Tag: film

There’s Nothing Like Film / Part 2

Hola everyone.

How are you all doing today? I hope so far you’re having a lovely Friday and that your week has been nice. Lots of good and bad stuff happening right now, huh? On the one side, there’s the world being in literal shambles, dumb politicians and us being stuck at home, on the other one there movements finally changing the world, Taylor Swift releasing a surprise album and us finding new ways to connect. When I look at the world, I often remember what I read online about a month into quarantine – if this never happened, this version of you right now would never exist. And I see that as both something good and something bad. And it makes me wonder a lot, mostly about which version I would prefer. I think it makes you reflect on life, which I think is really important.

.

What a philosophical start, huh? But truly, I think taking a good look at the world is so important right now. Which is probably why I love photography so much, because it makes you look at the world, and in most cases in different ways. It makes you see the beauty in things that you never saw before. And now that I have this film camera, that I’ve been carrying around with me basically all the time, I see this beauty in the world in a way where I have the power to capture it in that very second that I’m taking a picture. Including the surprise of not really knowing how the picture will actually turn out. Which makes me feel a bit nervous and super excited at the same time. And it has kinda also made me love imperfection. You know, with a digital camera you can just perfect every shot, because you can change just about everything. But with a film camera, there’s only so much you can do besides just taking the picture. So when a picture turns out to be blurry, that’s just what it is. That’s how you captured that moment. And it might not be perfect in the way we know it, but it’s still that moment in a picture, so full of life and creativity, and that’s what I love about it.

.

So last week, I finally got my second roll of film developed and I’m just so happy to share the finished pictures with you all today. I haven’t been photographing with film for that long now, but it’s already been such a learning curve. I’ve been trying out different types of film for now and I think with the roll I’m currently shooting on, I think I’ll try out different stages of light, just to see how the camera really works with that. But so far every shot has been super fun and I love seeing how the pictures turn out depending on how I’m taking them in those very moments – the pictures down below were taken at home, during a holiday, when we went hiking, at all kinds of places.

.

I think compared to the first roll you can clearly see how both the type of film and me getting acclimated and more used to the camera have changed the quality of the pictures (here’s the link to my first roll of pictures). Which again is super fascinating. I’m already super excited to see how the next one’s going to turn out and I can’t wait to show the pictures to you once they’re developed. And until then I hope you enjoy the pictures down below. As always, I’d love to hear your opinions, so please don’t hesitate to leave your comments and thoughts down below. As always, I wish you all a lovely weekend and, of course, thanks for reading. x

.

There’s Nothing Like Film

Hola everyone.

Welcome back to my blog. I’m so sorry for being gone for so long, but I’ve buried myself in uni work the past two weeks and only just now had a chance to finally peek my head out a bit again. How are you guys doing? I hope you’ve had a great two weeks and are feeling well, despite this way too real horror scenario we’re still stuck in. I’m going to be honest, I’m still locked into my shitty emotional rollercoaster. One day I’m feeling super happy and calm and truly believe that everything’s going to be perfectly fine again, and the next day I feel like a piece of my soul got ripped apart and all I want to do is throw myself off a cliff. I know, this might sound a bit dramatic, but I’ve always lived in extremes and this quarantine has only enforced that even more.

.

Anyways, thanks to various new hobbies, I’ve been able to stick to the better, more fun side of the rollercoaster for most of the time. And one of those hobbies is something I’ve been wanting to get into for a pretty long time – film photography. I mean, you all know how deeply in love I am with photography in general, whether with my phone or my camera. So getting obsessed with film photography was just a natural consequence. And finally, for my birthday this year, I gave myself the greatest gift ever to give in to the obsession – a film camera, to be exact, an Olympus XA2, that I got from Depop.

.

.

