art equals happy.

Test Roll. :: Film photographs.

Found an old camera on my shelf that I didn't think I'd ever used before. It was little, light and very simple. It basically has one setting, and it's a manual wind-on with a shutter lock. I was curious to see how it would shoot so I took a test roll. I wasn't sure about focus or light leaks or anything with it- so I tried to take a range of distances and subjects. These are some of my favourite shots. I wound it back every now and again to try and get double exposures (this is totally hit & miss)- and they turned out the best, I think. It naturally takes quite dark shots so that's perfect for doubles. Anyway...(Above might be my all time fav. Look at the red light leak!!!)These were all taken near my parents house, and that's my dad being my 'subject' for me. :] Kimxo

p.s. Double exposures are my jam right now! <3 

The 'Mistakes' :: Film & Photos.

With every roll of film, there are always 'dudd' frames. Sometimes you get a lot of good photographs, sometimes only one or two will be useable. And sometimes, if you're trying something a bit risky or new, you get a whole lot of abstract, but beautiful 'mistakes'. I wanted to share these with you, hopefully to make you feel a little more confident about shooting with film, and also to take that mystery out of it. (I know, sometimes it seems like people post amazing film photos- and that's it! One beautifully shot, perfectly exposed photo after another. But, the truth is, they probably get a lot of shots similar to these too.)Personally, I feel that these have a certain mystery, romance, dreamlike and even a touch of horror about them. And you could never get such organic light leaks from a digital camera. I say embrace the mistakes and have fun! :]Plus, they can be fun images to use for double exposing! Try layering these 'mistake' frames over another image in photoshop, like I did above.kimxo

Hello again Fisheye. :: Film & Photographs.

Yay! I finally went and got my stack of film devoloped! I've had a few rolls sitting waiting for nearly a year. It was such a surprise to see some of the shots I'd forgotten about. Here was a fun picnic from last summer.And a blurry, flash photo of my cat for good measure. :]Kimxo

Sam on Sunday in Instax. :: Friends and Film Photographs.

Last sunday we spent such a nice day relaxing. Sam played guitar all day and I drew and took some film photos and it was raining outside but it was nice and cozy inside. He inspires me so much. Good heart, good soul, good head and tons of talent and kindness. These instax were my favourite from the day. I love the look of them when they are scanned in/printed up big. Something about the soft focus & vignette of the LC-A plus the hit-and-miss of the instax.This bottom one speaks especially loud to me. Double exposures are my jam right now. kxo

A scan from today.

Just some bits and bobs I sent off in the mail to a dear old friend of mine who lives in the redwoods in california. That's a little wonky watercoloured moon, a crocheted doily coaster and a little instax of me and mum we took today. [:
Hopefully this will brighten up her week!
Kimxo
(p.s. my instax is a LomoLca back, so that's why the black vignetting round the edges! <3)

The Louie Story part I.

Those of you that have been following my blog since it's inception (and when I had a blogspot called killerxkimxphotography) will know all about my Vespa, Louie. For the new-comers, you might not even know that I have a scooter unless you've looked through my flickrstream loads.

I have some exciting news! Due to my illness, I haven't been able to ride him for nearly two years but this April, I am determined to 'get back on the horse' so to speak. And partly because I'm ridiculously excited and need a count down and partly because I wanted to share these favourite photos with you- I'm going to give you a pretty sentimental recap of The Louie Story.If you'll believe it- I bought this beautiful 150cc Vespa PX from a guy on ebay. I drove a little twist n' go Vespa moped at the time, but I knew that once I turned 17 I could finally get a 'real' scooter. I had a few older Mod friends who were in Scooter Clubs and I always got the piss taken out of me for not having GEARS! The gears on a scooter are on the handlebars (not by your feet like a motorcycle) and to be honest, I was shitting myself about learning gears. haha! Anyway, I digress... I was looking on ebay just to get an approx price so I knew how much I needed to save- when this beautiful minty, bluey, beauty came up. And it was in Bristol. And it ended in 24 hours. It was nearly midnight, I think, but I rushed upstairs to my parents room and actually woke my dad up. I was in love. We went to check it out the next day and I 'gave him an offer, he couldn't refuse'- we paid cash and Louie was mine! I couldn't believe it. It was a very reasonable price as the mirrors were all rusted and the left side panel was smashed up a bit. Louie sat in the garage for two months until I turned 17 and then I started in on the task of learning gears.
I had just started sixth form (like the last two years of high school) which meant no uniforms! It also meant (for me) that guys started paying attention to me. I had an on-again-off-again boyfriend/friend at the time called Matt and we would mainly talk about scooters, music, the 'right' kind of clobber and old films and walk to the bike shed to hang out by Louie (and later, his little matte black vespa). It all felt super romantic at the time, but looking back, we were pretty geeky. haha! I joined the Weston Scooter Club that december where I meant a lot of hilarious guys and they all teased me for driving super slow. I was the only girl... what can I say. haha. It took me a while to get used to a more powerful machine, but I loved every minute of it!During that time I started shooting A LOT of film. I bought my first Holga and I was the Photography Technician at school which basically meant I had to get the darkroom all set up/cleaned up everyday. That made for a lot of very chilly mornings.
I carried my British Airways bag around with me everywhere (what's a Mod without one, eh?) and scooted around to friends houses around the countryside, but still to scared to drive into Bristol until 2008, haha!

