This WordPress town isn’t big enough for the both of us! or just my photos haha So, I am moving my blog over to a real website! with unlimited data so I can do unlimited posts! yahoo!! 🙂
Check me out over there, it’s: http://www.thingsthatkeepyoudreaming.com/
Whaaaaaaa? But, but fuji is so awesome and stylish and the colors are amazing! They have dedicated dials for exposure comp, shutter speed, aperture and feel great in your hands! They make you look so cool! And who really needs more than 16 MP??
All true. 🙂 I still love the Fuji cameras and would definitely purchase an X-T1 if I was independently wealthy and all. But, since I can pretty much only afford one camera system at the moment, I had to go with the Sony. I chose the Sony a6000, because, to be honest, Trey recommended it, and well he knows his cameras! haha seriously, I chose it because it is a crazy good deal for the amount of camera you are getting. It’s like getting a ridiculously great deal on an international flight and then finding out you are getting upgraded to first class for free 🙂
And that’s exactly what this camera is, first class! So what’s the catch? (there must always be a catch!) hmmm…
#1: It’s not as pretty as the Fuji cameras (well looks aren’t everything?)
#2: Someone once said the menu system was designed by monkeys on crack (there is some truth to this!)
#3: You have to buy a separate battery charger for the wall because with the original package, you have to actually plug your camera in to charge it (Sony, you sent us back to the dinosaur age!)
#4: No dedicated dials for shutter speed, exposure comp, etc. (maybe I was just spoiled by the Fuji design)
#5: It’s soooo loud!! (spoiled again by Fuji’s silent mode)
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well, I don’t have much else yet 🙂 It’s pretty awesome! I got the 10-18mm lens with it instead of the kit lens and it was well worth it for me. I looooove me some wide angle 🙂 Its also a lens that Trey recommended haha Pure happenstance!
The photos are sharp, the resolution is great, the autofocus is incredible, the electronic viewfinder is fast. I’m not the kind of person to get into all sorts of technical stuff, I’ll leave that to the experts, but I love this camera so far! Let’s let the photos speak for the camera now 🙂
I spent this past Sunday wandering around Copley square with a few awesome members of my cohort and none other than the Master A.D. Wheeler himself!! What a surprise!! Here are some photographs from that walk with the a6000.
Above is Trinity Church from the backside :0 A great place to shoot if you love old churches! You can get inside the church for $7 admission or for free if you say you just want to pray! ahah
The Hall of Ideas inside the Mary Baker Eddy museum. There is a cool exhibit called the Mapporium where you can go inside a GIANT glass globe! The sound effects in there are pretty cool, try yodeling 🙂
These next ones are from some of my mid-day lunch break wanderings around the waterfront and post office square near the office.
After getting out of work around 11pm at night, one night the past week, I had brought my tripod and planned to take some night shots since I was already out late! I wanted to test the a6000’s long exposure and such and it turned out brilliantly! This is the view of the Boston city skyline from the seaport side, right after crossing the bridge in front of the Children’s museum. You can see the Boston Tea Party museum on the left side where you can visit and learn how rebellious us Bostonians are in our blood! 🙂
Boston at night is so incredible. It’s very very safe if you worry about it at night. I would use common sense as always, but I’ve definitely walked around places alone and never felt unsafe or uneasy. This bridge is a great place to shoot. Its right next to the Boston Harbor Hotel and connects the waterfront to the seaport. I caught it in a rare turning position that night!
I believe this photograph below might capture the essence of the a6000. It might be a little flawed from my perspective (mostly on the looks and design categories), but it is beautifully flawed. This camera is beautiful in its work (definitely not looks, its an inside beauty!) and I cannot wait to shoot with it more!
Ok, I’ll say a little more anyways…haha An awesome and terrifying weekend I spent in New Hampshire that turned out to be hard to beat this winter. Between the exclusive access to the ice castles in Lincoln, and making fresh snow tracks on I-93 mid-winter storm, it was one to remember….and share!
