Anne's Weblog

A few years ago I bought all the equipment for a dark room. I was very enthusiastic about shooting film, still am. The difference is just that now I don’t think anymore digital photography is the evil. I love shooting film and try a lot of different materials. My new favourite film is called ADOX Art, which is processed the same way as films in the 50s. That gives them high contrasts, lots of structure and just overall great images.

I love standing in the dark room and work with all the chemicals and try new methods. I like to experiment.

I haven’t been in the dark room for a long time, specifically not since I left for my big journey more than a year ago. I wanted all the time, but the problem is space. I need to use my kitchen, which is less than perfect. The problem is that I have my food and the chemicals close to each other. Even when I put away all the food before I start, it’s still odd and makes me feel uncomfortable. The constant process of setting the dark room up and clean everything afterwards and put the stuff away steals a lot of fun out of it.

That’s why I hope to find a new flat soon (well also, because I’d love to have a bathing tub and a balcony). I want to have three rooms, or two rooms and a small one, to have a permanent dark room. I want to be able to develop whenever I want without all the hassle.

Last weekend and this weekend I’ve set up the dark room and spend hours in my kitchen. I truly enjoyed it. I had good music, danced while I waited for the paper to be exposed, developed, fixed,watered, dried… What can I say? I just loved it.

Here are two pics of my kitchen after turning on the light again.

Last week my sister, her friend and I took pictures of each other for a creative present for some of our friends. I personally think the pictures are very pretty, all of them. I am alone with my opinion, though. But to give you an impression, here is the one that I chose for the present of myself.

I’ve already admitted that I LOVE the Pioneer Woman (or Ree Drummond to be precise). Her blog os truly amazing, her photography is very cool and her recipe are to die for. Now she  published her first cookbook and I – of course – bought it immediately.

I opened it and I was smitten. It contains all of the features that make her blog so special. Amazing pictures of cowboys, cows, horses, dogs… Great recipes with step by step photography.. Lots of stories about ranch life and her transformation from city girl to ranch wife.

The only thing I find a little bit sad is that there are not so many new recipes. She published mostly recipes she used for her blog before. As I looked at all and every recipes on her website, of course I know  them all. But maybe that is just me and I am a stalker. Could be true…

There is a second cookbook I love. Jaden Hair, the creator of Steamy Kitchen, published a cookbook with 101 simple asian recipes.

I haven’t cooked anything yet, but I definitely will this weekend. Especially the Shrimp Pad Thai and Mum’s Chinese Steamed Fish are on my list. I also want to try to make all these “packed” specialities, like dumplings, egg rolls, wontons. Oh, I am getting hungry!! I only had some store bought dish today, I was too lazy to cook. So it’s only understandable that I CRAVE some good food. Tomorrow, or the day after… Yum!