Two Environments, Five Photos

Last month, I was in Santa Barbara for a few nights, then came home for four nights, and then sped off to Boston for five nights. My coast-to-coast shuffling placed me in three very different environments within a week, and the contrast between the salty-air of early winter speckled with the brilliant sunshine of Santa Barbara and the late-autumn/last-gasp-before-winter mood of Boston made for fun Polaroiding.


Birds of Paradise in Santa Babara


Late Autumn in Boston

Both images were taken using my Polaroid SX-70 camera and expired 600 film, using an ND Pack filter. Click on the photos to see them larger.

Persimmons!

Do you like persimmons? I was in Santa Barbara this past weekend, and I was suddenly reminded that it's persimmon season in my home state of California! Everywhere I looked, persimmons were ripening on trees and sitting in fruit bowls, waiting to be eaten!

These are Erika's Persimmons


And these are Magda's Persimmons on her beautiful Moroccan tablecloth


And I am dying to visit this place to take photographs! I'm not a huge fan of persimmons, although I love them in spice breads. However, I think they are gorgeous, and I'm happy I was able to take these photos to share with you!

Both photos were taken with a Polaroid Sx-70 camera and expired 600 film with an ND pack filter.
Prints in my Etsy shop!

Hollywood

My heart goes out to everyone in my home state of California dealing with horrible fires, including the Station Fire, which is, apparently, the biggest wildfire in Los Angeles in over 100 years.

I was in LA a few weeks ago, and I shot the remains of my last pack of Time-Zero film. I have had several "last packs"--packs I thought were my last, only to be blessed by kind souls who keep giving me more! However, I'm pretty sure this really was my last pack, RIP. In any case, this is my second-to-last Time-Zero shot. I've named it after the place where I shot it. I wish it didn't remind me of the current fires; I think of it more as an elegy to lost hopes, coupled with a smog-drenched sunset. Hollywood is, after all, a pretty nasty place, but it continues to draw us, moths to flame...


Hollywood (2009)
Camera: Polaroid SX-70
Film: Time-Zero *expired*

Santa Barbara Love

Aside from my childhood hometown (Modesto, California), I've lived in Santa Barbara longer than any other place in my life (so far.) I lived there for eight years, between 1993 and 2001, although I would skip away for research to other places sometimes (mostly the UK and Jerusalem). I moved to SB for graduate school at UCSB, and, after getting my Ph.D. there, moved away in the summer of 2001 to take my first job as a professor. Since then, I've visited when I could, and many special moments in my life have taken place there.

It's so painful to know that the beautiful city is burning. Friends are evacuated from their homes, places I've lived are in the zones of danger, and, like all natural disasters, there's nothing anyone can do except wait and see how long the fire lasts. I'm sending out this message as a kind of prayer for everyone in Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Montecito suffering through the fire; I hope it is contained and extinquished soon, and especially that no life is lost.

Here is my favorite beach in Santa Barbara. Officially, it's called Arroyo Burro beach, but locals call it Hendry's. Hendry's is a mellow, wild beach, with dolphins more often that not right offshore. I shot this photo at sunrise in late December 2003 and I hope you like it.


Sunrise at Hendry's (2003)
Camera: Olympus APS point-and-shoot
Film: Kodak APS 800 speed

For more on the Jesusita Fire, click here.

Finally, the poppies are here!

I'm a Californian, and I love our state flower, the California Poppy. These hardy wildflowers bloom along the roadsides and in fields and through the desert and on mountains throughout the Golden State, and I love the way they illuminate the world around them. When we moved to Texas, I planted some in our yard, and we enjoyed many of these orange gems for several months last spring and summer. This year, I was getting worried, as they were not coming up at all. Finally, though, two days ago, my first California Poppy of the season burst out into the world, bringing a shocking flash of orange to our rather boring back yard. There are many more now, many more everyday, coming up and getting ready to shed their caps and soak up the sun. This is a sign to me that, finally, winter is gone, and it won't be back for a very long time.


...and it is on fire (2007)
Camera: Polaroid SX-70
Film: Polaroid Time-Zero
Inadvertent manipulation from being stuck in the camera!
Location: Denton, Texas, USA