Visiting Mocak - Modern art gallery in Krakow

While in Cracow, we visited a bunch of galleries, because most of the usual exhibitions are now available at a reduced price for students, what a cool perk! Modern Art Gallery called MOCAK is the first one that I will be talking about and sharing some photos.

What caught my eye immediately after we left our coats in the cloakroom were the exhibits that we could see in the main corridor of the gallery, before even entering the exhibition part of the building. Guess it is all one big piece of art. There were vending machines standing in the hall, each of them in different color, filled with canned drinks of some kind. As I came closer, it struck me that it was indeed an art piece "Satisfaction Guaranteed" by Joanna Rajkowska, a provocative work involving vending machines with elements of her body for symbolic consumption.Each drink type was something unusual. Representing a human need, things somehow so appealing, yet sadly not achievable by some liquid in a can. That was a very cool project in my opinion. "melon flavored drink with an extract from the retina, strenghtening the vision. edition limited to 500 cans."

Let there be light by Sara Martins

Hello, My name is Sara and I am a photographer from Porto, Portugal.

Some years ago I started a blog called randomplacesfamiliarplaces to share my photos and connect to others with same love for analog photography as me. I am inspired above all by light, the beginning of it all. How it changes during the day, how it brings to live the smallest of things.

Because I lead a simple life in a wonderful yet quiet city, my focus goes to immediate surroundings and what makes my heart beat with tenderness and love:

Swell Festival by Erin Oxnam

A few weekends ago my friends and I went down to our local beach to see the sculptures at Swell Festival. It’s hosted every year at Currumbin Beach and has some amazing creations that artists work on all year.

I’ve only been down to see it one other time two years ago and I was really happy with the pictures I took with my Zenit EM-1. Since then, I’ve become quite acquainted with my Pentax ME Super and wanted to test it out to see how the pictures held up against the ones from 2013.

The art of writing letters by Tina Sosna

Hi, I'm Tina Sosna, a 22 year old analog photographer from a little town in the heart of Germany. About six years ago I started my blog worteinbildern.blogspot.com where I show my life and love to nature in self portraits and that's also the place where I hold the beauty I see in people or the world in general in photographs.

But beside photography I always enjoyed to write letters. Since I was about 9 I tried to keep up friendships with people from cities more far away trough handwritten letters. At this point I had no idea that this love would grow so much with time. With starting my photography blog I also got the chance to get in touch with many people around the world. And not only in the digital world. Soon, people I've always looked up to on the internet, started to become my penpals..

Indonesia by Diana Rahim (Verkur)

I was in Bogor not too long ago. The room I was in faced the mountains and the air was clear. I don’t think any two people are looking at the same mountain. I remember how a lady once complained about the way her best friend exclaimed at the beauty of a sunset, gushing about the beauty of life, the earth and spilling with love for humanity. Annoyed, she told her best friend – “why do you have to make everything so spiritual!” She found it a bit much and I found the incident funny, precisely because I am prone to such excessiveness. The lady found the sunset’s beauty in its colours not in projected abstractions; in the way they struck the eye and everything it hits. A beauty from simple reality divorced from the world of spiritual abstraction.

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. 

postcards from O

I open my eyes each morning, often awaken after a bad dream, and I crave caffeine and you. I go downstairs to quickly make myself a dose of the first one, the latter need stays unfulfilled. The most probable is that I am going to go with the flow, wherever it may lead me. I miss you, my person, very much. 

I am sort of in love with the top photograph. Old town is the only place in my city where something is happening. We don't get the loud & social evenings B has, but that view of that place makes me reminisce. We are so damn old already. I still need training when it comes to 800 iso film. It's a great challenge for me, I think. Just how you learn to focus properly, you have to learn what conditions to shoot under. It's not so easy peasy. How weird is that when I get a white coffee without any art on it, I am a little disappointed? One of my favourite coffee stores in B seriously spoiled me in that respect. They get you teddy bears, tigers, and much more. Even if you're, like us, crashing their place half an hour before closing, for a late night date of cappucino.

