Mocking Bird » cherry blossoms http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:18:55 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Vancouver And The Cherry Blossoms http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2011/04/21/vancouver-and-the-cherry-blossoms/ http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2011/04/21/vancouver-and-the-cherry-blossoms/#comments Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:00:55 +0000 Amanda http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/?p=3487

I cannot help myself. Will I ever tire of shooting them? Probably not. I made a comment on twitter about how ridiculous it was that I took 14 photos of cherry blossoms on one roll of film. According to a lot of my twitter followers, I have nothing to worry about and shooting bloom after bloom this time of year is A-OK.

And with these I bid you farewell for another year, beautiful sakura.

Taken with a Yashica FX3 on Kodak Portra 400.

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]]> http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2011/04/21/vancouver-and-the-cherry-blossoms/feed/ 15 My Canopy Of Fallen Petals http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2011/04/12/my-canopy-of-fallen-petals/ http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2011/04/12/my-canopy-of-fallen-petals/#comments Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:03:51 +0000 Amanda http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/?p=3438

I wish I could sleep under a canopy of cherry blossoms,

a canopy of cherry blossoms with blue sky peeking through the gaps.

I awake with fallen petals on my eyes,

so softly, like snow,

what a warm and perfect dream.

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]]> http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2011/04/12/my-canopy-of-fallen-petals/feed/ 17 Spring, I Love You http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2010/03/05/spring-i-love-you/ http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2010/03/05/spring-i-love-you/#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:00:16 +0000 Amanda http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/?p=1368

So it doesn’t feel like Spring to my Australian bones yet, but it sure is starting to look like it, baby.

My love of cherry blossoms is for 2 reasons:

1. They only share themselves with the world for a teeny amount of time and that makes them so special.

2. They look beautiful from afar but they look just as beautiful up close.

I don’t often love my photographs but I really like this one and I do because the background looks like a painting. Look at those lines and stripes. Do you see them? I didn’t try to make that happen. It just did. Polaroid is magical like that.

Have a Spring-like weekend, unless of course your Autumn has begun and you are rummaging through the cupboards for your cardis and socks!

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]]> http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2010/03/05/spring-i-love-you/feed/ 19 Film For a Few http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2009/10/20/film-for-a-few/ http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2009/10/20/film-for-a-few/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:00:31 +0000 Amanda http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/?p=640 blossom

blossom1

blossom4

blossom3

Needing a little Spring and colour inspiration…I hope you’re enjoying it, Sydney people!

Taken in Sydney with my Yashica FX3 using Kodak Portra 160NC film.

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]]> http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2009/10/20/film-for-a-few/feed/ 2 More of the Cherry Blossoms… http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2009/08/24/more-of-the-cherry-blossoms/ http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2009/08/24/more-of-the-cherry-blossoms/#comments Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:32:04 +0000 Amanda http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/?p=506 sakura8

sakura2

Just in case you can’t find me online, I’ve joined Tumblr.

Please note sarcasm in part of that sentence.

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]]> http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2009/08/24/more-of-the-cherry-blossoms/feed/ 6 Cherry Blossom Girl http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2009/08/23/cherry-blossom-girl/ http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2009/08/23/cherry-blossom-girl/#comments Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:37:15 +0000 Amanda http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/?p=499 sakura5

The Cherry Blossom hunt began this weekend and boy oh boy, did it deliver! The Saturday morning walk proved to be very beneficial with little pockets of pink magic sprinkled all over our sunny, almost Spring streets.

This weekend was the last one in our apartment for the Canadian and me. We have lived here for 4 years and it has been our first home together, so leaving this place is done with some sadness. We started our new life together here after overcoming quite a few obstacles to be together. We can’t wait to start making new memories but for now, saying goodbye is hanging heavy in my heart.

lastglebewend

And with the new beginnings of Springtime and cherry blossoms, I feel our home is telling us that it’s OK to go. The Sydney weather is warming our backs and giving us a fond farewell as we leave to start a new adventure.

sakura4

Be warned, my Polaroid camera is not immune to the lure of the sakura, there are plenty more prettier ones to come.

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]]> http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2009/08/23/cherry-blossom-girl/feed/ 4 Sakura Hunting http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2009/08/21/sakura-hunting/ http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2009/08/21/sakura-hunting/#comments Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:11:41 +0000 Amanda http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/?p=496 blossom3

If you love photography and you love prettiness, you probably get the same rush of excitement that I do every year in the Winter into Spring change over time. Not only does that time mean sunshine, beautiful soft smells in the air and whispy breezes but it means cherry blossoms are making their special deliveries to gardens everywhere.

I have written about my fascination with sakura before. The moment cherry blossoms appear, it is a crazy race to try and photograph them as much as I can. There is such a tiny window of opportunity, especially when you live in a town where they are pretty rare to come across. As soon as I spot them, I panic and wonder where my camera is and then start mapping out my plan of attack. One must be swift and direct, one must be observant and ready to take on any dogs whose garden walls you must climb over to capture the awesomeness that is the spring blossom.

My plan of attack:

  • One neighbourhood tree has been spotted with pink blossoms, albeit in a place with not much sunlight.
  • Another has been identified on own street however it is yet to blossom- must keep close watch on that one.
  • Drive few suburbs away and take chance that random tree’s owner does not remember me from last year and have me up on blossom paparazzi charges.
  • Have blossom spies on look out all over Sydney- already received SMS texts about possible suspects on Sutherland Shire streets.

Oh and I plan on shooting Polaroids mostly this year. The thing that makes me happiest is knowing that in 6 months, I will be living in one of  the cherriest blossomiest cities on the planet, outside of Japan.

Sydneysiders, help me on my Sakura hunt! Please let me know if you spot any that are shootable. Do you have any shots you took of cherry blossoms this year? I’d love to see them.

p.s. The lovely Suzanne of SHOP.talk wrote a post about the Paper Cameras Print Store. Thanks, Suzanne!

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]]> http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2009/08/21/sakura-hunting/feed/ 11 I Heart Mail http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2009/08/20/i-heart-mail/ http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/2009/08/20/i-heart-mail/#comments Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:29:23 +0000 Amanda http://www.mocking-bird.org/blog/?p=494 susannah

In this very digital age, don’t you just love getting packages and letters in the mail? It’s one of my absolute favourite things in the world. Knowing that packages are on their way makes me a little excited and every day I arrive home in the hopes that something special is waiting for me.

Today I received some postcards I had made up to send out with my Print Store purchases and they look gorgeous! This week I also received some pretty baker’s twine curled around an old fashioned wooden spool and some filters for my Polaroid SX70.

However, the best kind of package is one sent from a friend, sent with love and care. Last week I received this little set of goodies above, along with a few others from the lovely Susannah. I have always adored her cupcake print…she must have known. Funnily, she has put up a pic of the package I sent her too. =D

When I move to Canada (in 4 weeks and 3 days! ) I plan on writing lots of letters and sending lots of packages to my family and friends. When I lived away from home for a year at uni, receiving letters was the only thing that kept me going. I can’t wait to get that little piece of home wrapped in a brown paper package.

Don’t forget that Danni of Oh, Hello Friend is running the Lovely Package Exchange and if you want some ideas and inspiration for package wrapping, have a look at the flickr group and another nice package group too!

What kind of packages do you send? Do you send them at all? Do you write letters anymore?

p.s. It is the beginning of cherry blossom season here. I am officially on the hunt! More about that tomorrow.

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