The Kociszewski Brewing Company

Homebrewed Mead courtesy of my pal Tytus.

In Bruges

We spent a day in Bruges, Belgium. It was beautiful, but Colin Farrell's character from the movie In Bruges was pretty spot on with his description of the place - BORING. But we did snag some yummy exotic flavoured Belgian chocolates there. And then Anita did a bit of window shopping.




Sitting too long in a wicker chair...


Her favourite hobby.


A storefront I was a bit more into.

-G

Fun with Closeup Diopters

In a weedy, overgrown ravine not far from our place, I have found a bit of a photographic haven for myself. In the latest adventure, Anita and I braved the mosquitos and set out determined to capture a large dandelion-like weed in full bloom, using the sunny f/16 method with my Kiev88, Fuji Velvia and a set of macro diopters. And then of course, my camera bag had my Holga with one shot left on the roll, so we shot a macro with that one too. I love how soft the Kiev shots turned out (colour), and I especially love how grainy the Holga one came out (B&W).

Kim and Derek - Wedding Day

I don't feel like posting a whole album of photos from the wedding shoot Dean and I did, so instead, I've created an online collage of a few highlights from that day.

Polaroid SX-70

Here's the SX-70 I scored for cheap yesterday at a second hand store. Everything appears to be functional, and I still can't get over the fact that the leatherette is in such good shape. Tomorrow, I shall march on down to the Camera Store to pick up an ND gel to tape over the lens, and then I shall test fire a pack of 600 film through it. Glorious instant picture-fication.

And further to my purchases, I spent an additional 84 cents today in snapping up 4 rolls of Solaris branded color film from a discount retailer in Stettler, AB. Never seen this brand before, but you can't pass up 96 exposures for 84 cents. And made in Italy too! The boxes were covered in dust, so I assumed they were super expired. Unfortunately, upon closer inspection, they only expired in May of this year.













Update: View some of the first SX-70 test shots here.

...from the Red Deer Lodge (night 2)

Uhhhm... boredom in Red Deer has caused me to buy another 2 cameras... But I did get smoking deals on them both - I got a folding Polaroid SX-70 (with really nice shape leatherette largely intact) for 15 bucks at a 2nd hand store, and then I eBay'd myself a Nikon FG (chrome body) for just under 30 bucks. Anita is going to be terribly unimpressed.

More random shots - these snails were seen crawling up trees in Warsaw, Poland, shortly after a rainstorm. Nikon D300, Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8.







-G

...from the Red Deer Lodge

Bored. In Red Deer. Me wants go home. But until that happens, here's some toy camera work for your viewing pleasure. Shot as multiple overlapping exposures with a Diana Mini somewhere in Prague. Film scanned, then converted to B&W in lightroom. Click on them to see the enlarged versions (worth it).





-G

MOONCAKES!!!

It's almost time for mid-autumn festival, that Chinese holiday marking the fall equinox (on the lunar calendar) and the full moon. Realistically, being raised in Canada means that I don't actually know anything about the significance of this holiday other than the fact that it coincides with the few week period in which I get to fatten myself up with mooncakes!!! Mmm...

I couldn't resist buying this mooncake from T&T, simply because it came in an awesome little tin (which also happens to perfectly fit 3 rolls of 120 film). The tiny pastry was totally not worth 4 bucks, but what can I say, I'm a sucker for stupid little collectible stuff.

Dean Welsh and George Mach: Professional Wedding Photographers

You don't even need to see our work to know that we are truly dedicated pros. I mean, just look at us.

Yep, that's a look of an awesomely confident and skilled pro.



And this? That's a look of someone who fears nothing.

This? Just me, being all professional like. Word.

We is SERIOUS professionals.

Just look at that camera - PRIME lens. Serious.


And that face - SERIOUSLY PRO.

Flash is swivelled - CLEARLY A LIGHTING EXPERT.


Here too - reverse swivelled and bent at an angle! WOW, SO SERIOUSLY PROFESSIONAL.

We ARE: Dean Welsh, aka Rope Hair

And: George Mach, aka Token Chinese Guy

Hire us, we're totally professionals, and we totally won't spend our time photographing legs of random hot chicks at your wedding.


And just for shits and giggles, an obligatory shot of the owner of the above pair of legs beside my wife. :)


Okay, just in case any of you actually thought I was for real about us being professional wedding photographers, let me clarify: WE ARE NOT. I'm almost finished processing that wedding shoot, and then I'm retiring from this gig. Way too much stress, and way less fun than just running around shooting crap photos with a Holga. No more, I say. NO MORE.

Capitan G, over and out.

Wife on a Bike

When we hit up art museums, Anita and I like to play this sarcastic game of guessing what the title of some old world still life painting will be just by looking at the work... it's usually something extremely creative like 'Still life with fish' or 'Girl sitting in chair'.

And so to pay homage to such brilliantly named works, I present to you my own series entitled Wife on a Bike. You may have to spend a few hours pondering the deep philosophical metaphor behind the title, but I think eventually you'll get it.

All the bike images were taken with my Holga 120N on Ilford XP2 Super Black and White film, while I was riding my bike beside her, with the really blurry/ shakey ones set on bulb. They're all terrible, but I really like how they all turned out.












This last one is obviously NOT part of the Wife on a Bike series, but I thought I'd include it anyways, cause it's awesome.