into the light [more film]

while the days are surely getting longer and it is later in the morning when ethan exclaims "the sun is coming up, mama!" and later in the evening when he asks "is it dark outside, mama?", there is still something special about all the darkness that comes with this season. i will always remember this winter as the one we started eating our dinners (and sometimes breakfasts) by candlelight, or oil lamp-light. the one when i decided i'd better use up all those beautiful candlesticks i've been holding onto for all these years (i think i still had one pair a friend gave to me in high school!), saving for that special occasion. realizing that every meal we sit down to together as a family is special. and savoring them as much as i possibly can.

days in the life

so i didn't do very well with my attempt at shooting one roll of film each month last year (even though i do have a whole roll from way back in my former life of august and september that i never got around to posting here...) but i am still making an effort to shoot more film because oh lord. when i look at these, i wonder why i even bother taking digital photos at all. of course, i know why i do, but still. these photos make my heart swell. even the ones of my messy kitchen counters and dusty staircases (i'll share those next time; there were too many good ones from this roll to share in one post).

film forever. and ever and ever. amen.

xo

(shot on an olymus om-2s and processed and scanned by old school photo lab. i forget what the film was, fuji i think)

june/july film!

i'm happy to report that month one of my new little film project is a success! i finally decided to splurge the extra $5 to have my film processor scan the film for me (instead of procrastinating for weeks, inevitably screwing it up and having to do it all over again, and ending up with dust and dog hair on the negatives no matter how much compressed air i use) so here are some beautiful, professionally scanned photos for you. (and the next roll is well underway in my camera!)

most of these are from the vacation we took about a month ago with my parents at a beautiful cabin up north. ethan had a blast on the pontoon boat, at the town beach, running around the cabin and making himself at home in the sandbox. and of course, it was extra special to spend so much time with grandma and baba.

while i've definitely become a convert to iphone photography for daily snapshots to share quickly, i will never stop loving these little snippets of our days on film. the magic of film will always hold a special place in my heart.

late spring on film

some of the recent film photos i've taken... i've been inspired by elise's blog recently and i'm going to try to shoot one roll of film every month (or so). i do miss shooting film and every time i get a roll back i think, why aren't i doing more of this?! so here i go. a new project, which i need like a hole in the head right now, but oh well. i'm already 3/4 of the way through my next roll, so i'm hopeful that i can keep up.

hello december

how did this happen so quickly? i'm sure you are all wondering quite the same things, so i will skip over the small talk about time flying, etc.

i have a lot to share, and even a few unpublished posts all written and ready to go, save for that darn photo uploading and editing task. sheesh. but what i wanted to pop in and mention (if there is, in fact, anyone even reading anymore, is there?) that i'll be over at habit this month, for their very final month of that space. i'll be joining many other wonderful women who have contributed over the past six years of habit and, as always, i am honored and humbled to do so. i have been so inspired by the space that emily, molly, and tara have created there and i will miss it dearly. please join us over there this month for this last hurrah.

xo

back in the winter

hi friends! i know, it's been forever. even more forever since i shot this film (film!) last fall and winter. when it arrived back from being developed (after months of sitting around waiting to be mailed) jared asked me what was on the roll and i said "lots of baby ethan." he seems like a giant compared to the little baby in these shots. and i love them.

i've been struggling to write a long post about where we've been for the past couple of months since my last post (figuratively...literally, we've been here), but i just can't find the words (or, the time to find the words) right now. so for now. film. and soon, more polaroids. i'm making my way back, very very slowly.

more soon. promise.

day to day

here we are, a couple of weeks into 2014. as i've mentioned just a few times over the past year, i continue to be amazed (overwhelmed? frightened? delighted?) by the way that days just fly by now. so much has happened in the last year. from my pregnancy to ethan's birth to his nonstop growth, i haven't wanted to miss a moment.

i also want to get back to my love of photography. since ethan was born, probably 95% of the photos i've taken have been of him. and mostly digital. i have had a roll of film in my 35mm for months and i can't remember the last time i even picked up the yashica, my love. the polaroid has fared a little better, but i need to capture this baby on some peel apart film. if only he'd stay still for a moment...

so. with all that in mind, and the encouragement of some old & dear flickr friends, i have decided to document this year on an almost daily basis. a photo, maybe accompanied by a brief description of the day. or a word. or maybe no words at all. i am calling the project day to day. i don't expect to take and/or post a photo every day of the year, but i will try to do so as much as possible. you can keep up with the project over on flickr and i'm sure i'll periodically post some favorites here on the blog.

as usual, i have a backlog of posts half-composed in my head that i'm itching to share. all those trips, all that knitting...it'll come soon enough.

happy new year, friends. i hope it brings good things your way.
xo

ethan on polaroid

we have been settling in more and more as the days go by. i think i'll say this every day for the rest of his life, but i can't believe more than two weeks have already gone by since he was born. i am already finding myself nostalgic for his first days of life. and yet, sometimes i get a little sad that it's never going to be just me and jared again (this was a feeling i had during the last days of my pregnancy too).

but mostly, i just look at him and my heart explodes and i'm filled with a kind of love i never knew existed. and jared too. i didn't think i could love him more, but here we are. heart exploding.

i have been hoarding my stash of polaroid film and now i want to blow it all on his beautiful face. his chompy little arms and legs. his adorable mouth and oh, when his eyes are wide open taking in the world. i want to savor all of it.

around

remember a few weeks ago when i vowed to blow through a roll of film in a weekend? well i went ahead and did it. after loading up my olympus om-2s only to discover the battery was dead, i opted for my lovely yashica mat 124g. (the plus side of having way too many cameras in the house!). sadly, half of the roll didn't come out, but what did fills me with joy.

i think it had been six months since i used that camera and now i'm wondering if i've been living under a rock during that time. i had actually forgotten how lovely that camera makes the world look. i just took these shots of life around the house on the weekends...clearly made up mostly of spending time in the kitchen.

at the beach

before i say anything else, i want to thank you all for your super sweet comments on my last post. one of the joys of sharing this news really has been the enthusiasm of everyone around us. that has definitely lifted us up (even though we are already pretty enthusiastic ourselves!). i'll be sure to share more bits and pieces of this journey here with you all over the coming months. xoxo

a couple of weeks ago, we returned from a long visit to new york. for the first time in years (or ever, for jared) we made time to spend the weekend at my parent's house in long island. it was nice to have a quiet weekend away after a busy week of preparing for and hosting a seder and running around the city seeing friends and family. my family has had this house for almost my entire life and i have so many memories of time spent there. from waking up early in the summers, eating cheerios as we drove my dad into town to catch the train back to the city on a monday morning while we stayed out there for weeks at a time. to bringing friends out to spend a weekend in middle school. and heading out there for a few early summer days with my crew right after my high school prom.

the weather was nice, but still a bit chilly. we cooked dinner, slept in, went out for a delicious japanese dinner, watched movies, knitted, walked on the beach, and just chilled out.

i didn't take many photos on our trip, but i was glad that i had decided to pack my polaroid spectra at the last minute so i could catch these beach photos.