Monday, April 8, 2013

the art of film (part 1)



so have you considered shooting film for yourself? although it's kind of an expensive hobby sometimes, it is totally worth it.

first you will need a film camera of your own:
I would recommend getting just a basic 35mm or 50mm first. you don't want a rangefinder or a rolliflex for your first film camera.
-ask grandparents or older neighbors if they have one they would let you just have. (free is good!)
-antique stores usually have one or two
-you could try ebay but again you should just stick with a well known make of 35mm or 120 (Canon, Nikon, etc.)
-again you should probably look the camera up on Camerapedia first.
-you could try Lomography but they're a bit pricy.
-try to get a well known camera. not all film cameras are created equal. you can get a pretty decent film camera for twenty to thirty bucks if you know where to look.
-don't buy anything without knowing what kind of film it takes! There's a whole lot of film formats that aren't in production anymore. (620, 127, 116, 616, 110 roll, 126, and a whole bunch of polaroid films)

next you'll need some film:
-again, someone may have some just lying around but it's probably expired. (personally, I think that expired film can turn out some really pretty and interesting colors but it won't produce the greatest picture if you want to capture a moment)
-I recommend Lomography for film just because it's so cheap and they know what they're doing when it comes to film.
-Allen's Camera or some other camera store by you might still carry film.
-get the kind of film that fits your camera. most SLR cameras take 35mm.

and you're probably good to go when it comes to supplies!




Friday, April 5, 2013

When I Went To Go See Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel)




Neutral Milk Hotel has always been a classic in the indie music collection of people such as I. They are the weirdest of the weird when it comes to music and style. They broke up in about 1998 because of Jeff Mangum their singer. This was his first time on tour since the band split up. He hates fame. I could just see it in him when I saw him live. 





He played all Neutral Milk Hotel's songs acoustic, which is a lot different than the quirky instruments added into the recordings. I liked it a lot actually.




He wouldn't let anyone record or take pictures. He was just paranoid of fame. At the Depot there are projector screens and TV's on the walls so you can see even if people are in the way. Jeff freaked out when he saw them. He pretty much stopped the concert until they turned them all off.


He usually looks like this.

Jeff Mangum is Gandalf. (Stole this one from instagram @teresaflowers)

This was probably a once in a lifetime experience. I think seeing Jeff tour again is about as likely as seeing Elliot Smith or Kurt Cobain tour again.

It was a great concert and I loved it.



Sunday, March 17, 2013

Sufjan (Soof-yawn) Stephens




So this week I have decided to share with you my new music obsession. I have rediscovered the sweet sweet sounds of Sufjan Stephens.


He even knits.

If you haven't noticed already, I have a really quirky taste in a lot of things. Sufjan is gloriously weird in every way and the best part of it is he gets basically no media attention for it. He isn't like the gross pop artists of today that bathe in the media shock that they get from the clothes that they wear. Sufjan is dead serious about being weird. It pleases his soul.


My favorite album has got to be Enjoy Your Rabbit.

The best part is his music. He makes really quirky song ideas into really great music. This man made two five disk Christmas albums. He's pretty dead serious about what he does.
So you should go check him out.

Have a nice day.



Sunday, March 10, 2013

Guess What?





This week I discovered Tumblr. (Well I sort of already knew about it) I'm still figuring it out but I really love my new photo blog. Blogger isn't really built for photo blogs but Tumblr is. So for all you Tumblr people out there follow me!
My blog is
http://shadowsonparade2.tumblr.com/

Thanks!
-John