this is my favorite class

because instant photography plus middle schoolers? yes. yes, this is my kind of class. my favorite kind of class. 

twas a small but wildly enthusiastic group. they rolled right through the challenge of shooting through grey rainy weather and met peel apart film catastrophes head on. and the girl who just about drove me crazy the first day of class, the girl who would. not. stop. picking up cameras and pushing buttons shortly won me over. she was there every wednesday, ready to shoot, determined to master that land camera beast. her little hands could barely pull the film out of the compartment when we first started. every week, she struggled. but then-- then she got it. and she began to wield that thing like a pro. she became what I like to call UNSTOPPABLE.

we should also talk about how my daughter signed up, even though I told her she didn't have to, told her she could totally skip it and my feelings would not be hurt. but she decided to take the class anyway and so of course my mama heart wanted to burst into a few thousand pieces because oh my goodness her shots were beautiful. I had to refrain from saying so at least seven hundred times. maybe more.  

there will, of course, be more classes. which means more stories, more images. more kids with polaroid cameras in their hands. and for this, I am infinitely thankful.

le monde, autrement

or: the world, differently. friends, this is the theme for the upcoming tedx youth event in boulogne-billancourt and I am excited (and ridiculously, outrageously honored and humbled) to announce I'll be speaking. thanks to the lovely and amazing visionary irene nam (fellow photographer and event organizer), I'll be talking to kids about the magic of instant photography. in france. IN. FRANCE.



un quai de metro... ou la plus grande piste de danse? = a metro platform... or the world's largest dance floor?

head (and heart) exploding all over the place. more details here, more details to come.

sundays (12/52)

sunday, march the 24th (or, one month ago today): more snow than I've seen in a looooong time and my brother's beautiful chalks.

bits and pieces, every sunday. as much as I can.

tinfoil crowns

newest one from propaganda, shot and directed by my brother, nathan corrona. in love with every last second of it (eyes and ears both) but at exactly 1:06, my heart seized and by 1:27, I was crying out Lord Jesus yes.

this is real hip hop, friends. it still exists. lest there be doubters, naysayers.

p.s. I am maybe just a little bit excited about the particular location of this video and if you can tell me where this was shot (city and state) and if you are speedy about it, if you are the first one, I will probably send you a leetle prize.

instant oasis, part two

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one: best little vintage shop in palm springs. two: just outside my room at the ace. three: lovely fellow color lover, xanthe. four: packed full of impossible project film. five: the saguaro.

shutter sisters oasis, part two. more here. 

instant oasis, part one

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one: the saguaro. two: sweet audrey and the awesome bathing suit. three: back lot of the ace. four: sweet meredith. five: sweet kristin. six: more saguaro.

so, back in october, I did a little teaching at the shutter sisters oasis gathering in palm springs. the truth is that I wasn't sure I was up for it. but I went anyway and I'll tell you, it was maybe the best thing. to throw myself into something, something that had nothing to do with cancer or the planning of a funeral. to pack a few bags and plan a few workshops. to step off a plane into bone dry heat and eternal sunshine. to wander the grounds of the ace, the color hotel, the streets of palm springs. and to finally meet friends I'd connected with for so long on the internets-- kristin, xanthe, meredith (and more, so many more). all as lovely in person as you might think. as always, the folks at the impossible project went above and beyond, supplying fat stacks of film for my workshops and goodies to give away. I like those guys. I really, really like those guys. 

I would be remiss if I did not mention the hard pieces. the sleepless chunks of night when grief practically swallowed me whole. which is when I'd wander outside where there were stars, always stars. and during the day, sunshine, always sunshine. and so the grief was always there but so were these things too. 

sundays (11/52)

sunday, march the seventeenth (or, something like three weeks ago): things that belonged to my mother (special things, sacred things), red in the house (always red), my dad's sweet hand (and the class ring that won't come off), basketball on the television (always basketball on the television), her favorite cherry glasses (tiny happy vessels), mom (sweet mom, lover of cute red things).

home in illinois, first sunday I spent going through her things. not the last. 

sundays (10/52)

sunday, march the tenth (or, four weeks ago today): scenes from my very occasional part-time gig at lodekka. as in, when lovely owner erin is out of town, I happily stand in. and when the bus is quiet, the camera comes out. 

so begins the great sunday project catch up. sundays eleven, twelve, thirteen and fourteen on deck. about to flood this space with images. avert your eyes, if need be. 

overflow

four sundays to share. one, two, three, four. funny how you can really get into the habit of something and then bam. things get turned upside down and you're left to start all over again.

one, two, three, four sundays. best way to do it = all at once. so, get ready.