we're making a darkroom

I'm so excited for this little project. My friend Josha has the equipment for film development so she and I plan to make the basement of my apartment into a darkroom! This is going to be such a fun collaboration.

I used a darkroom in high school (quite a few years ago now) and I could not be more enthused about getting back into analogue photography! More on this topic to come :)

This second hand camera came with a roll of film inside, unfortunately it was destroyed when I opened it. I would have liked to develop the film and perhaps uncover clues about the original owner. 

secondhand finds

I've been searching for a cute little holder for my watercolours. Today I found the perfect old cigar tin at my favourite secondhand shop in Eindhoven. I plan to make an insert out of wood that will hold the paint in place inside the tin.   

beading my moccasins

I bought this pair of moccasins because they were so soft and cozy. They were the only pair of their kind and they fit me just right.. kind of like Cinderella's glass slipper :) Anyways, I also liked that they had no detailing because that meant I could add some personality to them myself, so that's precisely what I did this weekend. 


When I was younger I had a bead weaving loom very similar to this one:

[source]

I don't have that loom here and I really wanted to get this little project rolling, so I searched my apartment for supplies to make one of my own. 
Here is what I came up with: 

A lego loom! 
Yea that's right, I have lego in my apartment .. I'm an industrial designer, what can I say. I fashioned this makeshift loom and away I went. 

In the end I attached the weaved beads to the moccasins by stitching them in place and adding glue to hold stray threads out of the way.

 I'm very happy with the result!

 I hope you had a good weekend!

the exploded heart

The other night I felt the urge to make a painting of someone I used to be very close to. Over time and as circumstances changed we drifted apart and eventually went our separate ways. Time continues to move forward and reflecting on the past now and then is good. I made this painting in reflection of the significant memories that were formed together with this very special person. After completing the main facial features I took some red and blue paint and began to splatter the canvas. Then, emerged this incredible blotch. When I look at it I see a heart that has just exploded. It was a fluke splatter but I find it incredibly bold and meaningful, so I decided to post it. 

a thoughtful addition

Not too long ago I made a post about my plan to start a new collection, tiles! 
(see here for full post) On Monday my friend Josha surprised me with some tiles she picked out specially for me. It was so thoughtful, I had to share : )

a little trip to the Impossible Factory

Last week a friend and I made the trip up to Enschede to visit the Impossible Project Factory where I stocked up on films for my Polaroid. I'm now keeping my eyes open for good settings to make some fun instant photos. I want to capture the essence of what I find beautiful here in The Netherlands, things like the scenery, friends, family, bikes and tulips! 

a low-key weekend

I wasn't feeling very well this weekend so I stayed in, watched endless movies and experimented with watercolour. Hope you all had a lovely and productive weekend.

a birthday wish

I just want to add this short post as a birthday wish for my dad. Your endless support and guidance is so highly appreciated, you are my role model and I wish you many more happy birthdays to come. 

photo adventures

I'm currently doing research on how we recall memories and share stories through the medium of photographs. I'm especially interested in the tangible photo over the digital one which is why I have focused my research on analogue photography esp. Polaroid (which is making a huge comeback thanks to the Impossible project, might I add). For research purposes, and of course due to an incredible personal interest, I picked up a sweet little Polaroid Land Camera of my own.

Amid my online searches I came across the following two websites that I think are definitely worth checking out. They both got me smiling big time.
First: www.irinawerning.com
Within this site you will find photos of 'then and now'. It's such a fun concept. Here is a sample of what you will find over there:

Sander 1983 & 2011 Rotterdam Photographs © Irina Werning [source]

Secondly: www.dearphotograph.com
The idea behind dear photograph is to take an old photo, hold it up in front of the same exact location and take a picture of it. I simply love the nostalgic value in this idea, people have been triggered to dig through their old photo albums and share a story along with a cool 'new' photo. 
ps. the founder of Dear Photograph is a mere 22 years old and is from Kitchener, Ontario of all places. Congratulations go out to him on his success with this adorable blog.

[source]

Amsterdam North + HDR imaging

A few months back, I made the trip up to Amsterdam to take some photographs of the industrial area in the North. This part of the city is rather run down, there's a few oil rigs and old factory buildings, you have to take a ferry to get to it and it's not touristy at all. It's really a neat area to explore and there are often concerts held there.
I used the bracketing function on my camera to create a range of images from over to under exposed. I then used Photomatix software to create High Dynamic Range (HDR) images. Here's some results:

If you're curious about working with the software or have any questions about making HDR images please feel free to contact me.

ps. I was featured on two of my dear sponsor's blogs in the last week :) check out 

Jar of Feathers and Romance in a Glance to see my feature and while you're there why not nose around a bit, they're both very creative and talented gals.