The traveling toy camera project is on going and will be finishing the first European tour and will be coming back to North America to travel across the US and Canada. There will be some more International countries too.

I was thrilled to receive a thank you postcard from camera recipient number 1 (Hello, Terminal City on the blog) which had my favorite image from his series on it.

I am just amazed by all the images and love seeing what everyone has chosen to photograph as part of their project contribution. I keep thinking all these photos would make such an amazing book!

Last week I participated in the Voyeur mini-assignment. Over one week 3 text messages were sent out and participants were asked to photograph whatever was in front of them when they received the texts. The results were really interesting.

Now, I’m thinking of organizing a similar project with everyone using their toy cameras – receiving a text and then taking a photo with the same kind of toy camera… hmmm…

I feel like I haven’t been very good about blogging the last few weeks perhaps because I’m in the development stage or not ready to show stage of various projects. Also, with a husband and his cut tendon and a dog with on going illnesses I’ve been feeling sort of exhausted. Plus, it’s summer! We’ve started playing soccer 3 days a week which has been really great exercise!

Other than that I enjoyed a fun birthday week which included dinners out, a mani/pedi, fajitas night, birthday BBQ and dinner and cake!

I got several things to help me prepare for my upcoming holidays including a new lightweight suitcase, Top 10 Tokyo book and gift certificates for MEC (so I can get some nice travel, quick dry, clothing). I know the trip is several months away but I like to be really prepared and I want to ensure I’ve got the best possible plan to see the most things possible without being too busy to actually enjoy what I’m seeing.

A big part of my trip will be to plan what cameras I want to bring. I’ve got several toy cameras in mind, including, the new Holga 135BC, that my sister bought me for my birthday. What I like about this camera over my traditional Holga 120 is that 35mm film will likely be very accessible and I find it to be better when being x-rayed multiple times at airports. If it’s a good fit and has good results I definitely see this as a choice camera.

I will share my results from the Holga 135BC once I get them digitized.

I will also be preparing to do some maternity pictures in early June for a friend. I’m really looking forward to recording her pregnancy with her and her husband. I haven’t done a lot in the area of maternity photos so I’m hoping that we can come up with some ideas for photos that are timeless but don’t fall into the maternity photo cliches that I’ve seen so often.

Well, that’s it for me now – hopefully, I will have something new and exciting to share with you soon like photos or art but until then, definitely check out the Traveling Toy Camera Project blog for lots of great photos from around the world! The camera is currently heading to Sweden!

So I’ve got a variety of projects and things on the go.

I think one of the ones I’ve been most excited about this year is the Traveling Toy Camera Project – it has now been used in 4 countries (including 2 provinces, 3 states) over the past few months. It’s just been to England and will be traveling to Sweden next. I have loved to see what everyone had photographed and the wide range the Vivitar UWS offers. There has been a such a variety in subject matter and color or B&W film. There is something about the way that a photograph documents a place, a person or a time. I know that the large piece of graffiti in one of my photographs has recently been painted over.

I am so excited for the camera to keep on moving and continuing around the world! We’ve got several more countries, continents and places for it to go!

I’ve also been busy reviewing cameras for toycamera dot com and will have 2 reviews coming out in the coming months.

I really enjoyed reviewing the Holga TIM – a cute little Holga half-frame/stereo camera. Here are a few sneak peaks of my results but check toy camera dot com for my full review and photographs.

And the other camera is the Pop 9 - again, here is a sneak peak but stay tuned for the full review and more photographs.

I will be working on some pieces for the Odawa Art Auction raffle that will be taking place at the end of the month and hopefully making some headway in this regard over the long weekend.

That’s it for now – stay tuned!

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!

The Traveling Toy Camera Project has been such a joy to organize and I’ve been so happy that we’ve *knock on wood* had few issues with getting the camera out and about.

I’ve been thrilled to see whatever has chosen to photograph and I’m very much looking forward to it traveling to Europe for a bit soon! Very exciting!

Please check out all the latest photos on the blog!

The Traveling Toy Camera Project has been really successful so far and I’m thrilled about it!! The camera has gone from Ottawa to Vancouver and Vancouver to Chicago, now the camera has traveled on to Oregon now. Soon it will be making the jump across the pond and doing some time in Europe!
Check out the most recent photos on the blog:
http://travelingtoycameraproject.blogspot.com/

And our photos in the flickr group.

So the camera has been on the move! It made it’s way to Vancouver and has traveled on from there to Chicago! Now, I did make a little mistake as I meant for the camera to go to Oregon and move across North America before going on to the first Europe leg…that said I am thrilled that the camera has been traveling well.

I can’t wait to see what the first 2 people have chosen to photograph and how their images turn out! One member has suggested starting a flickr group for everyone to post their images so I’m hoping to do that…I don’t use flickr a lot so it will be a learning experience for me!

That’s it for now! Cheers!

So the Traveling Toy Camera Project is now underway with the camera making its way across the country. I’ve posted a few photos from my first roll. Please check out the blog for more images!

So I’ve been referencing a project I was working on in a few of my posts – it was actually an article for Light Leaks magazine which will be in their latest issue. I was so happy to be writing again and about something I really love – so I hope everyone enjoys the article.  Click here for a sneak peak of the upcoming issue!

This week I got the traveling toy camera project off the ground and the camera is all boxed up and ready to roll! I can’t wait to see what kind of photos people will take and get my own roll back and be able to share the images on the Traveling Toy Camera Project blog.

My sinus/eye infection seem to be improving so it’s nice to be out and about instead of lying in my room. While I was off sick I took the time to get acquainted with my new Diana instant back – a very exciting prospect for me! I took a great instant photo of me looking pretty sick but I was happy that the back was working and I definitely look forward to testing it further!

This past week I’ve had an unfortunate cold and eye infection (I will spare you the details) but I have been rather excited because I’ve been organizing a traveling toy camera project with the cool kids at ToyCamera (which is easy when you are in bed all day).

What is a traveling toy camera project you might say? Well, it’s when a group of people from around the world share one camera. Each individual gets to shoot a roll of film with the camera before passing it along to the next person. After that each person develops their roll of film and posts the results to the blog: http://travelingtoycameraproject.blogspot.com/

I have always wanted to be a part of such a project but have never managed to learn about them in time to participate. For this particular project we have a few Canadians, plenty of Americans and some Europeans to get us started. And we already have a suggestion for the next traveling toy camera project!

For this project we are using a Vivitar UWS – it was suggested by another participant and since I’ve never used one I thought it would be great idea. Not only that but it takes 35mm film which is great since it’s affordable and accessible to those wishing to participate.

I really can’t wait to see what everyone photographs and watch it travel the world!