I bought two new cameras recently. One is a new DSLR, the D750 I’ve wanted since the very first time I heard the term “full frame” and imagined maybe some day I would be good enough to justify such a large purchase. The other one was a Nikon N80 film photography body, an SLR camera released in 2000 that uses 35mm. I paid $26 for it on eBay after losing out on half a dozen other Nikon film cameras. The best part is I can use my good lenses on that cheap camera, so I can shoot at 1.4 or 1.8 and my film doesn’t all come out super dark.

I’ve been carrying both cameras around with me since they came. The D750 is everything I’ve ever dreamed of – fast, incredible in low light, super sharp, amazing with my favorite 35mm lens. It’s making me excited to shoot again, trying out how it does with all my lenses and getting used to the slight differences in button set-up from my last Nikon.

But the film camera has my heart. There is just something about that delayed gratification that makes me really treasure my film photos more than my digital. Which is funny, because even though I take the photos on film, when they’re developed and sent back to me they’re digital files. So it has less to do with the tangibility of the product and more to do with thinking of each frame as a valuable commodity – is this moment worth capturing? When I develop this roll will I want this picture on it? Does it go with all the other photos?

I’m making it sound more serious than it is. I’m trying to make sure my shots aren’t a disaster but I’ll still take a pic of the kids making funny faces or toes in the grass or someone twirling even though I’m pretty sure I will never take a twirling photo in focus. There is still SO MUCH I don’t know about film and honestly, I might never learn it all? But that’s ok. You don’t actually have to know everything about something to enjoy it. I like cooking, but I can’t make a turducken. I like knitting but still can’t do short rows. I really like money but who even knows how that stuff works?

My only goal is to be proud of my work, and thus, here is my whole first ever roll of Fuji 400H Pro (the film stock of fancy wedding photographers). I love them all, even the technically bad ones.

If you have an old film camera laying around somewhere, I am happy to answer questions that might help you start using it again!

THIS IS SUPER LATE. IT’S FROM LAST WEEK. I AM DOING THINGS IN ORDER. THERE ARE NO OUTSIDE BABIES IN THIS POST ONLY INSIDE BABIES.

But I did have a baby. You can see him on Instagram.

I’m 2 weeks behind but I’m catching up. If the baby keeps sleeping during the afternoons I’ll have the birth story next, then Fresh 48 photos, then a back to school post, and another week in iPhone photos. Send coffee and wine, BOTH OF WHICH I CAN DRINK AGAIN PRAISE JESUS. (Hahahaha as if I ever gave up coffee.)

Sunday:

Hi Linc, can I take your picture?

CHEESE FACE!

Goodbye Olympics

Monday:

Gotta catch ’em all, even if Mommy is so pregnant she can barely walk

Wiggly tooth

YEAH THAT’S RIGHT BE JEALOUS

Tuesday:

#lakelife as much as possible

Playing model is Caroline’s FAVORITE

Harkness Park is pretty

Wednesday:

Real life

Lots of this happening this week

Daddy is the only fun parent right now

Thursday:

Can you believe I even carried my chair this far?

A friend made muffins “for the kids” but I ate three of them

BEHOLD, A MOMENT OF PEACE

Friday:

The last time my mom friends and I would only have 14 kids at the lake

Beautiful curls

Evan borrowed my phone to take 300 pictures of Daddy

So that was the week that ended on August 27th. A lot has happened since then. I’ll tell you about it soon.

300 is a lot of weeks. When I started doing this, mostly as a joke, I was pregnant with Caroline. Now I’m only a couple weeks away from having a FOURTH child, which means I have documented every day of our lives through almost 6 years. Sometimes I wish I focused more on taking beautiful iPhone photos that made our lives look happier, cleaner, more photogenic than they really are. But then I look back at previous weeks and all I can think about is how nice it is to have these dumb, blurry, boring phone photos that would otherwise be deleted saved somewhere for me (and the kids) to look at. I mean, Week 3 was nothing special but looking at tiny Baby Evan is not a thing I will get tired of. I would regret it forever if I let this weekly post die now, even though doing it in a timely manner seems to be beyond me. We’ll give Baby 4 a chance to be overly photographed and documented for at least a few weeks before I think about giving it up again.

Sunday:

It’s too hot for pajamas OR covers, but Big Kids sleep in Big Kids beds

Brotherly tv watching

Or maybe he’s not a big kid, just a sweet lap nap baby

Monday:

We meet some really interesting people while hunting Pokemon

Important research

Too hot for real life so we hang out in the only room with a/c

Tuesday:

3 kids, 3 check ups, 0 cavities!

More hiding in the a/c

This only lasted 5 minutes

Wednesday:

Chair stealer

Lake life

AMAZING light for my photo session

Thursday:

Which Pokemon is that?

More air conditioned fun

There’s a rat on my daughter!

Friday:

Safety first when eating bread

Card night

Helping organize the cards

Saturday:

Good old-fashioned slip and slide fun

Watermelon stealer

SO DELICIOUS

It’s raining today, which means it’s cool enough in the house to actually BE in the house. I have big plans to Get Stuff Done – so far, some laundry, some dishes and this post are all checked off, let’s see if toy organization, finishing three photo sessions and napping happen. I feel like napping has a pretty good shot.