Next week we are going to Varsovie for a couple of days, and it's lovely how hard you try to make me travel through B while I'm on my way over there. Expect some photographs once I'm back. I still have some time in my beloved O, even though all my molecules dream to be somewhere else. Time flies, seriously. Soon enough new numbers will be welcomed into my life, 8 months, year three,  2015. 

If you're interested in advertising your blog on Dipped in Rococo, here is something for you. You can always swap a freebie (ad swap) or book it if it's currently taken.

what we brought from Budapest

Hi there!

Last year I told you that spending money while being on holiday is my weak point. Well it certainly is. Not in a way anyone would think. Hungary was no different. I tried to spend money wisely. We bought essentials (and wine of course) and at last started to look for extra stuff, like keepsakes for our families and little treats for ourselves too :)

Once we were back in my apartment in B, we got everything out on my bed and I photographed those little souvenirs thoroughly. We came back with:

- a letter from hotel's manager Kate, which was a nice addition to the whole stay (a drawing of a dinosaur came along with it, which was a personal request of A)

- maps, transport tiquets, all sight-seeing info.

- a fridge magnet for my sis

- national gallery stuff, postcards of Budapest and art, a notebook that will be my new diary

- A brought a Tokaji Aszu (4) fairly famous Hungarian wine

- some plum Palinkas (which are sweets filled with their 60% vodka, pretty serious stuff, I am telling you...) for our friend P, who lent us her bag for the trip and some marzipan treats as well.

- I brought 6 films with me, which left me with dozens of memories of that beautiful city

And last, but not least, just when I was left with about 1/2 of my budget, we decided to go to a Lush store that we spotted sometime during sight-seeing. Lush is a cool brand with eco-friendly, not animal tested, cosmetics which I always wanted to try but could not, since it's not available in Poland. Not to go into details, we got two bathing bombs (used them both already!) and got familiar with the rest of their products, thanks to a lovely and English speaking sales girl.

Damn, I have no idea what happens, but when I am abroad I am definitely not a spender and in my everyday life it's just so hard to stop buying. Seriously.

What is a thing that you always bring from your journeys/vacations? :)

solo days and a happy mess.

May has come. May of all nighter's, May of working at about 120%.

May weekend was something I have really enjoyed. Yes, yes, I have. Even though at first we had some big plans of travelling together, in the end we did not leave my apartment for longer than a quick shopping spree and a brunch. Then I was left alone again, to experience what I call a perfect solo day. 

In about one month, my older sister is getting married. Scary. Will I ever grow to do the same? For now I still feel like a child, it feels alright to have some obligations, but in the end it's just me I take care of. Oh okay, apart from moments like last Wednesday, when I was found oddly useful. So yup, I'm capable of being there for another person. And I'm not as cold as I might seem to you all. 

In about one month, this blog is turning one year old. I'm still shooting, hooray. Though the reality is different, as well as my perception of life. I used to be the person who believed that everything goes right after the big kiss, but now it's all clear that life's a pile of good and bad things mixed together. And I honestly trust the idea that happiness ain't a continuous stream of love and freedom and balance. Happiness is about moments. Moments that gradually fill my happy jar of 2014. Life is also about bad stuff and quite often 'losing it' or having a tear falling down your face and absolutely no will or strength to hide it. It's about bad Wednesdays and fantastic Fridays.

A perfect solo day consists of.

Waking up with the whole bed for yourself, completely wrapped up in sheets.

Making your own breakfast exactly at the time you want it, and if you don't feel like doing breakfast, going for some breakfast outside. Or not having it all, yolo.

Doing some perfect housewife stuff, but not too much, since there is no one to judge you for your mess.

Reading a new book, with excitement in the air, and controversy on the pages.

Writing a new blog post, trying out whatever might work this time around.

Looking for cheap hostel deals and planning your perfect solo trip.

And at last, realising that you'd rather be awaken by someone leaving kisses on your forearm, be robbed of the sheets, make someone a breakfast of scrambled eggs, have them say you look gorgeous with no makeup, give up on your afternoon nap and watch a silly tv show together. Share your dinner, give multiple cider refills and have your favourite tea critisized. Have your hand squeezed lovingly.