The Ice Castles, a rather new attraction in the Northeast has taken ski vacationers by storm! This place is so packed normally, I hardly see the draw for normal admission. There are fire dancers, a BBQ food truck (that doesn’t actually serve BBQ), Disney music (mostly from the movie Frozen), and sooooo many people! I know this because I checked in early during the normal operating hours and the place was swarmed! So travelers, beware, its awesome, but don’t be shocked by the number of people who also thought it would be awesome 🙂
So, after shooting film for about a month or so, I’m SO happy to say that my camera has been fixed by Fuji and will be returned to me in the next week or two! Not that I don’t love film, because I do :), but when I shoot six rolls that costs $100 to get developed and scanned and there are only about 9 shots that I happy with, I say thank goodness for my digital camera! (don’t forget the $50 or so for the rolls in the first place)
Ektar 100: its been fun, but quite honestly, I’m okay if you sit on the shelf for a little while, no hard feelings, you understand, you’re just too expensive! 😉
These are all using Ektar 100. The challenge with this was the 100 ISO because I was used to shooting only 400 ISO film. It meant slower shutter speeds in not so bright areas and for someone with not so steady hands, this was tough. I underexposed a lot. This guitar series is of my brother who is an excellent guitar player and not a bad singer either 🙂
Yes, It’s really grainy. I wanted to showcase how the film came directly out of the camera/lab/scanner so I barely processed these at all in Lightroom.
Also using the Ektar 100, I shot Moss Glen Falls on the scenic route 100 in Vermont. What an incredible drive! Through the mountains, winding roads that went on and on and on. It had a very calming effect. The Falls is right off the road and there is a small parking lot. It’s super convenient to get to! There’s even a nice little boardwalk that leads you right to it, easy peasy 🙂 Since the pool in front of the falls was a little frozen over, I was able to get a little closer to the falls, following the snowy indents made by (most likely) photographers before me.
Back in Boston I tried the Ektar 100 out on a cityscape sunset from East Boston after my BEC CPA exam. Nothing like taking pictures to relax after an incredibly stressful and long test. This was near Piers Park, but not exactly in it. It’s another abandoned decaying dock right next door. And I had it all to myself! Who else would stand there for 45 minutes in the freezing cold? 🙂
Each type of film is a little different and it takes some time to figure out how to use it to its highest potential with your camera and what you like to shoot. But that’s only half the battle! If you have access to a darkroom and a great scanner, then you’ve won, but if you don’t, you are at the mercy of photo labs and their scanners. 🙂 Â
Snow day for Boston! – Work from home day for many like me. I did venture out however to the only store in Southie that was open – 7/11, thank heaven! 😉 I was surprised to see that there were many people out and about, mostly packed into the Lincoln and Stats (South Boston bars). Here are some of the scenes of the excursion (all shot with the iPhone!).
On top of many of the cars in this neighborhood, there were these wave-like formations of snow, resembling mohawks! Very stylish. No doubt having to do with the strong winds that accompanied the snowfall.
West Broadway devoid of traffic. Some of the sidewalks were shoveled, but not completely, so I had to walk on the road. Totally safe being that the only vehicles on the road were police SUVs, and plows. 
The MBTA may not be running, but the kids sled express is!
7/11 IS OPEN 🙂
The heavy duty guys were called in!
Panning with the iPhone!
Fog? – nope, the wind is still pretty strong and many times it blew the top layers into a whirlwind around me!
This challenge is hard! And I’ve only been doing it for less than 15 days…
Doing this with the iPhone certainly makes it a lot easier than carrying my camera around. I can shoot quicker, be more reactive, more flexible. 🙂 Some of these places I can go back and shoot with my camera when it’s fixed, but some of these moments are irreplaceable. The awesome thing about moments is that you will never have another one quite like the one you are currently experiencing. Uniqueness is a cornerstone of our world. Unique people, unique moments. The amazing thing of the camera is that we can capture those unique moments to remember and relive as many times as we want.