So far, I’ve used up one roll of film, which I recently got developed and am super happy to share with you today. Obviously, not all the pictures are worthy enough to be hung up on a wall for everyone to see, but some of them are and to be honest, I’m really proud of that. Especially for my first try. Thankfully, actually photographing with the camera is just as much fun as seeing the results. I know that some people don’t like film, because opposed to digital cameras, you aren’t able to see the photo straight after taking it. You can’t check whether the lighting is nice or everything is in focus. Every single picture is a surprise. And yes, it might make it all a bit more stressful, because the chance of some of the pics being throwaways is pretty high, but it is also way more exciting that way. I love how you capture moments and then they’re locked into the camera until you finally get to see them weeks afterward. I think that’s actually what gives the pictures their certain nostalgic and romantic touch. I really really really love it. And so, without further ado, here are some of my favourite pictures that I took during the past weeks while being stuck in quarantine. If any of you are curious, I took all of them on a Kodak Gold film with an ISO of 200. I hope you like them just as much as I do. So, please enjoy.

.

.

And there you go guys, this is it for today’s post. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and are excited for more to come. I’ve already ordered six more rolls of film – 3x Kodak Color Plus 200 and 3x Fujicolor C200 – and I can’t wait to shoot them all and fill them with fantastic memories and beautiful moments. And then to share them with all of you. And until then, I hope you like these here. As always, please don’t hesitate to leave your thoughts and comments down below. And also recommendations and tips for the camera. I’m just at the start of the film photography learning curve and would be grateful for every tip. Besides that, I wish you all a lovely week and hope you’re doing well. And, of course, thanks for reading. x

My favourite photographers

Hola everyone.

How are you all doing today? First of all, I want to apologize for not posting anything this Monday. I won’t tell you a big, long story of why I didn’t write anything, because, in the end, it all comes down to the fact that in the past few weeks, I haven’t really been that well, emotionally. Which then caused a massive lack of motivation, inspiration and creativity. So, that’s why I didn’t post anything. I just didn’t know what to write. But I’ve been trying to get better, crawl out of the hole I’m in – or was in, hopefully – and I’m sure just writing this now will help me with that. It’s always about getting back up again, right?

.

My friend always tells me that I live in extremes. When I’m happy, I’m basically the happiest person on earth. It’s like I’m wearing pink glasses. Everything feels like I’m in a dream and high up in the clouds, far away from any worries or stress. And frankly, it’s the best feeling ever. But I can fall just as steeply and massively once I get out of my clouds. Because when I’m sad, I’m really really sad. The kind of sad where I can just break out into tears at any point, whenever I feel like it. So, I’m either extremely happy or extremely sad. With me, there simply is no in-between. And right now, I’m trying my best to push myself off the ground, out of my hole of worries and angst, so I can get back up to my clouds, where I usually spent most of my life (thank god).

.

So, yeah, that’s kind of the project right now. Thankfully, my family and friends have been trying their best to help me as well and I’ve been directing my attention more and more to the prospect of attending Sziget festival in less than two weeks and then getting my new tattoo. I honestly cannot wait to finally get there again. To see Ed and Marty and Ty and Josh and all of these other super amazing bands and artists. For a whole freaking week. Can you believe that? I’m really going to a festival, for a whole week. Seven days of pure excitement and fantastic music. I can’t wait.

.

Okay, but now enough of that. My big life story isn’t why we are all here today. No, no. Today, we’ve come together to once again celebrate the amazingness that is photography and the awesome artists behind the lenses. Last time we had the phenomenal Brad Heaton (click me) and today will be all about the one and only Will Darbyshire. Some of you, who’ve been following my blog for a long while now, will probably recognize the name from some of my previous posts. Will has always been one of my biggest inspirations and idols when it comes to photography (I’d actually do quite lots of crazy stuff to get to his level of talent) and he just continues to blow me away with every single picture. So, here’s to Will and the heavens he creates.

.

As you can probably guess, Will is a super amazing filmmaker and photographer from London. He works online predominately, posting his pictures on his website and Instagram account and making videos on YouTube, which is also how I got to know him. Basically, his videos are nothing but a short holiday trip for the mind, without you having to even leave your house, and I fell in love with him and his talent the moment I saw his channel. I think, out of all his different videos, the one about his trip to New Zealand has to be my favourite one. I could watch it over and over again and I’d still love it to pieces. And I don’t think I have to add that it always makes me want to travel to NZ as well. I mean, just look at it. How dreamy does that place look? Oh my god.

.

.

But, obviously, Will’s talent doesn’t just show through his clips. I mean, he really is a fantastic filmmaker, but his photos. Just wow. Somehow he manages to make his pictures look both super minimalistic and chill and extremely sophisticated and luxurious. In short, he takes the pictures I want to take. I simply admire his aesthetic. But I’ll just let his photos do the talking now. Please enjoy.

