Lomography

Lomography is a term that some people have begun to use to distinguish analogue photography from digital, the latter being pretty much the norm these days when one speaks of photography.

I haven't done lomography much since the parentals bought our first digital camera; the one significant instance was when I took my dad's old Asahi Pentax with me to Oulu in 2009 and shot a couple of rolls. Still, I do like using film. It has its own challenges, but definitely also its rewards. That is why I take a chance when I am given one. Marc was gracious enough to allow me the use of one of his analogue cameras back in May, when I was brought to Helsinki to keep Laura company while he was away on a business trip. Some of the pictures ended up being kind of a "meh" quality, but other shots were quite successful. Yesterday, I finally managed to scan a few.

That face is frickin' priceless.

She's a biter, this girl.

Time for honesty? This photo is making it easier for me to accept Marc. I'm also warming up to him via interaction, but this does have a little bit of an effect.

These fellows were brilliant!

We saw a street magician. He was pretty good, and funny to boot.

...and then he made an orange appear under his hat out of thin air.

Number of Items in Outbox: 17

That's a personal record. Yay? Here are some chosen bits.

 

Just look at that ridiculousness. The cat does not seem pleased.

Not many people specifically include flowers in their wish list. I'm glad when they do.

I don't even know what to say about this. Taken in the Trocadero Gardens, reads in the back.

Tell me this is not adorable. I dare you.

Why hello, NSFW content! This is in fact my only LGBT-themed card. I'm using it for the Gay + Lesbian tag.

There was also one person for whom I folded an origami frog and wrote the ID on that, since he requested creativity. Sadly, I neglected to take a picture before sealing the envelope. Perhaps the recipient will do so! If that happens, I'll show it here.

Fuzzzyyyyy

Turns out I'm too knackered to write an actual post. So, instead, have a very fuzzy smartphone photo of J that I took this morning. ♥

 

Flickr

I have been lured in by the promise of a terabyte of free space. That's not easy to resist, you know. So, I'm uploading my existing photos little by little — still not sure whether I should include shots where I'm not the principal photographer, though — and will try and remember to throw any future works in there. At the moment it's all stuff you have probably already seen.

Go here.

A Pretty Sweet Day, She Wrote

This post was held up by reasons, but it is about last Wednesday. It was the last full day I had in Helsinki before coming up to Oulu for about a week, so obviously I spent it with Laura.

Much of the day was how it usually is when we hang out at her and Marc's place — watching telly, writing postcards, being silly — but in the evening we deviated from the pattern. We took Marc's car and went off in search of a sushi place. Picked the second one, since the first was full and we would have had to wait quite a while. So, ended up in a place called Tokio 55. Amazing, it was.

...well, there were some issues with the wasabi. The chefs had included some in many of the rolls, and Laura and I (she more than I, much much more) are both rather sensitive to spicy food. Sensitive as in "cannot handle". The second round was ordered sans mouth-burning green goo.

Most of the rolls were good, but one really stood out. It was probably some variation of a California roll. Not entirely sure, though. Its appearance had me slightly skeptical, but the minute I put the roll in my mouth, nirvana exploded on my tongue. My exact words? "Oh my god, this is gorgeous." As far as I can remember, I have never experienced that reaction to food before. Ever. I may have felt that something I ate was a piece of heaven at that particular moment in time, but never have I been inspired to exclaim the virtues of something out loud. I really need to go there again sometime.

For dessert, both Marc and I had chocolate fondant with green tea ice cream. Yum. Laura had some sort of parfait.

After stuffing ourselves completely full (seriously, I felt like I was going to explode) we went back to the flat for a while. Laura and I finished watching the episode of Ghost Whisperer we had started prior to the sushi hunt.

Sometime around eleven, I began preparing to leave. Marc had promised to give me a ride home on his motorcycle, so I put on some boots (which they had found a few weeks earlier by the dumpsters or something), borrowed Laura's leather trousers, and finished off with the red leather jacket I had taken with me (on the off chance that this would happen, and because I had said I'd show it to Marc). Then, off we went.

It was BRILLIANT. I saw some parts of the city I had not been to previously, and the route we took had some really lovely scenery. We also passed a building that I am itching to investigate. Had to go look for it on Google Maps to find out exactly what it was, but apparently it's an out-of-use army barracks. Methinks that might be a good first destination for some urban exploration...

Anyway. Photos. :3

Next proper update (hopefully) on Saturday. Ta!

Fantastic. Brilliant. Molto bene. Great.

and that's all I'm gonna say right now because I am ready to crash but damn I've had a pretty sweet day.

Edge of Seventeen

Oh my lord. My heart has been shattered into itty bitty pieces by this film. It's from 1998, but set in 1984–85. Eric, upon meeting an openly gay guy at his summer job, is catapulted into a sexual discovery of his own. Too bad that in the process he ends up hurting a few people — mostly himself and his best friend. Many of the decisions he makes during the film are far from smart, but let's remember we are talking about a gay adolescent in the mid-80s. The boy is freaking terrified. I loved it, even though the pacing may seem a little slow in places. Then again, that's not a bad thing here. If you like coming-of-age stories of the lgbt variety, do see whether you can get your hands on this. It's definitely worth the watch, methinks. A trailer for your viewing pleasure: