Zumi and Rawwwwwr Come To Live With Anne......

Before I begin this post, I have been remiss in welcoming new followers, and I beg forgiveness.....my brain has seemed to take a vacation and leave the rest of me here trying to function. I am delighted you are along for the ride and hope you enjoy the odd and rambling content of this blog! WELCOME!!!

And now to today's serving of brain dribblings......

The other day after I had done my *turtle  on it's back* routine on the living room floor thanks to the errant knee, and was feeling extremely sorry for myself, I broke down and ordered a digital camera I have been debating about for a long time. It is a Zumi, and it is a digital that does lomography. If you don't know what that is, I'll have a few bad photos a bit later in the post. I recommend googling it and seeing what people are doing with the medium, some of which is amazing, a lot of which is just quirky and fun.
I ordered from Photojojo, a company that has a great sense of humor both in their online writing and in their text for billing. I mean, they made me laugh when I opened the box. The contents are above.

I did not know that besides getting the camera and the necessary battery, mini (and I do mean MINI!) SD card and USB adapter, I would be the proud mother of Rawwwwwr, the little dinosaur! He looks fierce but was quite happy to get out of the box and seems to be adapting well to studio life.  He did ask I rephotograph him, as his other side is more colorful with brighter green stripes......he's my little "Desk-Dino" and keeps an eye open for typos!

The one thing I figured out quickly is the learning curve on a lo-fi camera with the book printed and reading from back to front (made in Japan) leads to a little confusion, and it will take some time to get all the glorious lo-fi technique under my belt. The above pics were shot with my FujiFilm  S 5100 digital, DH bought me a small Canon PowerShot which I am learning (it's a carry along camera) and now I have the nonglorious Zumi to learn.

I definitely need Springtime and outdoor color!

This is a bad example of the hazy quality the Zumi offers; it IS intentional, made to duplicate the cheap plastic cameras of the film era. You are not sure what you will get until you upload the pics!

Rawwwwwr, of course, wanted his photo taken with the new camera too, so to be fair, here he is:

I think you can see what we're working with here...... reeeeeeeally LO-FI.

And WHY would I want this? Because with a little practise, I can produce what I would have had to spend a fortune on in real film and developing, or developing and printing myself, and I was not ready to think about trying to set up a darkroom again, though I have all the equipment still.

So the Zumi adventure begins!

Now I need good, colorful photo-fodder.

And a sedative to learn where all the little adjustment buttons are on this very small camera that my big hands seem to completely encompass. A new journey to start amongst all the others in progress.....LOL!!!

Of course, on the up side, if I use my good cameras for blog pics, and they turn out bad, I can just blame it on the Zumi........or Rawwwwwr getting mischievious and readjusting the settings....  ;-)

Have a dino-sized good day--have fun--be creative and above all.....

Pax.

The Final Photos of the Hearts

Learning to use a new camera and trying to get good shots of finished artwork is not the wisest of combinations....

But, if you enlarge these, you'll be able to see the fine details and some of the aging process I used on them. I was STILL having issues with the different varnishes and finishes I was using---I am assuming it was nothing more than weather and not operator error! LOL!!!

While the exposure on the first is much lighter than the piece, I was hoping it might show some of the hint of glitter on the wings. I am beginning to think I need some remedial photo lessons.......hmmmmm.......

Now; banner fabric is on the tables and I am not sure what I will be posting until I can get these things well underway, so if it gets quiet or there is no art again, then I am in the throes of trying to wrestle this giant project with about one third the energy I usually have.

Also, I may not be blog hopping as much, and it is not because of the wish to ignore anyone---I just need to stick my nose to the grindstone and keep it there because I am not looking forward to these.

I just need them DONE.

And DONE WELL.

So if any art happens to sort of slither in during the sewing process, believe me, I will post it.

To everyone, have a wonderful creative day...try something new...and enjoy the journey!

Pax.