Alexandra Merino

I shot with my friend, Alexandra today. We've been talking about doing this for months now but we could never get out schedules to match up. Things finally worked out and I don't think I could possibly be happier with the results.

Alex is a designer and has been making her own clothes for several years. She doesn't like comparisons to Lady Gaga, but to sum her up, she was sort of Lady Gaga before Lady Gaga was Lady Gaga. She's been doing this for so long that most people I know have never even seen her in "normal" clothes. We went to high school together and for as long as I can remember her, she has been dressing like this in her own designs.

She's done a lot of studio work before but had never really done anything in my style; more natural, less artificial, so we were both excited to work together. This outfit in particular had a red veil but she somehow lost it and doesn't know where it went, she told me this little story about how she knew she'd lose it so she made it a point to leave it with the rest of the outfit, but it still managed to disappear anyway haha. So instead, she actually just painted a veil onto her forehead, which I think may have worked out even better in the end.

Let me remind you all that I have never claimed that I'm good at continuity. Every time I shoot is a chance to experiment. I don't think I'll ever have a set way to process photos.

Week 13

Steven and I shot again today. He's my new abandoned building buddy, he's just about as fearless as I am.

We headed up to Ellicott City with the intent of checking out the abandoned houses that I've shot in a few times. Even though I've already seen them more than once, Steven puts me in a certain kind of mood that makes shooting different than with everyone else. I very much feel like I did when I started with photography: bewildered and humbled, while still being completely at ease. With Steven seeing these places for the first time, I too feel like I'm naive to these spaces, and it is such an invigorating feeling. Without gushing too much, I am so appreciative of the effect that Steven has quickly made on my life and my photography and I'm so excited for the stuff we'll come up with together in the future.

We had lunch at Bean Hollow, as I usually do in Ellicott City with whomever is accompanying me. I started mentioning an abandoned power plant directly across the street from the abandoned houses, and when I told him I had never gone in but always wanted to check it out, he enthusiastically suggested we go, even after I told him that it has always been guarded in the past. Yet another great thing about shooting with Steven, he's not particularly worried about getting in trouble.

We parked and walked over and we weren't the only ones roaming around taking photos. There's usually a security truck right in the parking lot by the road, but today, he wasn't there, and several joggers and bikers parked here to take the trails up into the mountains.

We just hopped down around a little fence by the water and got in easy.

Sneaking around the fence. Having shot with my AE-1 today and manual focus, somehow this is one of the few that came out in focus.

Just beyond the fence we snuck around. Except it wasn't really sneaking, it was just a minor inconvenience. 

Fun little cubbies for the workers

Had to do one of these

Oh true.

My scanner got a little confused here, clearly

I also got Steven to model for me today, much more than the last time we shot together. He has kind of changed his opinion a few times but what I've concluded today is that he's like most people; he'd enjoy modeling but has pretty much no experience with it. Most people get a little shy or don't want to sound arrogant, they think saying "I should/want to/think I could model" sounds arrogant, but most people go in the total opposite direction and resist the opportunities. Steven didn't resist today but he was hesitant to get his clothes dirty, so definitely expect more portraits of Steven in the future when he's better prepared.

This week's film:

• 1 roll of expired Agfa Vista 100
• Shot on a Canon AE-1 with a 50mm f/1.8
• Hand developed in Jobo C-41, scanned with Epson Perfection V500

Week 12

Katie drove up from school last night and stayed here overnight.

I hadn't slept well so I got up around 7 to take some medicine and I saw that my entire back yard was full of the densest fog I've ever seen. I woke Katie up and we ran outside and took photos and I shot an entire roll. I'll probably be finishing another roll this afternoon that I started last week; the batteries in my 630 died so I never finished it, but I think I'll get a chance today.

This week's film:

• 1 roll of expired Fujicolor Press 800
• Shot on a Canon AE-1 with a 50mm f/1.8
• Hand developed in Jobo C-41, scanned with Epson Perfection V500

Week 11 - Part 2

Today, Emily and I went exploring. She hadn't shot any film in a long time, so we went out taking photos and driving around with the windows down in the 78º weather.

Since we didn't have much of a plan and my chemicals are exhausted, I decided now was the time to use the roll of film that I soaked in mouthwash a few months ago. It's been sitting around my room waiting to be shot because I didn't want to risk screwing up a lab's chemicals, and since I'm getting rid of these chemicals tomorrow anyway, I figured now was the time.

It looks pretty ridiculous, there are only a couple that I even kind of like. However, this entire project is about me learning and experimenting. I'm a big fan of the unpredictability of film, but I think the whole concept of soaking is a little too unpredictable for my taste.

This post is mostly just to display the results; I'm not implying that I like all of these.

This week's film:

• 1 roll of Kodak Gold 200, soaked in mouthwash prior to shooting
• Shot on a Canon EOS 630 with a Canon 50mm f/1.4
• Hand developed in Jobo C-41, scanned with Epson Perfection V500