What’s In Your Kit? with Elizabeth Messina

Posted on Tuesday, February 2, 2010 by Amanda

Dream like, magical and yet like nothing you’ve seen before is how I would describe Elizabeth Messina’s wedding photography. Any girl would die happy to have Elizabeth shoot their portrait and to have her present on your wedding day would be an absolute dream.

Not only are her portraits incredible but she shoots weddings with a story telling vibe and captures all the little details with care and the perfect light. She writes the gorgeous blog, Kiss The Groom where she shares her latest wedding sessions. I can get lost on Kiss The Groom for hours and I always leave wanting to go out and buy a fancy pair of heels. She shoots the hell out of heels! Elizabeth’s stylish work can be found in many wedding and style magazines.

I was so happy when Elizabeth agreed to share her equipment with us.

MB: What is your camera of choice?

Elizabeth: Contax 645

MB: Which are your favourite lenses to work with?

Elizabeth: I always like to be close to my subject. On my Contax I prefer the 80 mm Zeiss lens. It’s perfect.

I asked Elizabeth which lenses she likes to shoot for portraits and she said she likes the 80mm mentioned above.

MB: Name a camera you just love to have fun with.

Elizabeth: I have a wonderful collection of film cameras. Some of my favourites include my Holgas, Polaroid sx70′s, Lubitel’s, the new Fuji Polaroids.

Film is so beautiful…so luminous. I love the mystery of film. Film is an intrinsic part of my style & imagery.

Thank you so much for playing Elizabeth! To hear that some of the best photographers in the business are still shooting with film makes my heart sing.

You can find Elizabeth’s work here on her portfolio site and of course at Kiss the Groom. Get thee there now to leave her fabulous comments of love.

A Little Blog Inspiration

Posted on Monday, February 1, 2010 by Amanda

Photograph by Sycamore Street Press

The lovely Victoria of SFGirlByBay and a few other clever blog ladies have been devising a plan to spread some blog love across February. The main idea is to have a collective of blog posts about what we find inspiring. As Mocking Bird is all about the inspiration and finding creativity, I thought this was a great idea.

If you’d like to play along with Blog It Forward, Victoria is sorting the details via her blog. The talented EZ of Creature Comforts has designed a lovely banner for the project.

Speaking of Creature Comforts, I’m sure many of you read her blog already, but if you haven’t seen it yet, go check it out. She has been one of my favourite bloggers for a long time and always has some great ideas for creative projects such as these Valentine’s cards.

And speaking of Valentine’s, this lovely letterpress poster shown in the picture is by Sycamore Street Press.

Come back tomorrow for another instalment in the “What’s In Your Kit?” series. Another fabulous photographer coming up!

A Polaroid A Day

Posted on Monday, February 1, 2010 by Amanda

January is usually an awesome, laid back, summery month for me but on this side of the globe I feel like making it to February was an achievement. Getting through my first Canadian winter is not easy for me and yes, I know all you Canadians who don’t live in Vancouver are probably laughing at me. And even you Vancouverites are probably laughing at me because it’s been a very mild winter, but it’s still tough coming from my end. So yes, I got through another month! Hurrah!

Apart from the titillating subject of the weather, another reason I’m happy I made it through January is that I accomplished a little creative goal. WAY back at the beginning of 2010, I thought I’d give myself a photography project (as I usually do and usually fail). My project this year is Polaroid seasoned and the aim is to share a Polaroid a day. I’m not necessarily taking one every day in 2010, I just want to share one every day for 2010. Although that kind of goal for me is far too hardcore, so I’m going month by month or until the film runs out.

I made it through January, but Hawaii helped a lot because I had A LOT to shoot. We shall see how well we go in February without much light.

I find the photography projects to be helpful and hindering. I love the idea of them, but struggle to keep my mojo going. 52 Weeks almost sent me spiralling into a trauma ward last year and I’ve done the daily photo thing in the past. The hardest part is staying motivated. Right?

However, I do believe that 2010 is going to be the year of the Polaroid, so I have high hopes for happy Pola moments this year. Onwards to another month of Polas! Have you got any inspiring, creative projects going on this year?

p.s. One exciting bit of news for me: I was contacted by a publisher in Korea and one of my photographs is being used for a book cover over there. Score.