Hood to Coast Relay 2009

Hood to Coast is an annual relay race that takes place at the end of August. It starts at Timberline, on the top of Mt. Hood, and finishes on the Oregon coast at Seaside. The race is 197 miles long, includes two vans of six runners, each of which runs three legs. The legs can vary from 4ish miles to a little under 8, but the average distance each runner completes is around 16 miles or so. Over the course, there is always someone from your team out running. This basically means that you don't sleep for 2 days. Sounds crazy, right? Crazy FUN! This was my second year participating, and I hope I get to run it every year from now until eternity! Now, for a few of my favorites from the weekend:

{as always, click on any image to make it bigger!}






Keep in tune for some exciting news to be gradually announced over the coming week!
~di

Mission: Accomplished.

I embarked on this year's Hood to Coast relay with one goal (other than finishing my legs of course):

One Camera.
One Roll of Film.
One Lens.
One Day.

Preview of the weekend's events:

Film-alicious

I have my scanner set up! Oh film, how I love thee ...

{as always, click on an image for a better view}

John & Kayla's wedding:



... and Gus & Jedidah ...


... and some oldies but goodies from Josh & Cameryn last year (a la Leica = YUM) ...



Cheerio
~di

Passion for Polaroids

Waaaaaay back in May, I came up with this inkling of an idea for a project: Polaroids! I love the look of Polaroid film, and it seemed like the perfect medium in which to photograph our summer back in Montana. Polaroid film is expensive and you only get 10 negatives per cartridge, making it a fun and challenging project for me due to the limited number of allowed images. Also, I was thinking it'd be fun to introduce a little more of myself onto the blog. Interesting, huh? Thing is, I didn't have a camera, they don't make them anymore AND they don't produce the film anymore. Le sigh.

Well, while packing up my life in Portland, I came across a little gem that had gone unused and underappreciated for too long: a Polaroid camera! My boyfriend apparently bought it at a college garage sale, and it had been sitting in our office (aka the place where Dianne's things go to die) for two years in a dark and dingy box. Alas, problem solved! All I had to do was order some film (thank you Amazon) and I was ready.

As said, Polaroid is no longer in production. It's days are numbered - numbered to the point that whoever has film out there and is selling it, that's it. When it's gone, it's gone. Fujifilm has come out with it's version of the Polaroid, but it's just not the same. Le Sigh. Yet another amazing film relic lost to the digital age. Grrr.

Here is the first half of our summer, a la Polaroid:

{as always, click on an image for a larger view}

Going waaaay back ...

I have been distracted from packing by the plethora (and I mean PLETHORA) of photos I've taken over the years. After digging through my multiple tubs (yes, multiple and yes, tubs) of negatives, slides and prints, I'm going to gradually post the fun-ness this week. Here's the first, my adorable cousins, circa 2004:



I should find an old pic of me at age 4, and you can compare me and Miss H. :)

Cheers
-Di

Gluten-free Gourmet

For those of you are not aware - and why would you be, really? - for health reasons, I try my best to follow a wheat-free, soy-free, dairy-free, sugar-free diet (among a few other other things). Whew! That's a mouthful. The reason I say "try" is because when you're attempting to avoid so many things that are prevalent in day-to-day foods (there is sugar in everything), one of the aforementioned offending ingredients inevitably slips in. Thank goodness this happens in small amounts!

Now why would I tell you this on my photography blog, you ask? For two reasons:

1. I'm trying to blog more often.
2. I found an absolutely AMAZING website and had to share!

Elana's Pantry is possibly the best thing that's happened to me since sliced bread (preferably of the brown rice based variety). Not only does she have some delicious recipes that have been ravely reviewed all across the internet, she has decent pictures to back up what she's whipping together.

Can I get a "Hallelujah?!"

Okay, I am off to go rejoice in a delightful Dianne-friendly dinner cooked by my amazing, thoughtful boyfriend. I leave you with a picture as food for thought. *Ahem* Pun intended.

Cheers!


*The photo above is neither sugar-free, wheat-free OR dairy-free. I attached it because a post without a photo on a photography blog seems rather silly, don't you think? Besides, it's the only photo of food that I have taken in the last three years!

Reminiscing ...

I discovered my missing back-up CDs! AH!

For those of you who didn't know me in college, here's a little background on the j-school at the University of Montana: we were required to shoot film. We started with b&w, then after getting into the program as juniors, we were required to shoot slide film. Even in the studio. For each assignment, we basically had 24-36 frames to get it right. Exposure, composition, framing - everything had to be done correctly in the original image otherwise you had to re-shoot the assignment, took a docked grade and ate $16 ($8 for the film, $8 for developing). We scanned our negatives and were allowed some post-processing (such as cleaning up dust), but we turned in our RAW files as well as our edited files and were graded on both. None of the wonderful editing capabilites of photoshop we now have as digital photographers that can save our butts if we didn't get it right (even cropping!). Don't get me wrong, I love digital, but mainly for the financial breaks - not it's many technological abilities. It probably explains a lot if you have ever had a conversation with me about digital photography and my end seemed anything but knowledgeable!

Now I rely on my digital for the majority of my work, but still shoot film at every session. Bottom line? I can't afford to shoot film! On top of that, I haven't found a decent place in PDX that I trust for development (I had a bad run-in with a developer in Missoula and am now uber-cautious). But I love the look of film, and I'm more comfortable with it as a medium. I think I take better photos when shooting with it and I am grateful that I was taught the essentials of photography basics with film (the U has now moved to an all-digital format). Don't get me started. I wrote my entire senior thesis on the transition from film to digital, and it's many cons ... enough of this tirade.

Anyway, here are a few images I found in my long-lost backups. They were all shot with film and I just thought I'd share since I need to blog more anyway. Enjoy!




My beautiful aunt ...