.

.

Obviously, I can just recommend all of you guys to check Will out. For the bookworms among you, he also wrote a book a few years ago, where he collected letters from people from all across the globe. You can probably guess that it’s absolutely beautiful and totally worth to check it out. So, I can really recommend that. And, as always, please let me know your thoughts and I wish you all a nice week and thanks for reading. x

Far From Home

Hola everyone.

Yes. The Marvel fans among you read correctly. The day has come. The day I finally set another part of my Marvel fangirl free. And how I’ve been waiting for this, oh yes. So, today guys, I’d like to discuss with you the one and only Spiderman: Far From Home trailer that not only blew me away but also confused the hell out of me. So many questions, so many possibilities. Let’s go.

.

Okay, so first of all, here’s my little warning to all of you who haven’t seen Infinity War so far (what are you even doing with your life?): this post will contain A HUGE FREAKING MASS OF SPOILERS so please continue reading at your own risk. Also, from this point on, I’m kind of presuming that you’ve all seen the movie and are kind of familiar with all the possible theories for Endgame and how our heroes will fight the dust (ba dum tsss). Mostly because going through all of them would take way too long, an eternity even, so if you aren’t part of the matter, here’s a link to my favorite post-Infinity War video by New Rockstars, that goes through all the possible ideas for Endgame – click me.

.

And now that’s off the table, let’s get to the most important part – the trailer. Here it is, for all of you who haven’t seen it or just want to watch it again, which I would totally understand, I watched it three times in a row:

.

Like I said, the trailer is damn good, let’s make that clear, but also wHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON????? Why is nobody sad? Shouldn’t they all be super depressed because half of the population recently vanished due to Thanos’ snap? Or because most of our heroes died? And why is everyone alive? Peter? Fury? And why is Happy happily flirting with Aunt May? Shouldn’t he be super sad because his boss, the man, the legend, the one and only Tony Stark aka Iron Man is either gone or still floating around in space? Which of course will never happen, because Tony is sacred and must be protected at all costs. Also, if they kill him, I’m gonna cry and sue someone. I don’t know who, but I’ll find someone. But besides that, there just has to be something wrong here. Can you smell it, guys? The secrecy and confusion in the air? I can. It’s lingering around like a perfume.

.

Okay, so, Spidey is alive. As we know from Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal, the movie is set literally a few minutes after the story of Endgame comes to an end and according to Feige “it was purposefully done like this. Like how the events of Captain America: Civil War impacted Peter as he was dropped off by Tony and expected to go back to continue his sophomore year, how the hell are the events of Infinity War and Endgame going to affect him as he, yes, goes back to his junior year?” But as we can see in the trailer, Peter is just doing fine, actually he’s acting like nothing ever happened. I mean, yes, he refuses to take his original Spidey-suite with him on his trip to Europe, so he can focus more on flirting with MJ (so cute), but that doesn’t mean much, even less when we see that May packs it for him at the end. Which again brings me to another question – where is the Iron-Spider suite? It would’ve certainly replaced the OG suite by now, I’m sure. So, again, what the hell is going on?

.

Since the trailer has been released, I’ve buried my head in YouTube and the mass of breakdown and theory videos for Endgame and Far From Home. And so far, I’ve heard enough different theories to fill a few posts with them, but for me, there are only two real possibilities:

Either the movie is set in another reality, like we’ve already seen in the new Spiderman: Into The Spider-Verse movie (which was mind-blowing, by the way), or the Avengers can go back in time in Endgame and make it so that Infinity War never happened, which would then explain why the Iron Spider suite isn’t in the trailer and why everyone is still alive and definitely not completely traumatized.

.

Of course, the second theory would also mean, that by releasing the Spiderman trailer, Marvel and Sony literally spoiled their own biggest cinematic event to date, which is Endgame, obviously. Which kind of annoys the frick out of me. I mean, I knew that there would be another Spidey movie and another Black Panther and another Guardians movie and so on, but still. As much as it hurt, I loved the ending of Infinity War. I loved how dark it had all suddenly become and how you could feel the hopelessness in the room. I loved not knowing who would actually survive and why and how. I loved the suspense. But now it’s just out there, the definite sign that Endgame will have the happiest ending ever and that everyone will survive and hippy-dippy, oh how aren’t we all happy.

