Experimenting with my Diana + lens.

When I read the post about the Diana + lens over on A Beautiful Mess last week, I knew I had to finally get my own lens out of storage and test it out. Now, I say finally because I received this lens as a Christmas gift... in 2010. Shame! Shame on me! When I received it, I was super excited because I love my Diana F+ so much, but get slightly stressed having to deal with developing 120 film and worry about wasting frames with bad photo lighting judgement. (Because photo lighting is not always my forte.) But I was also very unsure about how to properly mount it on my digital camera body and I was super nervous about jamming a plastic adapter onto my Nikon. So I packed it in a drawer and honestly sort of forgot about it for awhile.

But a few months ago I emailed Photojojo! And, as always, they provided super-fast service and user-friendly advice to put me at ease about having to use a little extra "umph" when clicking the lens into place. They basically just told me to be brave and follow the instructions and trust the process. ;) There's also some helpful tips on the FAQ page found here. 

Anyway, Harbor and I took a spontaneous long-weekend trip to his parents' house in Destin earlier this morning and I made a special note on my packing list not to forget my Dreamy Diana Lens so I could test it out in the gorgeous Destin sunlight at sun down. Here are some photos from our little experiment earlier this evening:

Oh, and just so you know, the Dreamy Diana Lens is a wide angle lens built to be swapped out on the analog camera itself. (When you purchase the lens to use on your SLR or DSLR, you can also buy a camera-specific adapter over at Photojojo.) If you're not using this lens on your toy camera, you can use the viewfinder that comes in the kit just-for-fun with your digital medium of choice. I decided to jazz up some Instagram photos, too.

Have a happy long weekend, everyone. 

K

A trip to the St. Marks Lighthouse.

On Saturday, Harbor, Jaclyn and I decided to take a day trip to St. Marks (a salt marsh on the Gulf Coast) so I could show them the lighthouse and beautiful Florida wildlife. So we packed up a picnic lunch and drove to the coast.

I think I've mentioned this previously, but one of the things I love most about Harbor is his love for Florida and just how much I've been able to learn about this southern state through dating him. Weather patterns, geography, Florida history, and the overall ecology of the state are "his thing," so it's not unusual to hear a little tidbit or fact about the place we're in and why it's so unique to where we live. Needless to say, he was really pumped to be on the gulf again and enjoy the outdoors with my sister and me.

One of the greatest things about making the drive from Tallahassee to the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge is watching the land change outside your window, transitioning from dense forest to wetlands in a matter of minutes as you near the coast. I love feeling the sun on my cheeks and exploring the pretty lighthouse on the Gulf of Mexico. We weren't able to go up and explore this time, but I've been able to before and the view is amazing. Still, it was fun to go and snap a few photos together.

I can't wait until we can go and visit during a time when lighthouse tours are available. If we go, I'll be sure to bring my camera along and share photos from our trip.

Happy adventuring!

K

Sunday Funday.

(Matilda modeling on my new duvet cover from IKEA.)

Hello, from a chilly house in Central Florida. Word on the street is we're supposed to get down in the low 40's tonight so I'm  preparing my body for a cold Valentine's Day tomorrow. I have a t-shirt with hot pink lips I bought months ago to wear, so it looks like I'll be layering a bit.

This afternoon Harbor and I took a trip up to Orlando so he could furnish his new apartment. Neither of us had ever spent a significant amount of time in an IKEA before, so we were looking forward to the trip. I was especially excited because we've never furniture shopped together, and it just seems like a very adult thing to do. Feel like we really took this relationship to the next level today.

Anyway, we had our monthly photo adventure scheduled for this afternoon, but since we also really needed to hit up IKEA, I decided that we should just knock them both out at the same time. So, yes. We definitely took photos all around the Orlando IKEA store. And yes, that is a very 20-something-white-person-young-love thing to do.

