June 21 2012
Gotta say, my Sardina is quite the prefect little traveling companion. I love how it’s wide-angle lens captures the details of a whole scene that are usually lost in 4:3 film. At the same time it has enough pinpoint focus to bring a singular detail to your attention. Say, the delicate sequin lining of a sombrero or the luscious emerald leaves who sleep timidly behind budding coral flowers.
I save my film camera for those moments that at first glance seem inconsequential. The moments that are fleeting. These photos are like a daydream, looking away will cause it to disappear. And as abruptly wonderful as it was, it will seem to never have happened in the first place.
That sense of wonder invested in these small moments, is so powerful that I can feel the way the cobblestone felt on my bare feet, or the taste of the dry salt rising from the ocean. Buildings that drip in tangerine colored stucco. Spicy red motorbikes throwing flirtatious winks in your direction. While bright turquoise colored doors make you swoon.
These photos are all trivial pieces to a larger place. But that moment carved out for these pauses delivers a sense of clarity for me. There’s no denying Playa del Carmen is drenched in rich color. And the vibrancy is so visually stunning that the other senses must jump alive to soak it in.
These are just a few shots from the rest of the series which lives @brianna725 on lomography.com
May 18 2012
Film: 35mm X-Pro Chrome
Time: Afternoon
Location: Playa del Carmen, Mexico
Ta-da! I preset the first in a series of film – yes, film – taken on my new Lomography Sardina Domino camera. I decided I wanted the Sardina a few months back after much deliberation between the more traditional options, like the Holga, Diana, and other toy counterparts. The Holga’s ability to capture elegant ghostly images make my heart flutter. While the quirky light flares and dreamy color contrast have me swooning after Diana.
But it had to be some of the 22mm wide-angle shots captured on Sardina.com that caught my attention. The curve around the edges, so subtle yet mimicking it’s Fisheye cousin. It was one-of-a-kind and totally flexible. It had many of the same features as the more popular Diana. I found that The Sardina can capture the details of your subject and the wonderful context they live in too. I thought it would be the perfect camera for traveling shots, and on my trip to Mexico, my suspicions were confirmed.
I’ve had the camera for about half a year now, and through trial and error and some wasted film, I’ve finally figured it out. Some people quizzically squint their eyes and turn their heads when I tell them I love working with film. Don’t get me wrong I love my DSLR, Black Betty, too for so many obvious reasons. But I don’t find film bothersome at all. Actually I find its quirks wonderfully unique. Loading film is like a mini ritual. Setting up my shot is purposeful and deliberate. Each composition becomes an absolute surprise to relive after the film is developed – like a faint memory you thought you had only dreamt about.
There’s a heritage, practice, ritual, and a small community of appreciation around the tangible beauty of film. I pour my eyes all over film from toy cameras almost having to remind myself that they are contemporary – as it often harkens a golden age of perhaps my parent’s youth. Carefree, limitless, yet aged.
These are just a few shots from the rest of the series which lives @brianna725 on lomography.com
All photos taken by Observant Nomad
May 4 2012
If there’s one thing that remains in your mind about Quintana Roo, it must be the color turquoise. The soft teal of the ocean against the white powdered sand beaches. A painted Caribbean Sea that goes on and on for miles until it begins to melt into deeper azul blues and opalescent aquamarines.
This lovely cerulean is found in almost every piece of Mexico. At the local markets, where earthly grooved turquoise rocks are set in sterling silver bracelets. Rippling below the resort pool lies delicate green-blue glass tiles. It flows into every space from frothy shoreline to the fringes of european bikinis.
But not to worry, the gentle mazarine of blue lays as a perfect backdrop to the saturated colors found elsewhere in Mexico. Melting behind exotic coral colored tiered flowers and the fins of black and yellow angelfish. Framing vividly green cactus and palm trees. Perfectly contrasting the frosty mango margarita on white linen tablecloth.
As a designer, it must be the harmony of colors in Mexico that set me at ease. They move so softly from one to the other, living perfectly in unison as if each one was born from the next, all with confident placement. It’s hard to find a color light or dark, soft or strong, that doesn’t live perfectly here.
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