You know me and my documentarian nature. While I’ve been working with the owner of Muddy’s Bake Shop, Kat, in her home to do their menu photos, I’ve been snapping photos of the “process.” I’ve also been taking photos around Kat’s home, because it inspired me both photographically and personally!

If you’ve ever been to Muddy’s, you may know that Kat considers the bake shop to be an extension of her home.  As such, I would describe her home as being “like Muddy’s, on steroids.” If steroids made decor extra cute, whimsical, and with an extra pinch of cheekiness, that is. I announced to Kat, “I’m pretending I’m doing a magazine photo shoot of your home because I love it so much.” Which I promise is far less weird than it sounds when I put it that way. But Kat’s probably pretty used to my being forward with my photography by now (“Hold on while I get my camera so I can take a picture of you in your wig!”)

Before I began my tenure at Muddy’s in 2009, I had people telling me “You have to go to Muddy’s! It’s what your bakery would look like if you had one!” It was totally true. By the same token, Kat’s home decor is in the same vein that I’d want my home to be furnished one of these days. I hope she won’t mind too terribly much that I’m sharing these with you all, as my way of paying homage to her impeccable style.

All photos taken with the lovely Yashica GT on Kodak BW400CN film. One of my favourite camera and film combinations of all time. That camera is going to get a much-deserved blog posting dedicated to it soon.

Olympus XA • Expired Fuji Super HQ 200 film • Muddy’s Menu Photo Shoot

An artist who works in buttercream and sprinkles.

Why am I talking about all this now? It was five years ago, and I wanted to commemorate the anniversary for myself by revisiting the photos from the trip and the blog I wrote once I’d returned. The written portion of Shoot with Personality didn’t exist until 2009, so I registered a WordPress url and officially had my first blog. It was my first official blogging experience.

Things to know about me and England:

• I have felt an affinity with England since my fourth grade class studied the country. This also began my career as a baker, because I made “tea cakes” for my class’s British-themed party.
• I bought myself a ticket to England as a birthday present to myself in 2006. Some people thought it was a sudden decision. It wasn’t. I had started saving for such a journey, I thought I should check plane ticket prices so I’d  know what number I was saving towards, and I found some insane deal: a round-trip ticket for a little over $500. I had $500. I picked travel dates in a way that only just qualified as being “non-arbitrary.”  I bought the tickets.
• I quit my job a week and a half before I left for England. This made people think I was making a rash decision. I wasn’t. I had been wanting to leave this job for awhile so I could move to Memphis. Once I got my plane ticket, I decided I had better work up until nearly time to leave, so I could have money to navigate “Old Blighty.” It was my exit strategy.
• If it wasn’t clear up until this point: I went to England alone. One of my friends thought it would be so boring to travel on one’s own. I explained that I actually enjoy my own company. I knew I wouldn’t mind hanging out with myself exclusively for most of my stay in Great Britain. It didn’t occur to me until after I left for England and returned that it was sort of crazy that I went so far away on my own. I came back in once piece though, so I guess it my decision wasn’t that bad!
• My main activity in England was photographing my journey. That’s probably a given, considering that it’s me, Amanda, who’s writing this. What did I pack in my camera bag for this transatlantic photo journey: some film and a few 35mm cameras. I had a good digital SLR, I just didn’t want to do digital photography in my “favourite country I’ve never been before.” Even though, as tends to happen when over 4,000 miles from home, I ran into some problems with one of my cameras, but I still wouldn’t have changed a thing. Film all the way!
• On the subject of photography: One upside to traveling alone was that I was able to spend as much time as I needed at any given point of photographic interest in order to get the photos I wanted. If I travel with others, I do my best to be considerate of those other people with whom I’m traveling. It was good to know that I wasn’t being selfish by spending so much time photographing whatever I wanted.

Five years ago today, the 22nd of November, was a pretty good one in London. It was rainy, but I got to do some great things.

I lunched with a very nice African lady I’d met at a church I visited that week.

I visited the National Gallery for a second time. It’s free, so why not??

I walked to Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey and produced some of my favorite images of London.

I ended my day by going ice skating with an American ex-pat, on an outdoor rink at the historic Somerset House. I felt like it was a once in a lifetime experience for a girl from the Mid-South in the U. S. of A.. Even if I am horrible at ice skating (or anything that involves skills of coordination!)

I’m hoping sharing this fit of nostalgia (slash dull pain in my heart) with all of you will help me get over it more quickly. It’s still my next goal in life to return to England in the next year. I continue to pour coins into my bluebird of happiness bank, so I can exchange those US coins for some British pounds sterling one day. I even held on to a five pound note from last time. I thought I could buy a cup of soup and baguette with it upon my return to the Motherland.

And, hey, maybe next time, I’ll bring someone along with me.

