important moments, not just to capture boring daily life, although those kinds of photos have a lot of charm.

Overall, I found that the Sprocket Rocket can be quite temperamental. The exposure is all over the place. I do have a flash for the Sprocket Rocket which I’ve used with the next roll of film I’ve put in it (black & white) so I’ll post the results in another year when I finally get that roll developed. Something to keep in mind when using this camera is that you only get 12 pictures per 24 exposure roll of film. The width of the frame is nearly double the width of a regular 4 x 6 photograph. Also, I’d make sure that you switch off bulb mode after the shot you take – I think mine was accidentally left on for numerous shots which is why they’ve turned out so blurry.

Let me know what you think of the results and if you want to try out the Sprocket Rocket.

View from my balcony on a morning with the most beautiful sunrise I’d ever seen.

Beach – This isn’t what I intended to capture but I think this is really eerie and cool.

Christmas Lights ’13 | Bulb Mode

Tom – Christmas Day ’13. Unfortunately the shutter went off too late with this one so it was very overexposed and didn’t capture the moment I wanted to.

Monopoly

Selfie Fail. This picture is really weird and creepy but I thought I’d show you it anyway because you this camera is quite temperamental and you’ve got to take the bad with the good, right?

Carnival ’13

View from home – This is an edited version as the original was extremely overexposed.

Selfie | Bulb Mode

Paper cranes – I’d made 1000 of them in 2013.

I’m really happy with this picture. It was a disco light with the camera on bulb mode. I was hoping to capture pretty much exactly this.

View from home on a not so nice day.

As you can tell, not all the results are pretty, but I am inspired to use this camera again. It took me over a year to finish the roll as I didn’t want to waste any pictures – I think obviously that the best results are of landscapes so I think I’ll try to capture more of those with this camera. 

For some reason I still can’t get a hang on bulb mode. I have to admit, these turned out pretty bland and unfortunately these weren’t scanned with the sprocket holes which is disappointing. I will definitely only get Sprocket Rocket film developed with Lomography from now on.

Have you tried the Sprocket Rocket before?

I went through a long period last year where I felt a bit discouraged when it came to shooting film, but I’m honestly loving shooting film again. These were shot with my Pentax ME Super and 50mm lens on Lomography Color Negative 100 film. I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite film to shoot on – I think I need to stick with a higher ISO speed with the kinds of pictures I take but it’s always good to learn these things.

Also, just so you guys know I’ve decided to implement a posting schedule for the first time – I’m going to post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Friday will be music-based whether it’s a playlist or something else (I have some ideas!). I also want to start doing videos and put my University degree to use.

This picture was so different in person and through the lens when I took it. I had positioned my hand to cover the sun coming in the window so my hand was backlit – I’m a little bummed it didn’t turn out and that the image I saw only exists in my head, but I do like this too.

Birthday confetti

I took this on the bus on my way to work on my last day. I really love the way it turned out.

I could take pictures of the sky forever

View from home – I never tire of it

Pink sky

Beautiful sky

I never get sick of palm pictures

We’re looking down on the clouds…

I’d spent the day with my best friend Emma and we stopped to get Petrol

Car mirror selfie

Little horse charm in Emma’s car

My mum has had this statue forever and I’ve never cared for it much. It used to reside in the lounge room but luckily we’ve moved it to a different room now.

Last day of work. I cannot stress how hot this day was!

It was so hot this day and I felt really bad for this pregnant girl who was waiting for the bus!

Mum walking at the shops

The best time of day for me is between 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. when the sun sets.

This was a good day. I chilled at home and read Rookie magazine and then some friends came over.

My favourite time of day to take a bath…

Do you shoot film? Let me know in the comments what your favourite 35mm film is.

Swell Festival is a local art festival that takes place every year. There is always 30-50 sculptures and other art pieces that are scattered along Currumbin Beach. I haven’t been in years but decided to go this year and took my camera with me.

Photos were taken with Zenit EM using the Lomography Color Negative 100 35mm film.