I can't quite remember why I originally named him Louie- but, because of Quadrophenia we used to sing "Louie, Louie! ooooooh, no- I said.. We got to go! yeh yeah yehyeaaah." and it just stuck. [:

2008 is coming in part II. [: Hope I'm not boring you too much. You can see more photos of scooter/mod times in this set on flickr. 

autumn trip to Brighton.

Back in Autumn, when it still a little bit warm, Saara and I went to visit my parents one weekend and we took a day trip to visit Brighton, because non of us had been there before and also because there was a huge motorcycle thing going on. I was hoping it'd be mostly Vespas, and boy was I wrong! The beach was heaving with greasers!!! Anyway, we had a good time and took lots of film photos. [:Saara had also NEVER eaten Fish and Chips, which is pretty much a crime if you've ever been to England, so we rectified that. haha. It was one of the best I've ever had too, which is lucky. Walked along the promenade and I was being geeky and pointing out places that Quadrophenia might have been filmed. But mostly we watched people and mod-spotted and then got ice cream! Yum Yum Yummmm. Also tried to meet up with some friendsies that go to college in Brighton and we had a bit of a chill out on the pebbly beach.Quite happy that any of these came out, cause this was expired slide film that I cross processed and most of the other roll I took came out blank! So, it's lucky really that these are so nice!
Thanks for letting me share. [: 

dreamy fisheye.

Today I've been working hard on my essay and it's pretty much done (hurrah!). Here are some pretty pretty fisheyes I took around spring/summer time when I was in bristol visiting with friends. I love forests. Don't forget to check out my cool sketchbook project if you haven't already. [: I'm sending you all productive vibes for the new week. see you soon! kxo

ooh, baby it's cold outside!

We've had a rainy, miserable grey day- so I've been wrapped up in my house, trying to get some essay writing done and taking breaks for photographing my newly finished socks and watching The Prisoner. These fisheyes are from late nov/early dec, and I took them while waiting at the bus stop I get to college everyday.
Are you back at work yet? Looking forward to a new term at school? Franticly catching up with projects you were supposed to do over the holiday? haha, whatever you're doing, I hope you're enjoying getting back into a routine- I always like the fresh feeling of a new term. kxo 

blog and shop news.

In order to get myself together and organized and prepare for the new re-vamp that's coming in the new year, I'm going to take it a little easier!
I put my Etsy Shop on vacation mode today (If you want any of the embroidery patterns, please e-mail me and we'll arrange something over paypal).
(these pictures are 'mess ups' on the fisheye, but i kind of like them.)
I've decided a date on which all of the grand revealing will happen (after we finish a big project & essay at college) which will be: Jan 22nd 2011! You'll probably see a little bit of a change here on the blog- just a simplified version until the new one goes up! I'll still be posting every-other day with pictures and thoughts and maybe some sketchbooks and drawings. :]

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who follows my blog and comments and reads it. You really make it all worth while- and I'm so grateful that you've been understanding when I don't feel well and have lagged behind on the blog. I'm really excited about the new year, and the new projects that are forming and coming together- I think you'll be excited too when you hear about them!