first steps in analog photography

@volchitza_ asked "How and when you first approached analog photography? What drew you to it?"

I used to have a Tumblr blog, where I would mostly focus on tv shows and movies. Once in awhile, I would see one of these wonderful photographs being reblogged into my dashboard. Little did I know that those were taken with analog cameras. It took me awhile to be so consumed by them, by their light depiction and colors, and I finally clicked on one of those follow up links to find out more. It lead me to this flickr account. Liis, its owner, was shooting Zenit at that point, I was in love. At first I thought she used digital and achieved everything in post-processing, but I asked her about that and she told me everything was pure and untouched, and created with analog photography. That was the initial moment for me. It took me additional couple of months to get an analog camera and a couple of more months to get shooting, but that was it :) It happened more less three years ago. 

let's talk about food.

It is still a mystery how I remain so terribly ashamed of taking pictures of food in bistros and cafes. I deeply love food, and food is often art - this is why I am still trying though. I succeed in being unseen almost always. This time though, as I was leaving, I was approached by someone from the staff, asking whether the pictures will be featured on some blog or something like that. That was such a great feeling. I wasn't treated like another young adult taking meaningless photographs of their lunch. I felt better than that. I somehow regretted not having a business card with me, because in my dreams I would always have one in a moment like that. Nope, I still don't have those. And maybe that is even better. Maybe I will grow up to printing them one day.

I don't do food reviews, because I am not qualified to do that. I often do write my opinion about it though. Take that super delicious pasta, for example, that somehow felt just so perfect for September, with mushrooms and fresh parsley. And technically all I end up saying is that you should totally visit this place. And I can recommend that one dish with my whole heart. On the other hand, A. was not amazed by the burger she ordered. It looked amazing, but the taste, she says, was only okay. Maybe I should really just act as if I knew what I was doing. Looking professional might make people feel intimidated and leave me alone to shoot some more.

"Guest Blogger October" schedule

Read more to check all the amazing bloggers who will fill October on Dipped in Rococo with pure awesomeness. I promise you will not be disappointed. I have to say it was much fun to be able to look for guest bloggers. I have received so many yes'es, it's incredible! Please click on all the photographs and send our participants some love. And do not forget to stay tuned for October! There will be analog, there will be creativity, there will be beautiful stories.

growing your blog with communities

I am not too experienced in the field of blogging community. At this moment I am a part of a few. Communities are something every blogger will recommend to you. The same they would do with commenting on other people's blogs and starting friendships. Communities are all about that. These are places to ask someone more experienced in the blogging world about your concerns or problems. This is the part that I love the most. Blogger families open different types of doors. What makes it all work out are strong leaders, knowing how to organize everything. It is hard not to lose balance between healthy "family" relationship and a facebook group where everyone does nothing but promote themselves. The biggest community that I am a part of has a few thousands members, so it is a potentially huge readers base.

Promotion is something we all want, and we shouldn't deny that. We dream to be noticed, our content loved, commented on, our views going up and staying there. But we should promote ourselves only when and where it's appropriate and welcome.

places hidden away

I never knew such places existed. Or perhaps I hoped they did, yet there were hidden away from me, unreachable. Times when you wake up and you feel so incredibly free, and you could sit reading a book, undisturbed for hours. It is a truly glorious feeling to experience a state like that. I was lucky to get invited to stay at that house for a few days to lay back and relax. I was reading Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn at the time. We were there with two Welsh terriers (& one turtle!!!) that completely stole my heart, being so drawn to humans and wanting to spend every minute of the day with them.

currently linkup (september)

Reading / Last book I read was "Dark Places" by Gillian Flynn. Moved by my prior read of that author - the fabulous "Gone Girl" - I quickly caught up and read the other two of Flynn's works. Dark Places being the last of all three. It definitely left me content, and willing to read her new works in the future. It is a fairly pleasant mix of a dark thriller and even darker female characters. Like I have said, it is the last book that I read and I have not decided yet, which one comes next. I have a couple of options. One of them is continuing on with Carlos Zafon's series that starts with "The Shadow of the Wind"(1). A beautiful read. A fascinating story. I am feeling so bad that my love had to do so much to make me read it in the first place. Don't be as ignorant as I had been - give it a try if you haven't already.

“Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you." (1)

The blogs I am currently reading are Simple Moments Stick & Lamb Loves Fox, also featuring great photography.

Making / progress in catching up with Orange is the New Black, season three is seriously fierce! I have a bunch of episodes left, so I may step away from books for a moment, to be able to finish this new season before the academic years starts.

Pinning / I have to admit something, I have been pretty terrible at Pinterest, the last year or so. Before, I was collecting inspiration for blog design, mostly fonts, floral drawings and patterns. I need to go back to that soon.

Anticipating / the moment I finally have braces put on. Four wisdom teeth later - it is the time. I have money, I have the visit booked, nothing can go wrong this time. I am motivated and ready for it. Sure I am a bit scared about mantaining it all, but I already bought a toothpaste with a high fluoride procentage and the mouth rinse - soon enough I will buy an oral irrigator and I will rock that state of my being for the next two or so years.

Loving / the app that I have found recently called Paper by FiftyThree, which lets me draw on my tablet. I am using nothing but my finger, creating my own fonts, writing down Taylor Swift lyrics. Since I sometimes put up my writing for sale as cool stickers on Redbubble, it is a great find for me! I created the header of this post with this app, and I am telling you, nobody would believe that it is my actually handwriting... I normally am more messy and not that artsy...hah, who knew.. :)

Wondering / how to transport my stuff back to the city where I study. It is a big pile of things, with my small cacti and Gerberas - it would be awful to have to leave them behind while they are so healthy and blooming!

Praying / for the imigration crisis to end. It gives me all types of bad feelings, as I am torn between wanting to help people, but fearing that the cultural differencies will cause chaos in my country. Tough stuff that fills up my thoughts, even though there is nothing I can do about it.

Writing / actual blog posts feels better than I remembered! I know that most of the time I post a few lines of text with a bunch of photographs. I had a feeling I lost my true self behind that blog. I should take part in more of these linkups, for sure. It is a refreshing feeling!

Attempting / to create a saving up plan for the following year. I have made myself a promise that at the end of the next school year I will have money for both an iPhone and vacation in Portugal. Please, university, come to the rescue with an educational scholarship, pleeease! :)

Planning / to learn and perfect at least one new pasta dish this year. Okay, so I keep doing a Bolognese, a Carbonara, but what comes next? Help me out if you have some super delicious pasta recipe and want to share it with me!

How about you? What are your plans and thoughts this month?

I saw the linkup first on the Kardia blog, but it originated with Jenna and Anne, so make sure to check out their blogs as well :) Thank you for reading and I will talk to you soon!