Vintage Shopping

Today, I decided to go vintage shopping, but with no such luck. Four stores I went to went out of business. I'm so bummed since I was really looking forward to it. There are a few more vintage stores I haven't hit yet, but I just hope those aren't closed already too.

There used to be a rather nice vintage shop on State Street, but I think they have closed down now. The last time I went there was around 4 years ago when I was a HS senior and touring Madison. I wasn't into vintage finds back then so I didn't look around the store thoroughly. But I do remember some gorgeous dresses on display though.

Test Roll Pictures

Oh my goodness, I'm falling so deep in love with my Yashica TL Electro X! Man, I can't believe this amazing equipment was made in the 70s and it still works like a charm! About 1/3 of the shots were ruined since I accidentally popped the back cover open a couple of times and exposed the shots to sunlight. Some photos were rather dark since I keep forgetting to check the light meter. But overall, the photos weren't too bad since they are making me learn more and more about my camera.

By the way, developing film is so expensive. A roll of 36 exposure costs about $12 at Walgreens. :(

More photos can be viewed at my Flickr. =)

Rose Bush and Film Bust =(

Yay!!! I'm finally done with finals. But now I have to clean my ridiculously messy apartment. =( But I'm back on blogging and I'm done with finals so I'm still happy.

I bought this mini rose bush at Copp's on Sunday and it's already dying. =( Well, not the entire plant, but parts of it. The plate under the plant got stuck in the shades as I was trying to pull the shades up and my plant crashed onto the carpet. In the grueling process, I killed two baby buds and the big rose is dying since the stalk is half severed. Gosh, I'm such a terrible mother. This makes me rethinking about wanting to buy more small plants for my apartment. I may just kill them too.





Some more bad news. This Yashica TL Electro X is an early birthday present from my boyfriend. When we finished shooting the first roll of film and I rewound the film, I found that my boyfriend had put the film in wrong and so the film wasn't able to rewind. Thus, the first roll was completely ruined. =( I was looking forward to seeing how the pictures turned out, but sadly that's not going to happen. I put a new roll in so I'm praying this roll turns out fine.

But I do absolutely LOVE the look of this vintage camera. I love it's design, especially the Yashica tattoo. You can't really see it in this photo, but it's at the top of the pyramid head. The only downside is that this camera is heavy. I swear you can kill someone with this thing. It is that heavy, especially if you pair it with some big lenses.

I also bought this Yashica 35 Electro GSN for myself. I popped in a roll of film already so I hope it's not a bust like the first roll on the Yashica TL was. In my 5th shot, it got stuck. Although I did manage to fix it, I hope that's not a bad sign that the entire roll is ruined. *Fingers crossed.* Comparing the handling of these two models, I think I like the TL more than the GSN though. Focusing on the GSN seem really awkward to me since the area of focus is so tiny! But I'll see how the pictures turn out to judge it entirely.

Stop Falling In Love?

I think my problem is that I fall in love too easily. I see something and crazily fall in love with it. And then my love for that thing dies down and it's just all such a waste. For example, I bought some painting supplies when I saw some gorgeous watercolor paintings and sketches, but I haven't touched my painting supplies since my first attempt! Then I bought a sewing book because I really wanted to learn how to sew my own dresses, but I haven't even gotten around to reading the book yet. I'm just glad I didn't buy a sewing machine or a mannequin yet. And now, I'm falling in love with photography since I just bought a Holga and two film cameras.

I feel like sometimes I'm really impulsive when I fall in love with hobbies at first sight. I don't have all the time in the world nor the resources to do everything I would want to do, not if I really want to explore and do well in those hobbies. I also think not having instant gratification kills my love for those hobbies. My first painting turned out terrible and I just lost the passion to paint.

I think photography will be the real hobby for me since I have always loved it, from my first film camera back in middle school to my first digital point-and-shoot. And unlike painting, I've gone ups and downs with photography. Some pictures turned out horrible and were a waste while some were average, and a few were really good. As for sewing, I might still try it out since I did buy the book and I did borrow my mom's sewing machine. But I just don't know when that will be LOL.

But I think I should post a big post-it note somewhere that says to "Stop Falling In Love!!!" ;p But then again, I also feel like if I don't try something that I like then I'll also never know so........I don't really know where that leaves me. Maybe I should look at exploration as a good thing (even though it does waste money).

P.S. I think this is the longest post I have ever written LOL.