The last bit of my 30-day film challenge happened when I was out in California, but I hadn't gotten the film back until yesterday.

Weird things seem to be happening with this film and camera... most things are not coming out as I expect them to at all, which makes for some interesting images.  On a number of the early-morning sunrise photos it looks like there were some shutter issues that blacked out portions of the images.  I'll have to do some research on curtains and film... I don't ever remember that happening in all the years I shot film before, but this is a different camera so who knows?

Anyway, enjoy the surprising weirdness :)

I spent the weekend prior to the Beloved Collective workshop in the Sequoia National Park.  The workshop was being held in in LA, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to experience a moment with the largest living things on the planet.  It was also the weekend of 9/11.  As I was wholly unprepared to revisit all that happened 10 years ago, a day alone in nature - away from everyone and everything else - seemed like the best way for me to get through the day.

I arrived late on Saturday night and found a nice little campground to spend the night in.  I got up early Sunday morning and headed straight into the heart of the park.  There is so much I  could say about the day... I made some notes about what I had experienced that day, which you'll see as the last of the photos.  I spent a lot of time soaking things in... it was so refreshing to have the time to just sit and absorb the world around me.  I had to leave early the next morning, but I did catch the sunrise over the mountains.  

There are a lot of photos here, so consider yourself warned ;)

I had a lovely trip up to Rochester, NY/the Adirondacks a couple weeks ago.  It is so nice to be in Rochester when it's only 75 degrees up there and 100 degrees here in Florida :)  All of the siblings managed to make the trip, including my very tiny and very cute niece.  I'm still getting used to being called 'Aunt Kristin'!  

We only had one or two days in Rochester and then we went up to work on the cottage my parents are building in the Adirondack Mountains for the rest of the week.  I did take a day to go into town to get some work done and to do a short hike.  I love it up there; I'm so glad that my parents are finally able to build the cottage they've always wanted.  It's going to be GORGEOUS when it's done... not to mention the fact that it will be special because of all of the hours that they, friends and relatives, and all of us have put into it.   Pictures of the cottage were taken by my brother :)

My adorable niece!  Those curls were out of control cute :)

My little hike:

"The Shed" - this doubles as a cabin complete with murphy bed, table and chairs, counter, propane camp stove, and wood burning stove

The main cottage

The loft - panelling almost done!  Every board was individually sanded and varnished (twice - by hand) before being mounted.

We got the bathroom and kitchen plumbing functioning this trip!  The first time we could shower, wash dishes, and flush a toilet since the property was purchased a few years ago made for quite an exciting weekend :)

And this is the view from the back porch.  Not bad, right? :)

Today we were out for a Sunday drive in my lovely little car and found an old limestone quarry near Haille.  We had to get out and explore, of course.  We probably spent an hour down there walking around, throwing stones into the clear aqua water to try to guess how deep it was, watching fish, looking at fossils that fell out of the limestone, and enjoying the quiet.

Since it was so different from what you normally see here in oh-so-flat central Florida, I took quite a few shots.  We'll call the first one 'The One' for the challenge... even though it's a diptych... the rest are just bonus. :)  I was experimenting with trying to get a film feel to some of these images, so I embraced the sun flare and yellow-green tones in a handful of the photos.  The color of the water made a lovely background for some detail shots as well.  I would love to do a photoshoot here sometime...

28-135mm 3.5-5.6 @50, f/5.6, 1/400sec, ISO 400, no flash, polarization filter