Bruges

Bruges, Belgium. May 2012

Hally Baby

Here's the first roll of photos from my new/old Halina 35x. I ended up having to rip out half the roll, since I was a technotard and loaded it wrongly the first time round.

Padded Camera Bag

Finally got off my arse and made myself a little padded bag so I can bring my cameras out and not worry too much about them getting knocked about. 'Professional' photogs will be aghast to find out that I've so far been carrying my 'gear' in filmsy little canvas totes bags, or perhaps even worse, stuffed into a pocket. Yes, even my SLR!

I did think about getting a camera bag/case a while back, but I simply could not grow to love those bulky, flashy 'look-at-me-indulging-in-gearfaggotry' type Crumpler bags. They're just so...acrylic! So I held off, searched around unsuccessfully in op-shops, and then finally said to myself: 'Hang on a minute, I have a sewing machine, I have piles of fabric, I can do this!' 

So I did, and I glad to say that it came out pretty much the way I envisioned it in my head. Which isn't always the case when you're working without a pattern, and adding details willy-nilly. Most of my materials came from my stash, except for the padding, which I spent all of £0.99 on. Extravagant, I know! It was a little pink fleece baby blanket from the 99p Shop down the hill, cut up into appropriate sizes than machine-quilted onto the green lining fabric to secure it. 

And...lots of pockets. Inside and out. I also added two strips of elastic, stitching them to the lining at  intervals of about 1 inch, to hold film, lipsticks and other essentials. The strap came from a huge roll of cotton webbing that I got from an op-shop ages ago for £1.

Here it in, in action, with my Halina 35x hanging round my neck on two strips of green cotton bias binding. So profesh...

Found

Some second-hand goodies I picked up recently.

Awesome Halina 35x in fairly decent condition except for a little ding on the metal bit near the lens. I've run a roll of film through it to test it out, and should get it back tomorrow. It was attached to a leather case which was falling apart and missing the front flap, so I'm working on making a little padded bag to ferry it around safely.

Some awesome tea and biscuit tins. The bus-themed tin is a recent Marks and Spencers biscuit tin, and the bottom two are much older, the one on the right is a Twinings tea tin. They both contained a heap of old buttons, beads, and a crochet hook, so it was a double score!

Blue polyester cardi from the £1 rail that was in perfect condition and looked virtually unworn, and a white faux-fur scarf that actually fastens with a magnetic clasp. 

A mega-ton of old photographs, including a photo album that isn't pictured here, and some mini Swiss postcards.. I'm gonna try and scan them all in so you guys can enjoy them too. Most of them were still in their original paper envelopes, from Boots! Their photo packing was so much nicer back then. That little photo of the father and son (I assume?) at the top right corner makes me a little sad. Also, don't you think the son looks a little like Michael Cera?

Speaking of old-school packaging, I also ended up scoring a beauteous Avon pressed glass jar. The top looks like metal but is actually a type of plastic coated in silver paint. It's only little, but surprisingly heavy for its size. I'd probably be more tempted to purchase Avon potions and lotions if they still came in such pretty jars.