Day 6: Snow in Boston
Day 7: Ice in Castle Island
Day 8: Boston Common Fountain at Night
Day 9: Christmas Trees go to the garbage. 😦
Day 10: Joe Pug with the Devil Makes Three Concert! Woo!
Day 11: Pre-work week candlelight reading and relaxing.
Day 12: Back to Work! – Tilt Shift of the Boston Harbor and Greenway.
Day 13: Reflections of the Intercontinental Hotel.
Day 14: You Are The Fire That Keeps Me Warm At Night (aka my space heater haha)
Day 15: Boston Fire Crane (It’s nice having a fire station the next building over!)
BONUS SHOTS! (Here are some other shots that I took, but didn’t make the cut, but are still cool!)
Why I love the idea of a 365 Project: The one thing that photography does for me more importantly is keep my memories of what I’ve done, where I’ve been, and what I’ve experienced alive. My memory is terrible due to several concussions in high school so I will forget many things that I do and experience. All it takes is a photo to bring back those memories and feelings which is great, because not being able to remember many things in detail from initial memory is kind of a bummer. Most of the time, it just takes a trigger or several, and photography is my saving trigger. 🙂
http://www.mollykatephoto.com/Projects/IPhone-365/Days-131
I may have to extend this little project until January 6, 2016 (ah!). Is that allowed? Well, technically it’s MY project, right? So I am making the rules, yeah!
Rule #1: There is no judgement in the 365 iPhone Project. I am simply making a commitment to get out there everyday and try to photograph something interesting or something ordinary in an interesting way. 😀
Rule #2: I won’t post everyday, although I might, but I’m thinking I take a photo everyday with my iPhone, and then post a weeks worth on my website, all at once. I like this rule making business! besides, I don’t want to annoy the heck out of the very small number of people who may be reading this. Hi Mom! 🙂
Rule #3: Have fun and get creative (aka, download as many free camera and photo editing apps as I can find on the app store) haha, just kidding….but really.
Now let’s see how far I get…Has anyone ever finished one of these projects?
Originally written on mollykatephoto.com:
http://www.mollykatephoto.com/Travel-Journal/Analogue-Letters/White-Mountains-Falling-Waters
Dear Analogue World,Â
Once upon a time (ok about 6 months ago), there was a period where I did not own a digital camera, except for perhaps my iPhone, but let’s get serious here, we all know the iPhone can never replace a real camera, film or digital. 🙂 Soooo, the only camera I had was an automatic Canon Rebel 35mm film camera. I was living in a super cheap apartment at the time, so I could afford the total of $21 or so dollars it cost to buy and develop one roll of film, and that’s the low end of the spectrum with cheap film!Â
Now it seems, through some mysterious force (which knocked my tripod over and broke my only fuji lens, there was no wind!), karma? (but I was so good this year! Santa thought so….), I am once again left with only a film camera, my trusty Canon Rebel auto 35mm, until my Fuji is fixed, an expensive bill I am NOT looking forward to paying (bye bye new Fuji lens, sigh). A recent addition to the party is a family Pentax K1000, which was my mothers, entrusted to me to keep…I really have to find where I put that now 
Â
I can’t stop shooting because even without a working digital camera, I still feel the magnetic pull to get outside and shoot, and I dearly love film, just not the cost $$$. My 2nd CPA test is coming up in a couple of weeks and I’ve been going mad sitting inside all the time studying! I caved and spent money I should not have on several rolls of Ektar 100 (I’m really excited to shoot with this!!) and Acros BW which was recommended to me at the store, and being the sucker I am, I decided to try it. 🙂Â
I was so excited, I wanted to share some summer shots that I took with Lomography 35mm color film up in the White Mountains. This was on the Falling Waters trail up Mt. Lafayette, which is PERFECT if you absolutely love waterfalls. There are waterfalls galore. Ever have trouble fighting off other photographers for the perfect spot underneath a glorious flow of water? Come to this trail! Waterfalls for everyone! This would be a great place to go on a photowalk! hmmm ideas popping into head…
AND if you keep trekking up the mountain, you will reach Mt. Lafayette and the ridge trail, which is spectacular as well. It is quite definitely my favorite place I have hiked. EVER. We went mid-day but I want, no need, to come back here for a sunset/sunrise shoot. The air is crisp and fresh, the trails are numerous and exciting, and the views are unparalleled in New Hampshire, possibly even the Northeast. Let’s face it Vermonters, New Hampshire will always be superior. hehe (just kidding!)