If happen to be interested in such things, I don’t mind if you take a look at my little “Amanda Goes to England” blog from 2006.

Today’s featured “cheap as chips” camera is the Canon Sureshot Supreme.

My mom brought this camera, as well as a Polaroid, home with her from a yard sale last month. She is always on the lookout for cheap camera equipment on my behalf! For the Sureshot Supreme and the Polaroid, she paid $3. Yes. That’s $3 for BOTH! That means the camera I’m showing you today cost $1.50. See, you can’t hate on me for getting new cameras when the deals are that good!

Shockingly, the Canon Sureshot Supreme is not a camera I had ever heard of before having it placed in my hands. That meant I had to do a little research on it. Here’s what I found out:

Some technical specifications about the Sureshot Supreme:

• 38mm/2.8 lens – For a point-and-shoot camera, that’s a FAST lens! Oh, and that lens is glass. Nice!
• Shutter speed range – 1/8 sec – 1/500 sec. I like that 1/8 end of the range!
• Auto flash – The flash is automatic, but can be forced to fire or forced to not fire. More on that later though.
• Close focusing – This camera focuses down to 1.8 feet. Seriously, dude, that is highly unusual for a camera of this ilk. It’s more usual for cameras like this to have a minimum focusing distance of 3 feet or so.
• Self-timer - Ten second self-timer, which is standard. But there is a really interesting design feature Canon added to go along with the self-timer. I’ll describe that in a second.

Oddities about this Sureshot Supreme:

• Recessed “cancel flash” button on the bottom - I don’t care for flash photography and use existing light whenever possible, so I always want the ability to turn the flash off when using a point-and-shoot camera. Usually, that is done through a flash menu or a simple on-off switch. On the Sureshot Supreme though, it’s a little more tricky. You have to shove you fingernail or something into a recessed area on the bottom of the camera in order to cancel the flash. That’s not so handy.
  
• “Rubber flash cap” – Never have I heard of such a thing in all my days. Just as I mentioned in the above paragraph, you can generally force a camera’s flash to fire through a flash menu or on-off switch. This camera, however, has an accessory that is stored on the camera’s strap which is popped into the sensor below the lens which reads the light and says tells the camera whether or not flash is needed. Basically, you trick the camera into thinking there is not enough light in the scene you’re photographing and the flash needs to brighten things up. Seriously though, why didn’t they just put a switch on the camera so you can turn the flash on and off at will?!
  
• The “tilt knob” - This is another first for me. So, what Canon has done here is decided that they want to help you make better self-portraits using the camera’s self timer. You are supposed to put the camera on a flat surface and swivel the tilt knob so the camera is pointing slightly upward at you. I guess so you don’t have to crouch down for the picture? I mean, I didn’t realize that this was a huge problem in the lives of casual photographers. Maybe it was in the 1980s when this camera was made though. Maybe back then, photography consumers needed the ability to tilt the camera “up to 16.5°” (according the the camera’s manual.)
  

Despite the great detail into which I’ve gone about the Canon Sureshot Supreme’s features and quirks, all that  matters is how the pictures turn out. And chances are, most of you just skipped forward to the photo section of this blog anyway. So here are some shots from the first couple of rolls I ran through the Sureshot. These were all shot on Fuji Superia X-tra 400, for those who like to know that sort of thing.

Best of Roll 1:

My first photo with the Sureshot Supreme. A deceased bird outside of Urban Outfitters. I figured it died from hipster overload. But I was pleased how the camera handled the shot! And is that vignetting I detect at the edges? I sure hope so!

It’s shaaaarp. And I thought the lens rendered the sky beautifully.

Lovely!

The inside of the leather case that came with the Sureshot. I LOVE when I get used camera equipment which has the previous owner’s name written or engraved on it.

Best of Roll 2:

Great old register at a local fabric and notions store in my family’s town.

I mostly wanted the focus to be on the Lego figure, and the camera mostly came through

It even works on snapshots of my niece with a chocolate bar!

Pink chair in the woods

Check out that creamy bokeh!

Srlsy. Nice bokeh, Sureshot!

Conclusion?

The Canon Sureshot Supreme is kind of an odd bird. I honestly haven’t seen any point-and-shoot like it before. Certain design features have left me scratching my head. But I really can’t complain, since the lens on the Sureshot is pretty fantastic, the camera only set me back $1.50, and auto focus point-and-shoot cameras were still in their infancy back in the mid-80s – these weird features of which I speak were probably considered totally rad innovations back then!

And I’ve had a camera stuck in her face ever since.

(Whether she’s liked it or not!)

“Why is this a stunning realization?”, you may ask. Because I hadn’t really thought about having a favorite place in Memphis, or not having one for that matter, up until this point. But on the night in question, I found myself at this particular locale in my hometown, and it dawned on me that there was no other place the city where I’d rather be.

