Toy Cameras and the art of the deal

I have been having too much fun in my toy camera photography class. It is so hilarious to see what a little cheap piece of plastic junk can capture on film, and then the creative ways to process the images. I have learned a lot of new tricks I am having fun experimenting with, even though I have yet to see an actual print of a HOLGA photo I have taken during this class due to SLOW processing times. I have seen my negatives! And am waiting patiently on prints. The ironic part of this story is the camera is cheap, the processing of the film is NOT! So, I have been paying to have the film to be developed and then using a light table to pick which prints are worth paying for.


Another great thing I have learned in this class is about the COOLEST store in Salt Lake-- (remember IKEA is technically in Draper!) It is called NPS and they sell everything. And by everything I mean EVERYTHING you can think of. Food, Film, Halloween Tattoos, Versace Jeans, Steel Pipe, Boogie Boards, are all but a small sampling of the goods we saw. Today I found a LOMO Super sampler camera (shown above) which I googled and found available cheapest for $47.90, and I bought it today at $17.00!!! Those of you who know me will know that is the part I am most excited about. Plus, it takes the funkiest photos-- see examples above and below.

R is for Romney. . .

Romney is truly enjoying preschool this year. I guess his Momma found him a great teacher after all! He caught a bug that was going around the class and brought it home to Bill and I. He had to miss a few days of school and he was NOT happy about that. He was mostly worried about missing his "All about me" presentation time. The kids each got to make a poster with info about them and then present it to the class. We have only ever seen Romney give a primary talk or scripture in public, and never seen him stand in front of a group and talk off the cuff. It was a hilarious, and eye opening experience.

He picked out his outfit with great care this morning-- his 100% Romney shirt and packed his backpack full of POKEMON stuffed toys and grabbed his poster and was ready to go. I didn't know if he would shy up when in front of the class, but that so didn't happen. He described all his Pokemon in detail and then said "But now let's get back to me" and then described all the things he had on his poster. He wanted the poster to be in the shape of an R and he picked out all the photos and told me what to write underneath them to caption them. He was a man in charge, one who really liked to talk about himself! It took all I had not to burst out laughing my head off. Whose child is this? Not shy Bill and Tara's surely.

Jump for Joy

A friend of mine told me about an AMERICA AT HOME photo contest where you enter photos of your daily life. It looked like a great excuse to pull out my camera before my class and start shooting. Romney was MORE than happy to comply to my request that he jump on my bed. We both had a great afternoon together, me following him around with my camera, him posing and playing. The photo I entered is the one I posted. I think it is so much fun I may try again tomorrow. I have some shooting ideas. Mostly, I just needed to feel inspired enough to stop the daily routine enough to pull out the old camera.

The Capital

That is the title of William's state fair award winning photo. We had a happy surprise today when I went to go pick up William's state fair entries. When we went to the fair to see if he had won last week, there were no ribbons next to his photos, so we assumed he had not won anything. As his mom, I was feeling a little disappointed for him, but his atttitude about entering and not winning was so wonderful. He was excited people were seeing his photos and that he had tried. I was so proud of him handeling his disappointed feelings by turning them into positives.



But when I walked in to pick up the photos now that the fair is done, I was surprised to see a 3rd place ribbon by one. I spoke to the lady who was helping me gather them up and she double checked and sure enough William had taken 3rd place and won $8. William is still in school and does not know yet. He is going to go nuts with excitement. I framed the photo for him and have it waiting with his check as his big surprise. The second photo is the other William entry. It is actually my favorite of the two because I think it is so creative. It is self-portrait. No, really. He took a picuture of the shirt he was wearing that day to get the skull. I think it is genius and that the result was amazing. But then again, I'm a bit biased.

What the Heck Kinda Dog is that?

Performance ART, state fair style. The boys did not quite know why a dog that looked like this and was bigger than they were was barking at them and following them around. Do you acknowledge such a creature or is it best to ignore it and walk away? If you ignore it, does it then do more annoying things to get your attention or leave you alone? If you pay attention to it will it think you like it and keep "performing" for you? These are the pitfalls of performance art.

Sunrise, Sunset...

Am I really old enough to have a 3rd grader? Is my baby really starting preschool? These are the very surreal questions I have been asking myself (and anyone else who will listen!) this week. William will no longer allow me to take first day of school photos, luckily a friend captured his first 3rd grade circle time with his 3 best buddies. He looks tired! He woke up super early the first day because he was so excited. He seems to have a wonderful group of kids in his class this year, and I am excited to co-op with them.



Romney will let me take his photo still and this is his first day of school EVER photo. He was so super stoked to go to school with William. Today was his first full day of class. He loved it! He did great and I am sure I was more nervous about it than he was. He was sure happy to see me again when I came to pick him up. That was nice, too. Then we joined William in the lunch room to eat lunch together. Romney was on cloud 9 and William was fantastic about humoring Romney and treating him like a big kid.

Long Weekend Shenanigans

Happy Labor Day. This post marks the end of the first week of school for William and Romney's first day. It also marks the beginning of the grind that is the school year. Romney will have his first full day of preschool (full=3 1/2 hours) tomorrow, and I also co-op for William's class tomorrow. We are also in charge of snack for William's class tomorrow. Cub Scouts will start again full time on Wednesday (after the slacker Wolf Leaders--that's us---took a month off to recover from Cub Camp!) That means I should really get to planning something to do and buying what we need to do it. Thursday is soccer practice for both kids, and Friday is Piano lessons, Saturday is Soccer games (plural this year) and Sunday is our day off (I mean, of rest). This is pretty much what every week will look like for our family if you add in co-oping for Romney every other week and my class I start in the middle of the month and Bill going back for his Master's in October. Phew, I am exhausted already just writing about it.

Today is our last long holiday weekend until November (which seems like a million years away!) and we needed it to get charged up for the months to come. We decided to hike up to Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It is a relatively easy 3/4 mile each way hike up to a waterfall that flows through a donut shaped rock. It was a very popular family destination and was crowded, but we still had a great time. Romney hiked both up and down on his own and was so proud of his rock climbing abilities. William said it was the "greatest hike of my life". If you haven't done that hike yet, it was a fun, easy way to spend the afternoon.

I guess this is the end of summer. But I don't mind! I love the fall. The leaves change to beautiful, photogenic colors and the weather goes from 'insanely hot' to 'just about perfect' for a few weeks anyway! It also means birthdays for our boys, and everyone know how I feel about those. William (still in 'Harry Potter' mode) wants a Potter birthday, and Romney (still in his 'William is the coolest human on the planet' mode) wants what William wants. I guess I better get some Harry Potter Cliff Notes (Do they make those? They really should for parents who don't wish to spend the hours reading the 700+ pages of the 7 books!) so I can plan some parties.