Yeehaw! We made it! For the first time in a very long time, I feel not just contented, but very happy with how my year went. A foundation has been laid for a much needed renovation in my life. Warning: this post is long winded and doesn’t contain particularly exciting photographs, but I’m overdue for a personal photo dump.

The most exciting development this year was me finally quitting my management job at a big box retailer and miraculously landing my dream job - I’m back in a photo lab again! I’m really thankful and absolutely excited to grow a local small business into a creative hub for the art community here. You can check out @littlelightfilmflab on instagram for updates on some neat things we’re cooking up for the next year :-)

I’ve had a roll of our house black and white film in my contax for a couple months now; 100iso + daylight savings = disaster. I am pleasantly surprised at how forgiving it is in low light though! I didn’t care for most of the photos I took on this roll, I admittedly started shooting throwaway shots to get it done with in favor of trying out some Cinestill 800T my sister in law gifted me (thanks Marleigh!). Working in a lab makes shooting color way more accessible, and the rest of the photos in this post are me schlepping through a hoard of expired film I received from a customer at my old job a few years ago. It’s making me appreciate Fresh color film, that’s for sure.

Early in December I took a trip to Leesburg with my good friends for the Forbidden Forest Experience; While shopping around the cute historical district, we talked to someone at the bookstore who said that they had to apply to host it (the only other one at the time being in the UK) and it’s brought a lot of tourism in, which is always great to hear.

As a theme park nerd, this itched a scratch I’ve had for a long time. I have my criticisms about the execution, but I’ll forgive visible generators (how hard is it to make a rustic box encasement?!) due to the lovely experience we had with the Buckbeak animatronic, with credit to his ~handler~ (and all of the enthusiastic staff that were high energy, even though it was freezing cold).

We waited in a long line for a photo op (sprinkled with hidden owls in the trees to look out for while you wait), which involved you taking a bow in order to approach. I hung back to record my friends, and to our surprise, he had other ideas.

It’s little things like this that make me love the magic of theme parks. There’s a reason Verbolten is my favorite coaster at BGW; the ride itself isn’t as thrilling as the other big hitters, but the extravagant themeing in the queue makes for a standalone, immersive experience. I’m gonna put a pin in that before I go off the coaster rails, but I’m hoping to do a mini series dedicated to my “home” park this summer.

(Also, full disclosure, JKR is a nasty terf. I do not condone her abhorrent personal opinions, but I will not let her sully the name of a franchise that has outgrown her grasp. I support the thousands of crew members across many projects and the fans who have brought this world to life; Harry Potter will always have a very special place in my heart.)

I picked up one of these pixies in the surprisingly sparse gift shop.

The way I fangirled over seeing these reproductions!!!

PUT!!! ME!!!! DOWN!!!

Hannah had to explain any Fantastic Beasts we came across.

Luna’s shoes :-)

Our airbnb, which definitely had a Barbarian Hallway.

Unfortunately, I was testing some house film but forgot to change my iso, making the following photographs Certified God Awful.

They were closed :-(

Love to see these still up!

Here comes the aforementioned expired rolls! Some are better than others, I tried looking up DX codes to get a general manufacture date, but since I’m using it with point and shoots, it’s not like I can compensate with manual shutter speeds. It’s been a great experience shooting loosey goosey though.

Krampusnacht at Smartmouth!

Krampus asked What the Hell Is That when I handed my olympus to a stranger to snap this picture.

Rusty slingin Art

I was really grateful to be part of Hannah’s Christmas Party this year!!

Aaaaand Christmas! We still had to work around Covid, but it was really lovely being able to take part in family festivities unlike years past. Reggie got to play with a puppy pal all week long, and it was a great first Christmas for our lil baby.

As I’ve said over and over, 2022 was a huge year for me. A lot of goals I’ve written down year after year are suddenly attainable. Largely, photo projects that I’ve dragged my feet on will now hit the ground running, with focus on more mindful photographs and getting back in the swing of carefully created narrative work.

I am proud of myself and excited for what 2023 has in store!!
Very much love,
Katie

Like deja vu, I’m back with another Smartmouth event - this time at the Norfolk HQ! Dark Arts Fest was a great first impression, highlights including getting to watch a version of my dream process: wet plate photography. A traveling tintypist named Joseph Wyman was doing portraits and I’m incredibly thankful for how enthusiastic and educational he was to anyone curious enough to wander back there. The open stage space of the Norfolk HQ made photographing the music really exciting, and shout out to Shannon for always bringing in captivating musicians!!

Joseph Wyman (@josephwymanphoto) travels around the country in his van, creating a huge collection of tin type portraits.

Wet plate is what introduced me to analog photography early in high school (sally mann my love!) and it was so special to be able to watch this process up close!

@lumiereliquidva came out and put on what they  refer to as “liquid light show” - I’ve never seen anything like this and it was stunning!

I Fight Vampires, @ifightvampiresva

GULL, @gull_face, a hypnotizing one man band!

@wandcarver

Community Witch, _@communitywitch_

I’m caught up on live show editing, just in time for Holiday parties!!  I’m think I’m wanting to switch gears and focus on finishing my November black and white roll (why I thought 100 speed film during daylight savings was a good idea…) and doing test shoots for what will hopefully be my next “serious” series.

We’ll see. Till Next time!

This one’s beefy - strap in!

Smartmouth absolutely smashed Pressed Fest 2022 - a showcase of cider and local music. As per usual, I had a lovely time running around the Pilot House, and even more fun photographing the bands that performed into the night :~)

Chelsea Bakehouse’s gouda and bacon pie is fantastic, thanks for sharing one with me George!!

Jasper, Shannon, and George

Erwin, audio tech extraordinaire.

So much talent on this night! Starting off with Roberta Lea, Mark Rogers and Beth Turner.

@iamrobertalea

Mark Rogers

@bethturnermusic_

Cassidy Snider & the Wranglers came out here from Richmond and the soul-billy sound hit home. The entire band was a blast to photograph, and I hope I captured their boot-scootin energy.

The lights were turned down for The Lazy Dangers, and I will always oblige the ask to dance.

I’m finding myself having a great time photographing live music lately, and my sister in law gave me some CineStill 800T that I might try to shoot with at the next show. I have another blog post coming shortly of another fest from this past weekend, and need to process some new black and white film I’ve been experimenting with. 

I hope everyone had a safe and tasty Thanksgiving!
- Katie