Life in Technicolor

The Olympus XA is a little fun film camera, and happens to be one of my favorites. Since the rangefinder is broken in the first one, I got another (much cheaper this time, and a better copy at that) last year, and had been planning to take that along everywhere. Well, it’s in my backpack all the time, but the photo-taking part has not been happening since I had not figured out the film development part, and since I don’t want to spend time on developing film on my own.

A week back I found that one of the local drugstores actually do C41 development, and dumped some of my haphazardly stored film on them. One of them is a roll of Agfa Vista, expired since who knows when, and it’s got some interesting color casts. In the days of olde this would be why you would choose fresh film over expired. These days you sort of prefer expired film for the funny effects.

The first frame is kind of extra funny. A few years back I would have thrown that away; these days I treat frames gone wrong like trophies. Why? Because I can’t make beautiful mistakes like this with my digital SLR, and film is special in that.

This window used to be Minnie the cat’s favorite perch when I’d be around. I dearly miss Minnie. Such a pretty, quiet, dignified, lovable cat.

Through the window of my old room at B’s place.
Indiana Railroad track.
A tree in bloom, possibly at White Oak Cemetery.
At a neighborhood park.

I ran everywhere as a part of “discover Bloomington on foot” project. One of the discoveries is this neat little park. Another one is Jackson Creek trail and park. Another discovery is that most neighborhoods are welcoming and friendly in my little town, but there are certain neighborhoods where people just stare at you blankly even if you smile.

I have run quite a bit, but evidently there’s a lot more to discover.

The same park.
The same park.
Bender Lumber!
This is where Bloomington’s Saturday farmers’ market take place.
Art installation on B-trail.
Lilies. This was the time that thrilled me with flowers everywhere, after the spring rains.
IU Campus. Dunn’s meadow, a little stream, and trees.
Campus, again.
Just a door.
At the cafeteria in Indiana Memorial Union.
Courthouse, Bloomington.
Beer at the Alley Bar.
Coffee at Cafe 19, Atlanta. This thing kept me awake for a whole night.
Fellow coffee drinkers at Cafe 19.
Coffee at Cafe 19, again.
Cafe 19’s bar, of which I know very little.
A man watching the rain. Atlantic station.
Rain, and a car. Atlanta.
A deer family were frequent visitors that summer.
Some summertime construction.

I don’t manage to take pictures all the time (the digital SLR is too heavy for that, and there’s only so much time once a semester starts), but since the XA’s almost always with me, and now that I know an easy way to get film developed, I guess I could do this a lot more often. At least more often than once an year.

(Posted on May 26, 2012.)