Well, I cannot wait to share my Ektar and Acros results with you real soon!Â
Manually Yours,Â
Molly Kate
Be Bold! How can you go wrong when you dive into that scary place where you get butterflies and know that it could go so incredibly wrong, but it feels so incredibly right?
Well you can and It’s scary to do something new, take on some level of risk, put yourself out there, maybe put a hedge in there for a little comfort, but in the end, its still a risk, a bold step, a thrilling but scary one. Recently in my Level 14 Critique in The Arcanum, I submitted this black and white minimalistic winter scene shot above. I had no idea how it would go over. It was a tad frightening because I thought it could go either way, really bad or good. I didn’t know. I did like it though and it was something I would normally not have done, but it was something risky to put out there in the world, at least for me. 🙂 I know this is not as risky as quitting your job to follow your dreams, so its all relative. 😉
The photo went over well!!, I think haha. I had some things to clean up, dust spots and detritus and such. 🙂 But it seems my bold move paid off and my mentor, A.D. Wheeler, really liked it! Even gave me a 3! (the scale is from 0-3 points).
Something else that was relatively nerve-wracking but really fun at the same time was being picked to represent my cohort on The Creation Wars! I told them it must have been a mistake (I swear they all had too much spiked egg nog or creation war wine) hehe 🙂 You can actually watch it at this link below if you want! It was posted publicly so I think I am okay sharing it. It’s a show where every Monday night, different Masters in the Arcanum bring one Apprentice’s photo each week to compete for the win. There is also some wine and shenanigans involved! 🙂
https://plus.google.com/events/c8ebbjugiu724v7q8i9bql4qacs
Since my poor camera is currently in the shop being repaired, I don’t have much new material to share at the moment, but I will share something non-photo related since I am going to go Internet-Lite over the Holidays!
My biggest New Year’s resolution:
It’s to be BOLD in the new year. To take more risks, say yes more, to be fearless, and to live an out of the ordinary year. Who wants to be normal anyways, its just another term for “average” 🙂
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays All!
And a big mushy grateful thank you to everyone who has been a part of my life this year and made it a great one, especially my Arcanum family (and my real family (and friends!) of course too! haha). All of you are amazing! Love you guys!
Mush out. 🙂
Water is Fascinating. Beautiful. Reflective. Deadly. Saving. It can take the form of a vast ocean miles wide or a tiny tide pool that stretches only a few inches. It can change the face of this earth as it has incredibly done over the years. It can sculpt art. In this case, it can sculpt rocks into art. These beautiful curves you see above in the bottom of the photograph are natural water-made. This place is called the Sculptured Rocks (New Hampshire) and this shot only captures a small piece of it. To get to the bigger sculptured rocks required more time than I had to shoot so that only leaves me to put it on my list of locations to return to! 🙂
Have you spotted the polar bear yet? If not, take a second look at the photo above! 🙂
The Sculptured Rocks are right near Newfound Lake, which is one of the most beautiful Lakes I’ve seen. My mom would spend her summers here as a kid, and I can see why my grandfather chose this lake to come to. It’s a calm place, but I am talking about it of course in the winter/off-season when I went to see it a few weeks ago. There is a stillness to the water that clears all of the noise away and you slip into a sense of peace. Mountains, or rather large hills, surround the Lake, also creating a sense of smallness standing on the shores. We also had quite the sunset that day…
Things That Keep You Dreaming 