It's great how we need the solo days to fully appreciate days when we have company (and conversely). Knowing that it's the balance that sets things right both with your bond with your person and yourself. Hugs and kisses, I'll talk to you soon! :)

a little celebration.

The part of my winter break that I actually spent at home seems almost insignificant. I feel somehow torn between two cities. Each of which misses something crucial.This is my first real try shooting black & white film. It feels like exploring a completely different side of lomography. I had chosen some Ilford (XP2 400, to be exact), hoping the results will be enough to convince me and my biggest critics that colorless shooting has at least as much potential as full color.

The day after my arrival, my fam & I decided to celebrate my passed exam and my sister's new job by having dinner in one of the loveliest recently opened restaurants in our town. (Recently opened, duh. I guess it's been around for longer than you may think, but I don't visit home that often and we rarely eat outside, so yeah, definitely new experience for me). And since I always like a little spin in my regular favourite dishes, having a salmon salad with grapefruit, orange and almonds, was a highlight of the day. Casa is a place with cool people, fresh energy and great cuisine, so what's not to love?

Also, using my new 28mm lens gives me a different, fun perspective. Unscrewing and changing lenses does absorb some time, but for now I do have some extra minutes to spare. I was enjoying the last days of sweet, sweet freedom, before I was thrown into university life again. But on the other hand, huuraaay, I'm shooting and posting, how incredible is that??

And every once in awhile I stumble upon something that simple and esthetically pleasing as the video below. Enjoy :) (#12 Forget shit and move on) Oh how much I need number 12 in my life nowadays. Time to flee the scene of this incident, breathe in slowly and move on. There's no use in settling for second best. Not anymore. The truth is, I feel weaker than I've felt in a long time, but on the other hand I am stronger, because I've made the first step towards self preservation. Life has always been about forgetting. And well, I'm going to nail its techniques sooner or later. 

But what if it's not about forgetting but about accomodating? It is about some funny evolution process, which can be achieved only after your heart has been broken some certain number of times. Cutting ties is easy, it's a sharp cut between what we used to be and what we will be from this moment on. I am not proud of always burning my bridges. Not everyone is supposed to stay in your life and in your bed, but you're not the only deciding factor. Keeping your exes might be foolish, and sometimes it might just prolong the bleeding for some significant amount of time. But maybe at some point you will realize that you've grown fonder of having people around. Of having certain people around, not matter in what form. I miss X for our long conversations about music and cinema. I miss Y because of his 'fuck it ' attitude, that was always somehow uplifting and energetic. Z cooked well, and to be quite honest, I just wish I could have someone cook for me the way he did. Q gave me this incredible impression of a relationship, and just the first boost of any confidence in my life. And you, you have given me a bit of everything. A little bit of all that. 

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND from frohlocke on Vimeo.

distance of the modern hearts

This is what happens, when you decide to go to a concert, loving the music, but not quite knowing how the artists look like. And suddenly, boom, you end up in the second row, in front of a stage filled with absolutely hot guys, whose moves literally give you goosebumps, but at the same time warm you up from the inside. This cannot be described in a way other than, it was bloody marvellous. And the fact that we got our tickets signed afterwards, and that I actually spoke with T, and I decided to speak my mind for once (complimenting him in a very definite way), it all made it worth it. Absolutely worth the lack of sleep that I got the following night. Their energy was amazing, their moves as equally. So it's fair to say, I'm hooked on Melt, T and the way he smiled at me, when he said he noticed me during the concert. Life=made. My friend said that if we continue to be crazy and talk to them this way, we'll soon be crushing their afterparties. I would certainly not mind, so I'm not giving up on being my charming little self. 

There are certain moments in life, which make you want to just squeeze them, put in your heart and mind, and never let go. Even though I ended up being picture-less (I actually think a polaroid would be the best option for me to buy and use on such gigs, great place for the autographs as well, damn) my mind repeats it over and over. Coming to a general conclusion about that night, platonic crushes are the best, in a world where all you do is study, eat and sleep (with drinking occuring way too rarely), I love beats that seem to break my ribs, sometimes being somebody's last choice might actually turn out to be very rewarding if you just close your eyes, take a deep breath and feel the rhythm. Maybe I should just drop everything that ties me down, and become a groupie? A groupie, who desperately needs a haircut, though.

