Tuesday, November 14, 2006     « 2007 Gardening Calendar »

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I have written and designed a gardening calendar for 2007. I wanted to make a calendar that was more than the typical twelve, large botanical images and so I put a lot of extra work into making this the gardening calendar I don't see in stores but always wished I could see in stores... a calendar that presents beautiful, large, botanical images alongside inspiring ideas, and practical gardening information. I hope it will keep you excited about turning each page through all 12 months.

Of course as a photographer one of the best parts in putting this together was in choosing the photos. I know a lot of people have a real hate-on for botanical and nature imagery... even I have had a tendency to place the floral photography a few rungs below my other practice. The plant photos always felt too safe and easy. But over time I have noticed that I am finding a way to merge the plant photography into the rest of my practice in a way that works for me and makes sense. I like plants! I like nature! I love that there is dirt underneath my nails through the growing season. I love tending to my garden and harvesting food that I grew using both my hands and my brains. I am inspired by what I see in the garden and it's as much a part of me as the person who takes pictures of bleak, urban landscapes. I am both at once.

Anyways... uh, didn't mean to go off on a tangent there but meant to say that I made sure to include lots of polaroids and medium format shots. I regret that space limitations in doing the book meant that I had to forego including a lot of purely aesthetic images for instructional photos. So while I wanted to make this calendar informational it was a pleasure to create a few pages that were just about soft colour and beautiful light.

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And now onto the cameras (continued from yesterday):

  • Olympus Infinity Hi-Lite - I don't know anything about this camera. It's Davin's. It's a solid-bodied point-and-shoot with flash. Has a little digital readout thingy on the top. Has batteries, is fully operational and all that jazz.
  • Quad Camera - I believe this is the Lomography one from ages back. Davin bought this for me as a birthday gift EONS ago. He paid way too much money at a fancy design store. It's plastic and has four lenses. I can't say much about it.
  • Agfa Silette - This is also Davin's camera. He says it's pretty basic with zone focussing that works. It has aperatures and shutter speeds too so it's not THAT basic. This is coming from a guy who uses 35mm SLRs, some of which do the winding for him. He doesn't know from basic.
  • Lubitel 166U (Taken) - This sucker is broken. Well the winder is broken. It just done gone and broke one day. It seems like it's just the spring but I can't be bothered. I've given up on the Lubitels as they have put me through the ringer. [Shakes fist] I took some nice pictures with this one. I know some of you are handy and can probably fix it and some of you like to make those crazy mashup cameras so I thought I'd list it anyways.

That's it. I've got some other stuff but they still have film in them. Davin's got a few more gems that he will post on his site. I'll let you know when he does. The end.

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