Week 12 - Part 2 / Week 15 - Part 1 / My visit to Philadelphia

I've got a lot of different things to share here so bear with me!

First, I finally got a new battery for my 630 so I finally finished that roll from Week 12 that I mentioned!

I adore those but I've got more exciting news (that probably isn't news to most of you who follow me anywhere but here.) I spent Friday and Saturday in Philadelphia for the first time, meeting Evan Walsh and Amy Geliebter.

My bus left DC at 7:30 and I got to Philadelphia around 10:30. I spent the morning with Amy until Evan came over, and we walked around for a while, I had my first authentic Philly cheesesteak, and we got around to taking photos.

I had planned on shooting a ton of film this weekend; I took chemicals to show Evan how to develop film, but a misunderstanding lead me to not bring my film scanner, so rather than shoot a ton and not be able to see anything until I got home, I just shot digital. Not complaining though, I got to finally put my new 50mm f/1.2L to use and I love it.

Here are some of the digital shots from Friday:

The next several photos of Evan are exactly why I love him. 

Amy was my assistant for a wee bit!

Senior portrait! Hahaha

Tanning with his reflector

Then today, before I left to come back home, Evan and I shot with our friend, James Evans. This boy is a killer model, so I was stoked to take photos of him. I ended up starting a second roll because the following photos were at the end of the roll that I started this post with, but I didn't finish the second roll, so there will be a Week 15 - Part 2 that includes more of James sometime this week along with Week 16.

Evan's dog, Maddie (who knows if I'm spelling that correctly) decided to come along with us while we took photos. She is seriously the best dog in the world.

Evan and Maddie together :)

Man, isn't he handsome?

I cannot even begin to express how thankful and appreciative I am to have had the chance to meet these three. I love them all dearly and I cannot wait to see them all again.

This roll of film:

• 1 roll of expired Kodak Color Plus 200
• Shot on a Canon EOS 630
• Week 12 - Part 2 shot with a Canon 50mm f/1.4
• Week 15 - Part 1 shot with a Canon 50mm f/1.2L
• Hand developed in Jobo C-41, scanned with Epson Perfection V500

Week 14 - Part 2

This morning, I went out with my friends Natalie and Jasmeen. We got lunch, went to Bethesda to get Georgetown Cupcake, and then headed to The National Zoo. The zoo itself was kind of a letdown; it was really crowded and most of the animals were asleep, but I did manage to get a couple photos of the ones that were awake.

This is actually meant to be a little ironic.

I got home and my family was waiting at my house for Easter dinner. My brother, Ron, and his wife, Jen, spend Easter with Jen's family, so we had a small dinner tonight and dyed eggs.

We also introduced Brody to Ricky's motorcycle, which didn't go over too well.

I actually managed to sneak a photo of my dad. There are maybe 10 or 15 photos of him like ever, and the fact that both of my brothers are in this too is kind of nice.

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 14

This week's film is a bit of a melting pot, but I think it's a pretty good way of documenting the stuff I've had going on.

Sunday night, Katie and Doug slept over. We saw The Hunger Games on Sunday night and took photos Monday morning. Katie had an assignment for school to recreate photos by published photographers, and one of the photographers she chose was Brooke Shaden. Katie was shooting with my C220F so I shot a bit of film while she was working out how to use it.

Doug and I ran around while Katie was taking photos of Ashlin

Katie and Ashlin walking back to my house from my back yard where we shot

Doug somehow managed to cut himself while walking to the hill where we shot haha

Katie left that afternoon, and that evening, we had a big family get together to celebrate my dad's Uncle Tony's 73rd birthday. The kids and I ran around outside after we ate and took a few photos.

Bailey being a model

Jillian!

Brody watching Bailey and Roman run around

Bailey being a model again haha

And welcome the newest member of my arsenal, the Canon 50mm f/1.2L :)

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

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.