Returned from the land of...

... I didn't actually go anywhere, I just checked out a bit from blogging -- writing and reading -- to reevaluate and prioritize.  In the end, I decided that for now, I'm not going to worry about focussing this blog on anything.  It will be a smorgasbord* of family memories, personal photography, business photography, my thoughts, and my environmental pursuits.  But I do hope to be a little more consistent.

I mentioned previously that I have always loved film.  When I was little and there weren't any commercial photo labs (the communists didn't want people to have business or memories, I guess).  My grandpa was a higher-up professor at a university so my dad had access to photo developing resources.  He took photos, developed, and printed them himself.  I really thought it was so cool.  He talked about it a little, but it wasn't until high school that I actually learned to develop film and print images myself.  When I was a freshman in college, for my 18th birthday, my dad wanted to buy me an SLR camera.  This was 2003 so everyone was making the jump into digital, but I was stubborn.  I had an infatuation with film.  My dad tried to reason with me, but I insisted.

The camera wasn't the top of the line, but  I loved the photos I took while living in Hawaii that year.  But a few years later, I realized that film as becoming expensive.  Every few months another lab shut down and options for film developing decreased.  It became a very expensive hobby.  My sweet husband surprised me with a digital SLR our first Christmas as a married couple.  I was excited, but felt like I was breaking up with a great boyfriend for a cuter, but less cool one.

Anyway, I decided that cameras aren't boyfriends and I don't have to choose just one.  Lately I've been enjoying both.  To me, there is something magical about film images. I love the grain, I love the more creamy tones.  I love the surprise that it is to have to wait a few days to see the pictures that I forgot I took.

There is only one place within 20 miles that develops and scans film -- Walgreens.  I decided to give them a try last week.  Oh boy -- not good!  I think I will drive the 21 miles and pay $3 bucks to get a better quality scan.  The scans were very small files (which is why these look SO grainy) and greenish.

These are from two really great beach trips -- one to Cannon beach with just or family and one to Seaside with our friends, the Blaisdells.  Also, there are a few from the library where the kids and I went at least weekly this summer, and the naked one was taken at home :)

*Did you know that Smorgasbord is s a type of Scandinavian meal served buffet-style with multiple dishes of various foods on a table, originating in Sweden.