the things i love: my valentine

I couldn't resist... It's Valentine's day, and one of the things I love most is my valentine... Kyle. He is the greatest valentine ever. This was his card to me...

Here is a picture of us on our location scouting adventure on Lady Bird Lake a couple weeks ago.

Lady Bird Lake - January 26, 2013 

the things i love: kitties

Oh my kitties! Birdy and Chin-Chin. Birdy I've had for two years now. One of the girls cat's at Kelsey's co-op had four kittens and they were looking for one more owner... Since I didn't have a roommate at the time and I made a decision that night that would be one of the best I've ever made. Here is me and the Bird on that day and one when I brought her home in January.

Me & The Bird - December 2010 - Photo by Kelsey Crow

First Day Home - January 2011

Chin-Chin is a totally different story. We've been together for 17 years. We got Chin-Chin and Ti-Too when I was 5 going on 6. We stopped by a pet store on Mesa Street one day and walked out with two kittens. One for me and one for Lindsey.

Me & Chin-Chin - 1995 - Photo by Rodney Gerson

After six years apart and much convincing and begging my mother, she is now with us in Austin. I'm so glad that we get to spend these last few years or however long, together, just like we started. This is the last photo of us in the house that we grew up in...

17 Years Later - December 2012 - Photo by Lindsey Gerson

Here's to many more years of kitty love...

the things i love: film

In honor of Valentine's Day, I'm going to celebrate all week with a mini-blog series, "The Things I Love." The first one, of course, is film! But not film as in the movies, I'm talking about the physical celluloid film.

FILM: a thin sheet of cellulose acetate or nitrocellulose coated with a radiation-sensitive emulsion for taking photographs

Although digital photography has come a long way, it still does not compare to the quality of film. You can't get the same subtle variations in the shadows and highlights with a digital camera as you can with a roll of Tri-X or Kodak Kodachrome. Luckily, Kodak still makes and sells Tri-X, and hopefully it won't go away until long after I'm gone. Digital comes close with the capability to shoot RAW images... but you still have to edit the photo afterwards to get anything close to what is already on the film negative.

Another thing I love about film is the process. There is just something about waiting in the darkroom to see what you've got that makes you a better photographer. I love that shooting film is a chemical process and part of the art of photography is the science.

Kelsey - December 2010