Instax Mini 8 Fuji Film images :)

Hi All :)

I Hope your week is going well :)

Remember back when I was raving about this little Pink Camera

(If you don't remember, you can read about it on my blog HERE :)

Well, I did actually buy it at Xmas time but didn't get around to taking any photos with it until March. 

The first image I took was from the plane leaving San Diego but with the flash going off automatically and thru 2 panes of glass this is what I got.

So not bad but I wish I had taken photos with my DSLR camera 'cuz that Sunset was absolutely amazing; I don't know whether you have ever tried to get anything out of a closed bag on the floor under the seat in front of you on an airplane on take off with your seatbelt on and the G. forces at work but it is pretty close to impossible but I tried anyway, I just couldn't pull it free :(

The woman next to me must have thought she was sitting next to crazy, oh well, lol :)

So, here is the first batch of photos I scanned :)

*Note to self - make sure you dust the scanner before you scan photos, oops!!! lol :)

These pesky glossy photos were hard to keep from moving around on the glass surface of the scanner, so rotating and cropping was necessary.

You can see from the images that my first attempts were not too brilliant. The camera is very simple with 4 settings and an automatic flash (but I think it has a mind of its own where the settings are concerned, lol :)

Here are a few of my garden I wanted to share with you :)

I liked the composition on this shot, it was an overcast day, so it needed a little tweak on contrast and brightness to create the image below :) 

This image was me trying to get a close up, lol :) (there is no zoom lens on this camera and I am so used to one on my DSLR) I have no clue what that green splodgy thing is on the image but it makes the photo look worn and old. I cropped the image to the focal point but the resolution was not great :(

I found, that day, most of the images I took were out of focus but I like this image anyway :)

Again I like the composition of this photo but it also need tweaking a little to create the image below :)

This image made me laugh because it is so washed out it looks totally vintage, so in a way I love it (if you can't tell it is at the beach, lol :)

Then I took this one; after I had gotten rid of all the dust spots from the scanner, I played around with cropping and some colour tweaks and came up with these 3 images below; I love the vintage feel and the washed out look of them all :)

As you can see using a different camera and a different film format, than what you are used to, takes time, I am still learning and developing (Ha! Ha! Photo joke :) my skills using this lovely little pink camera, I'm up for the challenge 'cuz it is fun :)

Sometimes not getting that perfect shot you expect makes you more determined to understand the process more :)

I also mentioned (in the previous blog post) that I had found a film to use with my Son's old Polaroid camera but we were messing around with it at Xmas and taking photos inside in dim light and they didn't turn out so great, so I will be buying a new film again soon and we will see if in day light the camera will perform a little better :)

Hope you enjoyed my little experimenting :)

As always, let me know what you think :)

Have a wonderful Weekend :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

Vacationing in Napa Valley, California! Part One :)

Hi Everyone, I really hope your week is off to a wonderful beginning. :)

I wanted to share a little of the fun we had on our recent vacation to Napa Valley. I Hope you Enjoy it too! :)


I LOVE Napa Valley and of course with every vacation area I fall in love with, I really hope one day I get the opportunity to live there, even for a little while :) (Good luck with that one, says the little crazy guy sitting on my shoulder)  :(

The short flight from Portland to Sacramento is so easy; even the airports were no problem and it was a Friday afternoon. I was so excited. YAY!

I really LOVE taking photos out of the airplane windows with my zoom lens (Hello silly, you know there are double paned windows on this plane and the outside is covered in who knows what, I don't care, it is ZOOM or nothing (He! He!)

Click on photos to see larger images

Our plane coming into land at sunny Sacramento airport :)

Floor to ceiling towers of old cases in the baggage claim area of SAC airport, really cool :)

We rented a car for the next stage of our trip, an hour and a half drive. Once we left the fairly flat terrain surrounding Sacramento we wound our way thru Mountains roads, where we passed lots of cows, beautiful hanging moss, and a couple of gorgeous lakes (Lake Berryessa and Lake Hennessey).

Lovely Hanging Moss

Beautiful Lake Hennessey as the sun is setting :)

Another shot of Lake Hennessey.

With experience we know that as we arrive at Lake Hennessey we are not far from Rutherford and the Silverado Trail that will take us to our favourite place to stay in Napa Valley.

If you ever plan a trip to Napa Valley be sure to stay at The Wine Country Inn

I can't reccommend it highly enough. These people know their stuff and really know how to make you feel like you are on vacation straight away. The Inn is set in a beautiful quiet spot surrounded by lovely gardens, vines (of course, this is Napa :) and gorgeous vistas.

View from our balcony. Where we eat breakfast every morning (provided by the Inn :)

Another view from our balcony.

Courtyard

Patio where we sat most evenings eating the amazing appetizers the Inn provided and sampling the wines from the wineries that are invited in for the guests to enjoy! (a different one every evening) 

And the pool, what can I say about this?!?! It was relaxing, amazing, peaceful and I spent a lot of time here, PERFECT!!!

This guy came to the pool everyday for a chat, very friendly those Californian birds :)

Flowers beneath our balcony.

Ornamental Grass in one of the many garden settings around the Inn

The beautiful Agapanthus plant or Lily of the Nile :)

More lovely flowers from the Wine Country Inn's gardens :)

I was so excited when I saw this blossom :)

We decide to drive around the mountains a little more than we have before, of course Mt. St. Helena

 where the Author Robert Louis Stevenson lived for a while high up in an old mining camp. I am fascinated by the story of his life :)


As we drove around we came across this "Air Mail" box, I just had to share it with you, isn't it a crack up :)

"Air Mail" box :)

Then as we looked back at Mt. St. Helena we saw the beautiful outline of the ridge line against the evening sky, the light was ever changing and I took the next few photos from a couple of locations.

It was absolutely perfect :)

I really hope you enjoyed a little taste of Napa Valley, stay tuned for Part Two (What more????) Yep, wine and some fun restaurants :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

Washing away 2009!

I went for a walk, on New Years' Day, at the little park not very far from our home; the river Tualatin runs along side and it was very full, moving fast and powerful. I have a few spots I like to stand and gaze at the river, there rarely is anyone else around which makes it easy to contemplate life. As I watched the river and slowly drifted off in my mind, I was mentally tossing 2009 into the river. Can't say it was a truly great year, too many stressful things happened but ever the optimist I am looking forward to achieving some firsts in 2010. Not to bore you with
all of my New Year want to do list but here are a couple of highlights; Take a flying lesson, take a sailing lesson and work on my pool game. :)

Of course I have all the other usual and familiar hopes for myself and family but also some plain sanity on the planet wouldn't go amiss. :) (here's hoping, fingers crossed!)


SO, I will say again, Happy New Year to all :) May your wishes, hopes and dreams come to fruition in 2010. :)


Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

College boys are coming home!

I am walking around with a permanent grin on my face. I am soooo excited. I am off to the airport today to pick up my youngest who is flying home for the Holidays :) He is done with the first semester of college and loved it but is as excited as I to be coming home.

On Monday I go back to the airport to pick up my other son who is flying back from college in England :)


Then on Tuesday my daughter flies home. :)



I have been cleaning and I planned the menus weeks ago, I am going to do nothing but enjoy the company of my wonderful children over the Holidays (oh and the Hubby, of course :) and be grateful every moment that they are happy to come home :)

Have a wonderful Weekend!

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.