Life goes on rapidly. I seem to be bruising easily nowadays, and I mean both, literal (as you can see above) and metaphorical meaning of that word. Sometimes I feel like all I see is flashing lights. People growing closer, people growing apart, learning to let things go or to finally let myself go and have fun. I am so glad to finally be able to start planning my summer trips, since I officially got my first scholarship payment today. As you can see, I seem to have so much luck these days, (I also got 3 Red Bulls instead of 1, out of a vending machine on Wednesday :D) so I'm clearly enjoying my existence, which I suppose is why I find myself smiling more. Nothing, and I mean nothing, no one, not one thing in this whole world, is going to spoil that, because I simply won't let it. 

I think we can say that November is over. I'd predicted it would be a hell of a month, but instead I ended up being more social, talkative, and welcomed a bit of self-awareness into my life, that I never though would be there by now. I managed to catch up with J, had a blast at a birthday party (a separate post coming for sure, as soon as I free the pictures that are stuck in my current roll, which I fail to finish), attended the PTTS Warsaw conference and finally saw Kamp!, all that in one month that I thought would leave me studying twenty four/seven. Last week made me add two more things to my happy jar, which will be emptied in exactly one month and one day, on New Year's Eve. I'm way too picky when it comes to putting things in that jar. Or maybe it's just that I have not felt truly content in a long time. Have a lovely December guys! I'm off with my first caffeine dose and physiology for the rest of today.

S i n g  b e f o r e  b r e a k f a s t,  c r y  b e f o r e  n i g h t.

Lomo side of the story: I more than loved my first roll of Kodak Ultramax 400, and I swear if it wasn't for the price of it, I would come back to that film more often. November was not a golden age for my camera, since my life has been one big school routine since October. Now that the scholarship money is around, a new lens might make an appearance in my life, who knows! :)

ten pictures, ten random facts.

1. Dolce & Gabbana on my new fake sheep leather rug. Perfume belongs to my sis, even though I seriously never underestimated D&G, I'm all the way a Calvin Klein girl, with 'Beauty' being my all time favourite fragrance.

2. The bed of dreams, actually AJ's bed, which represents everything what I love in bed decor. It's "behind the scenes" of our Breakfast At Tiffany's little lomoshoot. Like AJ, I just love having a bunch of pillows on my bed. I actually sleep with 5 at the moment!

3. Second favourite when it comes to Agatha Christie's books. I am such a Christie lover, I can fairly say that she was the first author whose works I had ever got into. I believe I've read over 60 of her books, at some point I kept a list of book titles enclosing also which character killed, their motive and the murder weapon.

4. I'm a proud coffee addict. If all milk disappeared from the Earth, I would probably have to give it up, because I always have my coffee white. Coffee without milk is like one of the grossest things I've ever tried.

5. My friend's cat is a female although she has a typically male name. We managed to have her shooting with us for only like 5 seconds but even though it felt as she wasn't collaborating, all the pictures turned out lovely and in focus. 

6. One of my biggest dreams is to travel a lot in the future.

7. I never finished my swimming course in primary school. I took all the lessons but I chickened out on the final one, when you were supposed to jump into the water and make it to the other side of the pool on your back. I was afraid of jumping, so I faked being sick. I have no problems with swimming now, I think I was only afraid back then because of all those judgy kids that were there with me.

8. I love art. I would love to visit all the biggest galleries and museums during my whole life. I sometimes feel bad for not knowing much about it. I feel like I used to know much more than I do now. I read myself to sleep every other day. Now I am finally fully aware of Monet and Manet not being the same person, but actually pals. A Bar at the Folies-Bergère being about the feeling of loneliness experienced by an individual while in the crowd. Or Picasso saying that there are two types of women, goddesses and doormats.

9. I don't cook. I just don't exist in the kitchen. I'm perfectly capable of overcooking pasta. I love trying out new things to eat though. I also didn't starve during a whole year on my own, so that's a success!

10. I'm 5'11 and sometimes I just don't fit into pictures :)