lazy sunday

so my shutter finger has been itching for an event to come up that can give me the opportunity to just let loose for a day. and it looks like good ol' downtown LA has provided thusly.



this sunday the 27th is the second annual american apparel factor flea market at their downtown warehouse located on the corner of 7th and alameda. from what i have gathered, it's basically going to be a giant flea market/carnival extravaganza where they clear out their entire stock. tons of super cheap clothing (both by american apparel and other companies), music, food, rides, live DJ sets and muscial performances, and a dance party for after the sun goes down. it's open from 2:00 to midnight and there's a $5 entrance fee. or you can pay $12 for the early bird special and get in at noon.

and from what i read about last years event you'll really want to get there early. rough estimates suggest that about 4,000 attended and i read somewhere that the wait to get in at one point was nearly 2 hours. but i hope that doesn't discourage anyone, when you think about it that's just like waiting in line for the indiana jones ride at disneyland on any other day. they also estimated 200,000 articles of clothing were sold (and there's going to be more this time around), so there should be plenty to go around for everybody.

but me and a couple good friends are packing up my van and heading over for the festivities. and i hope all those out there in the dark abyss that is the internet and stumble across this blog (or already know of this) will be sure to check it out.

fantastic piece of plastic

so it appears as if there is a new toy available for all you holga lovers out there. may i introduce you to the Holga 120WPC:


this behemoth is a panoramic pinhole camera, and of course being a holga shoots on beautiful 120 film. so expect some pretty epic negatives. from what i can gather it appears to include most of the common features of other holga cameras. it's a plasitc body that comes in two pieces and held together by those ever reliable little metal clasps. it also has a standard tripod thread, little red window that allows you to see where you are on the roll, and uncoupled advance for all the multiple-exposures you can handle. it comes with two masks; there's the 6x9 which gets you 8 shots, and the 6x12 which gets you 6 shots to a roll (though it is funny that the window on the back still lists 12 and 16). and from what i can see in the pictures of it, a nice little level sits on top of it. it also appears as if the shutter is threaded for a release cable, so if you don't have one you might want to look into investing into one for added stability.

so far it looks like you can only get them off of ebay right now, which will cost you around $50 plus shipping and handling. but i'm sure hunting a little might get you one for a little cheaper.

i leave you with shots i was able to find from people who already got there hands on one:


update: Freestyle Photographic Supplies will be carrying the WPC sometime in august or soon after that. when i know, you'll know

all aboard?

so it's summer and that can mean only one thing: road trip.

me, tony, margarete, and our good friend erik are hightailing up to san francisco at the end of august for the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival. it's a three day festival (the 22nd, 23rd, 24th), but we're just going for friday the 22nd. and personally, i think that the lineup for that day equals a whole weekends worth of rockin': cold war kids, the black keys, beck, and radiohead amongst others.

so this is an open invitation to anyone else who might be interested in joining us for some road trippin'. we're either going to be driving in one of our cars or taking the amtrak up the coast. either way, if anyone wants to join i'm sure we can figure out the best way to get us all up there safe and sound. a ticket for the day runs about $100 (including all those lovely little fees they tack on). if we take amtrak roundtrip tickets are also about $100, if not we could just split the price of gas. either way, i think we should all be able to still afford enough film to document the aventure as it unfolds. housing is still an issue that needs to be looked into, but we have a couple options we can explore when the time is right. if not, i don't know about you guys, but camping in Golden Gate Park sounds pretty fun.

another potential roadtrip for the summer, or really just whenever people have a free weekend they want to use to go exploring, is down to the salton sea. for those not familiar with it, it's an inland lake that was accidentally created at the turn of the century and had a community boom in the 1950s. basically it was advertised as being the next Palm Springs, but a number of geological occurences essentially left the lake dead and most people abandoned the area. fortunately for us they left almost everything behind (houses, a marina, a whole hotel, etc), much of which is still around and terribly decrepit. sounds gross, but it's picture perfect. there's also salvation mountain, an entire hill that has been painted and repainted by a guy named Leonard that is definitely worth checking out.


but enough from me, any ideas from anyone else out there? and not just road trips either, know of some local spots to check out? let us know.