shooting with film // yosemite, julian & san diego

One of my favorite things about shooting with any of my non-digital cameras is picking up my developed prints from the print shop, opening the package, and seeing the first frame of the first roll. And remembering all over again where I was when I shot it, because it's been so long. That's something you just can't get from a digital camera, that rush of memories that floods your brain while you hold the actual print in your hands. It's so, so good.

Here's a few of my favorites from the first roll.

I was in Yosemite with these lovely ladies nearly two years ago, and I remember it like it was only last month. Golden light, hiking to a dried up lake, attempting to make scrambled eggs over open flame. I remember being covered in dust, and seeing lots of deer, and feeling very very small. In a good way.

Some friends and I took a day trip to Julian so shop, wine-taste, and eat apple pie. It was either late 2014 or early 2015. We made a pit stop at the Nickel Beer Company, which I'd never heard of before, but our friends knew about it (a bonus of having beer industry friends). I remember it felt small but rustic. And the beer was good. I've been to Julian a few times, and I love its charming, small-town feel. Visiting The Old Well was new for me though. A cute little vintage and record shop with its original well right in the middle of the store. I remember the drive back to San Diego as the sun was lowering in the sky, and how beautiful it looked, and how happy I felt in that moment.

Photo walks with photografriends is one of my favorite things to do around town. My friend Matt and I went to the suspension bridge in Bankers Hill and just walked around the neighborhood. I remember this was before I started the whole IVF process, and while we were on the bridge, I vented my frustrations about my fertility journey thus far. I felt so defeated. I had no idea that in just a few months, I would be pregnant. Life has a funny way of working out sometimes.

More film photos in my next post! :)

our west coast wander // yosemite

 I'm horrible at blogging consistently, I know. But I figured I was way overdue with sharing my photos and thoughts from my impromptu trip to Yosemite National Park last September.

This trip was totally unplanned on my part. I was invited by my good photografriend Kristina, who was also going with the uber-talented Adrienne Pitts. They were both planning on going to Phoot camp in a few weeks (an annual photography retreat), but first wanted to head up north for some mountains, fresh air, and of course, lots of photo-taking. They wanted to hit up Yosemite first for maybe three nights, then make their way down through Big Sur and possibly stay a night in San Luis Obispo before heading back to San Diego.

They couldn't have invited me at a better time. Even though it was September, the end-of-summer heat and humidity was in full force, making me generally miserable; I was recovering from accidentally breaking my big toe the previous month, but I was starting to walk mostly normal; And I had just had another failed infertility treatment cycle, so I was pretty much "FUCK EVERYTHING." I needed a distraction, and getting the eff outta dodge sounded delightful and just what I needed. Plus, as a photographer, it's really hard to say no to a road trip.

Yosemite is really beautiful, period. The trees are big, and the mountains are big, which in turn make you feel really small and insignificant, but in a good way. The air feels good in your lungs and the sunlight seems magical. We swam in shallow rivers, and I saw more deer than I've ever seen in one place. We met friendly camp neighbors who let us borrow their portable gas grill and warned us when the squirrels were trying to get inside our open bear-proof locker. We played Cards Against Humanity with other camp neighbors and got yelled at by a camp ranger when we accidentally left a bottle of Jameson out. We took hundreds of photos and consumed large quantities of Tapatío (thanks Kristina!).

You can't put three photographers together without eventually seeing them geek out and chase that coveted "golden hour" light. Which we did. A lot.

That photo on the right (above) was taken in this really cool rock pile area near Mirror Lake (which was, sadly, completely dried up). I was still doing my 52 weeks project at the time, so I was inspired to take my week 37 photo here.

I love these portraits I took of Kristina and Adrienne. We were looking for patches of sunlight coming through the trees to get that halo/rim light effect, and BAM. Portrait heaven.

On one of our last days there, a giant forest fire broke out well far away from our camp. A fellow camper told us that if we drove up to Glacier Point, about an hour away, we'd be able to see views of not only Half Dome and El Capitan, but of the giant smoke cloud as well. It looked pretty insane.

And now for some obligatory instagrams from the trip! Above, a film camera party.

Just three ladies in a river. Don't mind us.

Instaxagrams!

This just reminds me again of how small we really are. Our petty gripes and bitching and moaning in our daily lives just seem so silly when you remember how big the world really is. It's beautiful and it's humbling.

Stay tuned for the Big Sur and San Luis Obispo part of our trip! :)