down south

i've never been to the south. i've been to florida, plenty of times (my grandfather used to live there and jared's parents live in orlando), but i don't really consider that to be the south. florida is kind of its own little world. i've never really loved going there, except for the people who are there. orlando in particular feels mostly like a mass of strip malls and amusement parks. this trip, however, we took a couple of excursions to new spots (the beach, a trail right in my in-laws' backyard, and a forest trail close to their home) that were just beautiful. the forests in particular, with the live oaks and spanish moss, really reminded me of what i think the south would look like.

in any case, i had my trusty yashica mat 124 with me and shot a bunch of film. have i mentioned how much i love that camera? i really really do. there were some true gems on all the rolls of film i shot (kodak portra 400, kodak ektar 100, and kodak tmax 400), but the black and white roll pretty much blew my mind. as i was scanning in the film yesterday, i kept thinking of brian's post last week about photographs that look like paintings. it's not that the photographs are blurry like a painting, but something about the perspective and depth of field here makes the scenes look almost fake. in fact, they remind me of the dioramas at the museum of natural history. i can't quite put my finger on what it is about these photos i'm finding so interesting, but i do know that i love them. i'd love to hear your thoughts.