Okay, so I’ve completed a few more things on my to do list which makes me very happy…perhaps not as many as I hoped but that’s the way it goes sometimes!

1. Publish more articles, somewhere: I’ve had one article in Light Leaks and I will be doing reviews for the Toy Camera website which is really fun

2. Travel to Japan: as I said the flights are booked and we are doing research now on hotels and places to stay and what we want to see.

3. Fast on all days of obligation: 2

5. establish my own workshops: This is well on it’s way, so please stay tuned!

12. Go to the movies (6/5): Complete! I’ve been catching up on all my want-to-see movies which has been really nice

14. organize the office: I haven’t actually started this yet but I did find a shelf that I want to bring in to replace some of the old furniture and hopefully make it easier for me to organize my pictures, albums etc…

19. visit Petrie Island (1/10): We went for a lovely walk at Petrie Island and saw some great wild life – it was very relaxing and I definitely look forward to doing it again soon!

27. read 5 books I already own: started reading the book I bought on Japan…I could be making a greater effort on this one!

30. organize old photos and negatives: I have started collecting all my negatives and putting them in boxes but there is still more work to do!

31. do more silkscreening: I have drawn out some new designs and am getting ready for production!

33. shoot 1 roll of film a week: I’m not even close but I have shot a lot more film and shoot at least every week, even if I don’t finish the roll

35. use all of my toy/vintage cameras: I have started using them and it’s been a great time experimenting and cleaning up my old cameras. Right now I’m fixing one of my holgas and am excited to have it up and running again!

36. paint the house: I have started picking colors which is always step one and I’m hoping May and June will be a good time to paint as we can open up the windows…the snow today was discouraging I must say!

39. use my stereo pinhole camera: YES! I did start and have been using the guide that by PictureNoise created and let me know about via the forums at ToyCamera dot com.

40. build my Gakken TLR: Done! And I LOVE IT!

41. use it: Done!

59. plant my garden: I’ve been watching my bulbs come up and some of the plants start already…hopefully the snow today does not disrupt them too much!

60. give Lily, my dog, a bath: Complete – after the “skunk incident”

68. blog regularly: This I think I am doing but it is on-going

69. take time out for myself: I have been trying to do more of this and think I’m succeeding – I try to keep at least one or two nights free a week so I can do what I like. I’m slowly learning that I don’t have to fill ever minute of every day…

73. Take part in a traveling camera project: the camera is currently in Spain – this has been a really exciting project for me and I have been so happy with how things have been progressing and that the camera has been moving around and is currently on it’s first European leg!

So recently, I’ve been talking a lot about all my favorite toy camera/lo-fi online hangouts and supplies so I thought I would give a quick run down of two of my faves.

The background, over a year ago my aunt Kate showed me something she got from a photographer friend of her’s for a Holga contest, Holgapalooza. She knew that was really into my Holga and thought I might be interested in entering – she was right! This introduction to the contest got me interested in Light Leaks magazine and helped me find the toy camera community.

I probably visit the Toy Camera website and forums at least once a day – it’s the best crowd I’ve found in terms of people willing to help and offer advice. There is always examples of what people are doing and images to see and commentary about the latest and greatest toy and lo-fi cameras out there. The website does reviews of cameras, article on photographers and galleries. Recently, I’ve gotten some great advice about Japan and comments on my first Gakkenflex images in the forums. When I started the traveling toy camera project I went to everyone and said, who’s in and what camera should we use? And over 25 people have signed up so far.

Light Leaks magazine is awesome! (And, no, I’m not just saying that!) I love the reviews, how-tos and seeing the amazing images submitted by the Light Leaks community. The greatest edition to Light Leaks has been the shop - a Canadian run camera, film and accessories shop. With affordable, fast and reliable shipping and $2 film, my dreams have come true! It’s also wonderful to be able to support a local company and independent magazine. Preview Issue 17 of Light Leaks here!

So this week my friend, T, gave me an old Hawkeye Brownie. She said it was a bit dusty but was in working order. Today I decided to try and clean it myself, for the first time! I’ve read a lot about taking these old Brownies apart to clean them but haven’t tried it before now.

First I unscrewed the front and inside – the two top screws were not willing to come out so I decided I would be able to work around that and since it’s the viewfinder I was able to clean it from the front with relatively no difficulty.

I carefully cleaned the inside from dust and other “oldness” and having paid careful attention when I took it apart put it back together.

All clean! Then I carefully cleaned the outside and was ready to go!

Now the Brownie Hawkeye takes 620 film  – I’ve read that some 620 cameras can take 120 spools without respooling. I heard that you can cut the outer edge of the plastic spool so that was my first test – I just trimmed it away and then loaded it up.

I got my film this week from the light leaks shop so I loaded up some lucky film.

And then I took the camera out for a test run – I will post my images when I develop them!