However,  I refused to fit the stereotype completely. I told Harbor we had to be sneaky so that we wouldn't be completely obvious that we were actually having a photo shoot inside of an IKEA. It only added to the challenge and made it more fun. And a hilarious sidenote: My roommate Linds said that she's surprised IKEA stores everywhere haven't posted a sign that reads, "Absolutely no recreating 500 Days of Summer in this store at any time. Thank you."

Here's what we came up with:

Harbor selects a fine wine in his living room.

Kaitlyn considers what she'll be making for the evening in her kitchen.

Kaitlyn and Harbor have a moment in the mirror in which Harbor looks angry but really is not.

And we used the rugs as giant backdrops! It was my favorite part of the trip. Here, Harbor can be seen with his brand new water pitcher.

All in all, it was super fun. I learned a lot about the way Harbor is able to use his money wisely and make this most of a budget. (Great life skills, if you ask me.) I also learned that you can't just "run in real quick" to an IKEA. You have to spend 2 - 3 hours there, minimum. As we were leaving, I heard a young child say, "Ahh, I love the smell of IKEA." Made me wonder how regularly they frequented the store. Must be a pretty trendy little fam. 

On the way home I even got to work on my blanket, which is nearly completed, by the way. I wrapped up the evening cooking vegetarian Indian food with my roommates. It's one of our favorite things in the whole world to eat. We probably make it twice a month at least. 

And here's a sneak peek at my nearly-finished granny square blanket! I can't believe how long it's taken me, but I'll be pumped to have it done. Matilda already approves of my handiwork.

I hope you had a restful weekend and that you're anxiously awaiting Valentine's Day tomorrow, even if you don't have a significant other to celebrate with. It's just a great day to care about others. 

K

Right now, I'm all about...

Juice Box Cameras!

I received this cute little camera for Christmas, and it's the best thing ever. I just hide mine in my purse or tuck it into my camera bag and go exploring. Harbor got it for me from the ever-wonderful Photojojo, but I recently discovered another site where you can choose your juice box for only $23. So awesome. I think I'm going to start collecting these guys... and I've got my eye on the milk carton next.

You can only buy the "apple juice" box in the Photojojo Store, but it does come with a free roll of film, and it's $25. I just developed my first roll over the weekend and was shocked with how pretty they were. These photos were taken with 800 film, but I just reloaded my camera with some expired 400, so I'm anxious to see how those turn out. (Expired film colors + light leaks = heaven.)

Here are some photos we took:

I'm going to a wedding up in Jacksonville this weekend, and I plan on taking some fisheye photos with my lil' Lomo. I'll be sure to post some when we get back.

Start dreaming about the weekend ahead!

K

Citrus on Sunday.

This afternoon my boyfriend and I went on a photo adventure, as we've both decided that we want to be taking more photos in the new year. We knew we would keep this "resolution" if we planned monthly "photo adventures" all around Brevard County. I happen to love this sleepy little coastal town I live in. And though it's pretty small, there are still so many spots I haven't seen and experienced yet.

I moved to Rockledge, FL roughly a year and a half ago to work on a research project. I was implementing some creative writing strategies with the TWLOHA summer interns, and while I was living and working here, I fell in love with this little community. Lucky for me, I was hired by TWLOHA the following fall and was able to return to Brevard with all my belongings in tow.

Today, Harbor and I decided to find an orange grove and snap some shots. Figured it would be a great start to our year-long journey -- sort of a quintessential Florida photo-shoot, right? Turns out, the grove we hunted down (Thanks, Google!) was located right behind a house he and I ride by all the time on our bikes, and we sometimes like to pretend it's "our house." So it wasn't the first time we trespassed on this particular property today. :)

Here are some of my favorite photos from the day:

Oranges on film. How great is the focus and DOF on this? Harbor's a natural.

My new red hair.

Love those gold flats.

After our grove exploration, we picked a ton of oranges, limes and grapefruits from our neighbors' trees. With permission, of course. Tomorrow I plan on posting a delicious (and wayyy simple) lime-aid recipe we concocted this evening. And, spoiler alert, it's 10x better when you throw a shot of vodka in it.

I hope you're enjoying new goals for 2011 too. Any of them involve taking more photos?

K