.

And I don’t want that. I refuse to except it, to be honest. That’s why I’m currently hoping for the different reality explanation to be a thing. Or that Feige and Pascal simply lied to all our faces and that Far From Home is actually set right before Infinity War, which, honestly, would make the most sense, but oh well. Right now, we’ve got less than 96 days to wait until Endgame finally comes into the cinema and all of our questions will finally be answered. I honestly can’t wait. I’m not even exaggerating, I seriously have a countdown on my phone. Sorry, not sorry. That’s true dedication right there.

.

So yeah, there you go, my fellow Marvel fans and fellow readers. Those are all of my thoughts about the Spiderman: Far From Home trailer and what it could mean for Endgame and our favorite superheroes in a nutshell. As I said, I deeply love the trailer, but my head is literally stuffed with so many questions. And I honestly can’t wait for them to be finally answered. But what about you? Do you agree with my ideas or do you have other theories? Please don’t hesitate to leave your thoughts down below, I’d be so happy to read them all. And yeah, I hope you enjoyed this little post and that you’re all doing well. And, as always, I wish you all a nice week and thanks for reading. x

Why I love Marvel so much

Hola everyone.

Marvel. Oh yes. I’m letting the geek out today. Yes I am. Embrace the geek I say.

.

So, Marvel. I don’t really know where to start, but today I’d like to discuss this very important topic with you guys and tell you why I love it so freaking much. I mean, I have already reviewed Marvel movies on here, but let’s start right at beginning, shall we? The very first contact I had with the MCU (= the Marvel Cinematic Universe) was when I turned on the TV and the first Iron Man movie was playing. And without knowing anything about it all, I just watched it and oh my god, I fell for it. Since then Marvel has wrapped me around its finger. No joke. And I think this was also on free TV, so there were already other Marvel movies out too. I mean, I wasn’t late, but also not the earliest. But since then I am, I can tell you.

.

That was also the moment I became #TeamIronMan. Yes, I am in that team. I have already had quite some discussions with #TeamCap members and no argument could ever change my mind. I just think that Tony Stark is literally the coolest guy ever. I mean, yes he was quite a douche in the first movie, but if you have seen every movie, you could really see his personality develop throughout the stories. Of course I don’t want to spoil anything for you guys, but just to warn you, there might be some spoilers. Like right now. I mean, in the last movie, Captain America: Civil War, he really shows his sensitive side. I know, I’ve told you all about that (here is the link), so I’ll not repeat myself all over again.

.

So, that’s the story about my favorite Marvel character. But apart from that, the MCU means just so much more to me. I mean, I don’t read the comics, so I’m not a pro when it comes to all the different stories and details you don’t get to see in the movies, but I don’t even mind at all. Because the MCU on its own is just a big freaking amazing universe that gets me every single time I watch one of its movies. I mean, Marvel movies are the kind of films that keep me on the edge of my seat through the whole time. I remember watching Captain America: Civil War and not only that I cried, but that towards the end my whole body was tensed and shaking. And I’m not joking right now, I was indeed really shaking. And no, I wasn’t cold. I mean, how freaky is that? I was so into the story and everything was just so exciting and thrilling that I couldn’t even calm myself down anymore.

.

But what I probably love about the movies the most is how they are all connected with each other in some special ways. That means, that if you want to watch a Marvel movie and Iron Man 3 is playing right now and you’re thinking like “well, I guess I’ll just watch this one” and you do that before having seen any of the movies before, you’re basically screwed. That’s how you know that those people next to you in the cinema are true fans, because you can’t watch one of the new movies without having seen the past ones. And that’s what makes it so exciting, because throughout every story there are so many references to other movies and other stories which you really only get if you have seen this particular movie and I think that’s so cool.

.

Oh and of course Marvel basically trains their fans. I mean, we don’t just have to watch all the movies to be up-to-date. No no no no. You also have to stay until the very last second of the movie, as there are always some post-credit scenes and sometimes those few seconds are one of the most important ones of the whole movie. Sometimes they tease an upcoming movie, sometimes they show what happens to another character and so on. And that’s so funny when you’re sitting in the cinema and the lights go on and after the big post-credit scene, which comes up a few seconds after the movie has ended, all the other people just leave and you’re left with about ten other people in the room, all desperately waiting for the end to see what’s Marvels next big thing or next secret to be revealed. I always say that that’s the moment you really see who’s a die hard Marvel or MCU fan and who isn’t.

