under the sea (on film)

Holy flu, batman. Like, seriously. Last Thursday, I was strolling along the oceanfront with my Composition Class, slightly raspy, and by Thursday evening, halfway through an email I started feeling chills. Within the hour, email still unsent, I was in bed with a 103º fever.

Let's not do that again shall we? On Mother's Day, I dragged myself to lunch no matter how bad I felt (and you would too for chicken and waffles with red velvet waffles with maple cream) but halfway through, Neel developed a fever. We're so glad Cal is driving now! We could barely make it home. That's just how we roll around here.

But let's talk of better things, shall we? Not my ongoing raspy cough, or how much my chest hurts or how I've taken to using my kid's inhaler. How about we talk about clear blue skies. Wide, white sand. And the clear green waters of the sea? Oh, and my underwater camera.

That.

She squeals gleefully. We spend so much time in and around the water here that I have long wanted an underwater camera, or at least an underwater housing for my digital camera. Uh, have you seen how pricey those things are? I mean, I know we could GoPro it, but that just didn't appeal. Fits Cal's demo more than mine maybe.

And then I saw this article. And then I frantically/excitedly/gleefully started asking around. And then enter the Nikonos. Designed as a diving camera in the 1960s, and built like a tank, this guy can go fully underwater or shoot some sweet pictures on top of the waves. If I tell you it felt a little weird to walk into the Gulf of Mexico carrying my camera, will you believe me?

But oh, such sweet images. And on my first try! This little guy is a trick to master, so I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time together this summer. Toes in the sand.

All images shot on a Nikonos V with Fuji Superia 400.

field day on film

Okay. I know I said I'd get you to the beach in Clearwater today, but. Life happened. I'm testing a new camera (long story), Field Day rolled around (every year!), and I cheated and used our local Walgreen's for developing. Film photos dropped off and picked up on the same day? A miracle!

If there's one frustration I have with film, okay, I have a few, it's the delay in seeing my photos. And honestly, that delay is usually both a blessing and a curse. Generally I like it. It's part of the slowing down that film makes me do, and all of that slowing down is good. But with things like Field Day, I want to tell the story, and sometimes I want to tell it right away. Before it gets too far away.

So Saturday was Field Day at Cal's school, and as I said on Instagram, it's A Really Big Deal. It's the school's major fundraising event for the year, and generally a real blast for kids and families. How big a deal is it? Well, we had a coastal storm dumping wind and rain and tidal flooding on us all day on Friday (another canceled baseball game), but Saturday? Well Saturday dawned sunny and warm. Even Mother Nature wants to go to Field Day.

A perennial favorite are the lemons with the peppermint sticks, and I finally got my own this year. Cal's pretty under the weather right now, and he was miserable this weekend. What got him out of bed Saturday morning? Those lemons. So tempting to make my own, but I don't think it would be the same.

It was worth it when we got there, because hello, Dunk Tank! We're not old timers to this school and this is only our 6th Field Day. Still, we don't remember a Dunk Tank before. It was a Big Hit. All the baseball kids lined up, and as you can see from the photos, a few prospects too. Apparently Cal dunked his English teacher and his Latin teacher too. He says he hugged his English teacher right after, but I guess his Latin teacher was still on her shift in the tank when he had to leave. There goes the Latin grade.

Cal spent the rest of the weekend coughing and slurping on the sofa, but I still think it was worth it. You can't miss Field Day. And I'll remember my Walgreen's trick this time next year.

All photos were shot on Fuji Superia consumer grade film on a Canon Elan 7E and developed at my local Walgreens. (For the Win!)