Fall Leaf Affair

This is another series of double exposures shot with the Nikon F3 on a random roll of Kodak 400 I had lying around.  Venturing into Shaw Nature Reserve, a wonderland of fall colors and beaming light with just 24 shots is quite an exciting feeling.  One of my favorite things about film is the extra thought process, the selectiveness, the anticipation for something extra special, the training of the mind and heart to know when and what is right.  This was an extra special roll though, a roll of duets, joining forces of complimentary colors, vibrant bursts of color...This roll was very much inspired by love. 

Shadows and Rainbow Fractals

This vibrant roll of film was shot using a Nikon F3 on Portra 800 film.   I love this camera for it's multiple exposure capabilities and really had no idea what to expect as I kept my eyes peeled for the perfect mixture of sunlight and illuminated natural forms.  I was blown away by the spectrum of color explosions and must give due credit to the wonderful Earth that invents and fosters these perfect lifeforms.  

New Orleans on Film

The journey began in the middle of the night at around 3am.  With tired eyes and heavy luggage, 8 of us piled into the Van-ella for a 10 hour drive down south to New Orleans.  The following images are the result of 6 rolls of 35mm film, the color being Portra 400 or 800 and the black and white being T-max 3200.  I have much to sort through on the digital photography end of this trip, but for now, enjoy this concoction of documentary and street photography from a very long weekend with the craziest people I know. 

A Grand Adventure

Discovery, imagination and a sense of awe are a few things that children have taught me.  

Underwater Explorations

This Summer, I decided to explore the underwater world photographically.  I discovered many things, most importantly, how difficult it is.  There are many keys to producing a great underwater image, all of which I learned the hard way (by making mistakes).  I believe it is equally as challenging for the photographer and the model, both of us doing our best to stay calm and get into position, while not breathing and trying to manipulate our own weight in an anti-gravity chamber.  Clean water is a must and direct sunlight is a definite plus.  This eliminates as much murk as possible and the direct sunlight allows for the magical patterns of refracting starlight to fall upon the skin of the subject and create an atmospheric background.  I always began with a vague idea of what I was going for paired with a storage of inspiration from work I admire by Howard Schatz.  From that point, the images seemed to evolve naturally into their own context. Enjoy.

A Sultry Evening

An evening at the Van Ella headquarters is never predictable, as was proven at the last 'Sultry Salon'.  What began as a congregation of art, poetry, interpretive dance, acrobatics and gypsy-style music by The Royal We, would transform into an absinthe-minded fantasy blur after most had left.  I myself was in a daze and not sure what to think, but I had never felt more at-one with my camera. 

Mature content advisory:

Funky Wednesdays

The perfect mid-week getaway is at Schlafly Bottleworks on Wednesdays.  The fantastic beats of funk and soul came from Teddy Presberg's Resistance Organ Trio with guests Adam Hucke and Ben Reece on the horns.  Along with the great selection of Schlafly beer, this evening was quite perfect.

A full gallery here: http://virginiaharold.zenfolio.com/p781773043

Mesh

 Whenever I am in a slump, I go straight for film...in this case, old negatives.  I recently took the dive and got my very own negative scanner.  Ever since I've had it sitting here waiting for me to use it more, I've wondered what would happen if I sandwiched multiple negatives together and scanned them in that way. Here is the result of that.