.

And last but not least, the movies themselves are just freaking mind-blowing. Every single one of them. I mean, the stories are amazing, the actors are incredible, the characters are so damn cool, even the evil guys are awesome, all the details and the performances are so well done and it just looks so real. Like, Groot, from the Guardians of the Galaxy. He’s basically a tree and he looks so damn real. That’s crazy. And somehow they always perfect the mix of both thrilling action and funny humor. Because you get this totally serious scene, people are battling, some are dying and one of the heroes comes into the shot and is about to save everything and then he suddenly runs into something or falls off or something like that. And that just lightens up the whole moment and makes you laugh, but then you get back to the action and it’s just such an amazing rollercoaster of emotions. And onto that I just love that Stan Lee, the genius of a writer that wrote all the stories, has a part in every single movie. I’m always waiting for him to show up at some point. In the last Thor movie (spoilers ahead) he was the one who cut Thor’s hair and I mean, how funny is that? I just love it.

.

So guys, there you go. That’s my love for Marvel and the MCU in a nutshell. I really have to say that I’m truly a huge fan of this incredible cinematic universe. I’m looking forward to every single movie and I love the characters and I’m already so excited for all the upcoming movies and I just love that I get to experience them all. But what about you guys? Are you also as deep in love with Marvel as I am? And who’s your favorite hero? Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment down below, I’m really curious. And until then I wish you all an amazing week and hope that you enjoyed this post. And, as always, thanks for reading. x

We are all mad here

Hola everyone.

Today I want to talk about another amazing tv show I’ve fallen in love with the past month. Bates Motel. Some of you may probably know it already, as I think there was quite a big hype about it when it came out first. To make it short first, the series is totally fascinating and you need to give it a go.

.

So, what is it about?

Does the movie title Psycho remind you of something? Exactly, it’s this classic, groundbreaking horror/thriller movie by Hitchcock. And Bates Motel is just like that, because it tells the story of how the psycho became the psycho. The one that kills his quests in his hotel. Mad, I know. The story begins with the death of Norman Bates – the psycho guy – father. Shortly after this his mum Norma (yes, really, Norman and Norma) decides to move to another city with him, White Pine Bay in Arizona, and buys a motel and a house for them. That’s why it’s called Bates Motel. After this the series basically continues to represent the madness of both Norman and his mum and their really, really strange relationship, which is quite freaky sometimes. And definitely not normal. People are going missing, guys are being killed and thrown into a lake and let’s not forget that the city lives off the sales of it’s own “secret” marihuana field. Crazy people in a crazy city. The perfect conditions for pure chaos.

.

I can’t really tell you why I started watching this show. I knew the name and saw it on Netflix and just basically gave it a go. I watched the first episode and it was clear to me that I would be binge watching this show throughout the summer. And the best part is that my parents enjoy it too, so we’re all deep in the mad story of Norma and Norman and we all love it. I especially, as I’m a huge fan of creepy stories. No wonder as I also watched every single season of American Horror Story.

.

So yeah, that’s Bates Motel. So far I’m right in the second season now and it’s so great, I can’t even describe it. Freddie Highmore is literally the best actor for this role. You look at him and you can really, clearly see the madness in his eyes. That’s what I call good acting. And let’s not forget Vera Farmiga, my lovely friend from The Conjuring. She’s the best, seriously. She embodies the character of Norma so well that we’ve all become such big fans of her acting, it’s crazy.

.

There’s literally nothing bad to say about this show. It has crazy people who do crazy stuff, a lot of secrets, mind-blowing actors, a great scenery, super weird relationships and a huge amount of surprises and twists. I really love it. And I can just recommend it to you guys. If you’re into some mad stories, this is the right aisle for you.

.

So, there you go guys. Another tv show recommendation from me to you. I hope you like it. Oh and if any of you already know the show or want to talk, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment down below. And until then I wish you all an amazing weekend and, as always, thanks for reading. x