Rest in pieces.

Here is a shot from my Lubitel, in memory of The Stove. Shortly after I took this photo, The Stove randomly stopped working and was hauled off by the landlord (after first sitting on my back porch for 3 days, which was exactly as classy as it sounds) and has probably been junked by now, but I maintain it was a thing of retro beauty despite the fact that the clock didn't work, the timer didn't work, one of the burners didn't work, and eventually, the oven part didn't work either. The Stove's replacement is brand new but also ugly and soulless and has no window in the door--hardly an equal substitute.

Cameradventures.

The vintage camera gods are smiling on me lately. These are two new acquisitions: a Lomo Lubitel-2 (manufactured in the USSR 1955-1977) and an Eastman-Kodak Duaflex II (circa 1950-54). Both are medium format cameras, 120 film in the Lomo and the now-extinct 620 film in the Kodak. So far I've only tested the Lomo, and I am happy to report that it is in brilliant working order. Here's a shot from it:

It's worth mentioning that this camera (found via Craigslist) even came with the original Lomo leather case, which is rare indeed. If you haven't heard of Lomos before, there is an entire photo communitydevoted to them.

I'm testing the Kodak this week, thanks to eBay and the camera nerds out there who are still selling 620 film.

It's cold.

Snuggling is the only option.

the New York post.

No, not that post. My post! I took a trip to the Big Apple last weekend and wanted to catalogue some of the sights here.

First up: the windows at Bergdorf-Goodman. They came in 1st place in the arbitrary holiday window contest in the city, followed by Macy's and Barney's. It was really no competition at all. The winning windows were like the glory of Anthropologie on a massive scale, and I photographed all of them (and got screamed at by a man on the sidewalk while doing so, meh).






Another great spot was the Chelsea Market (hard to find, since any signage on the building is completely obscured by scaffolding, but well worth the expedition). It's a former Nabisco factory turned foodie market--think little bakeries and wine shops--not to mention a great spot for buying gifts, thanks to the indie Christmas market.


And what would a Christmas post be without a tree? I saw the tree at Rockefeller Center but I thought it was nothing compared to this--

--which gets its magical sparkle from broken compact discs. It's part of the market's eco-art display for the holidays (which also includes chandeliers made from disposable plastic cups). Here's a close-up of the CDs.


In tomorrow's post: Brighton Beach and Coney Island.

Blog love.

red nails; wrong city is the most breathtakingly gorgeous photo blog ever.

Rawr.

My cat, lounging on me while I attempt to read Milan Kundera. I know, this doesn't really belong on my blog. Then again, it's my blog, so.

Looking at stars.

Thanks to Rebecca and her lovely blog Dog-eared, I discovered this today: a huge collection of astronomy-related photos taken by the experts themselves--NASA. The photo archive goes back 14 years (yep. 1995.) and features a new image every day. Some are diagrams, some are video, some are breathtaking shots of good old Earth, and some are so lovely that it's genuinely hard to believe sometimes that these things exist on their own.

14 years, 1 photo every day. That should keep me busy for a while.

Breaking & entering.

Found via the Perfect Binge. This is from A Softer World, where everything is brilliant and wonderful. Go here for more photo-comics. They're not funny. Not that kind of comic.

shake it like a polaroid picture.

Polaroid cameras rock, let's face it. In light of this rock-ness, it's pretty sad that digital photography has taken over the photo world; Kodak ceased production of all Polaroid film production as of last year. How long will it take to deplete the global stockpile of instant-film supplies? We may not have to worry about it, thanks to the brilliant folks at The Impossible Project, an independent organization "re-inventing"the technology behind Polaroids. Science + art = swoon.

fortune cookie fortune.

Among other things, I am obsessed with fortune cookie fortunes. I save them, because it seems like they could be a part of an amazing project at some point. Anyway, the other day I went to a Chinese restaurant with a friend and we both got the same fortune, this one here. And, in fact, it was one that I already had in my collection. This takes away some of the magic, I guess, but it's still a lovely message.

Once, I got a fortune that said, "Duplex switch stuck on." ::shrugs::

home.

portal.

tunnel.