Black & White Holga Photos taken in Paris, France

 

I've been lucky enough to visit Paris twice in my life. The first time, I was taking summer classes during my sophomore year of college with my sister. Photography was becoming my new obsession and I had just started using the Holga camera. It's kind of crazy to think that I took the Holga with me and only shot a few rolls being there for a whole month. If I was in Paris now for a whole month, I would probably have a thousand film rolls by the end of that trip! We spent time in almost every park in Paris and we rode bicycles out to Monet's Garden with our cousin Sarah (who was backpacking through Europe). I learned so much from that month in Paris and I have a strange attachment to the photos I took on that first trip, even if they aren't technically the best photos I've ever taken.

The second time I visited Paris was in 2015 with my family but it was only for a few days. I managed to take quite a few rolls of film during that time though. Paris is seriously the most beautiful city I've ever seen and I definitely plan on going back again at some point. And hopefully again and again and again...

I know I say it all the time, but the Holga is truly my favorite camera. I honestly don't know what I would do without it! I feel such a connection to it (which I know is extremely nerdy) and it's taught me so much about film photography. Below are my favorite Holga photos I've taken in Paris so far. If you'd like to purchase a print, you can contact me directly here. <3

Paris 2008

Paris 2015

 

 

Cross Country Road Trip | Winter 2016

 

I usually fly home to Virginia every winter for the holidays, but this year Chris and I decided to drive. There are just so many places in the US worthy of visiting and I needed a break from work and the ups and downs of life. Every sunset was stunning, every road was unique. There's something about traveling that makes me feel content. Life just starts to feel stagnant after a while and seeing new places is the best way to get out of a funk. We took our cat Lula (kind of a nightmare, but we survived!) and we stopped in Bend on the way out of Portland to visit Chris' parents. Of course we left the minute a huge snowstorm hit Portland and Bend, but we slowly made it over the mountains, tire chains and all. Not gonna lie, I was a little terrified that we'd slide off the side of a cliff. But we made it through! 

A few of our stops included Austin, Nevada (a very strange little town in the middle of ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE, but beautiful landscape everywhere), Las Vegas (incredible), the Hoover Dam (freaking huge), the Grand Canyon (we woke up at 5:30 am to see the sunrise!), Albuquerque (had a delicious Bahn Mi), Amarillo, Texas (bought a decorative Armadillo), Oklahoma City, Memphis (GO TO THE BASS PRO SHOPS PYRAMID, it's CRAZY), Nashville, and finally Lynchburg at 1 AM in the morning. It was stressful, fun, memorable, silly and beautiful. I haven't gotten my film photos back yet, but these are my favorite digital images from the trip. I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season. 2017 is going to be crazy, that's for sure. Chris and I will be driving back to Portland sometime in March, then getting married in April in Hawaii. I have plans of taking my creativity in a whole new direction, as well as focusing on my mental health, physical health, and spiritual health. We'll see how that goes...

Happy New Year!!!!!