And that place is:  Orpheum Theatre, located in downtown Memphis. So I’ll round up some of the shots I have on hand from various visits I’ve made to the theatre over the years, along with some I snapped on my most recent visit, and I’ll tell you a little about my experiences there.

Circa 2006

Allow me set the scene for you (that is to say, the circumstances surrounding the aforementioned realization):

My birthday came around a couple of weekends ago. I like to do small, meaningful things for my birthday rather than asking for a huge birthday bash (though those ain’t so bad from time to time!) The ONLY request I had for celebrating the anniversary of my birth this year was that someone accompany me to a movie showing in the Summer Movie Series at the Orpheum. In my opinion, the Summer Movie Series is the coolest thing to do in Memphis during the summer, hands down.

Much to my delight, I discovered that the movie playing on my birthday weekend was going to be Walk the Line. It was part of a series of Memphis-made films they were showing during the Summer Movie Series this year. I immediately knew who had to go see it with me: Mallory!  And – yay! -  she was available to help fulfill my one birthday wish!

Circa 2010

There is just something so special about walking down Beale Street while wearing a pretty dress, on a breezy summer evening, making your way to the resplendent [oh yeah, I just busted out that vocab word!] Orpheum Theatre. When I arrived at the theatre and stood out front waiting for Mallory’s arrival, I took in the atmosphere around me. The iconic theatre marquee, studded underneath with a zillion lights.  The people standing around, chattering before the show begins. The view down Beale Street, with its flashing neon signs. Classic Memphis sights and sounds.

Circa 2006

Stepping  into the lobby of The Orpheum is like a gateway to another era. Everything is plush! Extravagant furnishings, art deco touches, rich fabrics, chandeliers, gilded surfaces everywhere you look. I can just imagine women in mink stoles and men in their best tuxedos, sipping champagne before seeing a performance in the 1930s.

They often have special activities for the audience before the movies plays. Like this trivia contest about Johnny Cash before Walk the Line. Mallory contributed the final tie-breaker question for the contest!

But back to the night a few weeks ago – my “realization” night. Mallory and I made our way into the theatre itself. No matter how many times I walk into the Orpheum, I still get this sense of “oooh!” and “ahhh!” at the grand scale of it all. It’s just…they don’t make ‘em like this anymore.

After the trivia contest, Walk the Line started rolling and goodness did Mallory and I have a wonderful time seeing this film! The atmosphere surrounding us added so much to our experience. Not to mention, we were sitting next to this really great German family who seemed to be tourists – they were LOVING the movie and LOVING being at the Orpheum. It was both entertaining and endearing to witness their experience (though I did really wonder how people for whom English is a second language could possibly understand all those “country” accents in Walk the Line! I think I’d have needed subtitles had I been them!) Both we and the German woman I was sitting next to were freaking out when we realized that a crucial scene was actually filmed at The Orpheum. How did we not notice that when we’d seen the movie before?! It was so surreal to watch the scene on the big screen and be able to look around the room we were sitting in, recognizing that it was filmed right here.

Mallory and I left the film feeling like we were on top of the world – that feeling you get when you have the perfect night. We lingered outside, looking at the 1955 Cadillac they had sitting in front of the Orepheum in conjunction with the showing Walk the Line. Such a great feeling of “atmosphere”! I think we both would rank it as one of the best nights we’ve ever had in Memphis. It was a good night to be Memphians.

Soooooooooooo, I’d had this roll of film hanging out in a spare camera bag since 2006. Every once in awhile, I’d run across said roll of film, tossing it aside once again, figuring I’d get ’round to developing it one of these days. That was, until a few weeks ago, when I realized “There’s no time like the present!”

Of course, since these undeveloped photos were made 5 years ago, I only had faint memories as to what I might have captured on those 12 frames back then. All I knew for sure was that the camera I’d used for the photos was a beat up old Rolliecord IV TLR from the early 1950s, which I’d gotten my hands on by means I’m not at liberty to divulge at this time (so mysterious!)

The roll of film in question was my “test roll” in the Rolleicord. As a  rule, when a new (or “new to me”) camera comes into my life, I blaze through a test roll so I can see what I’m working with (or if something about the camera doesn’t work.) I’m not even particularly careful with the artistic merit of photos on this roll- it’s just for utilitarian purposes, you see. Well, I blazed through the Rollei’s test roll alright, but then didn’t take it to be developed before I began shooting other rolls with the camera. The Rollei worked pretty well, so I never bothered taking the first roll for development (see also: my Rollei shots taken and actually developed back then.)

So, what were the results of this little trip back in time? Nothing particularly earth-shaking. But I enjoyed the ability to hop in the way back machine with these photos, seeing what I’d bothered snapping when I needed to test out the Rolleicord.

Vegan cookbooks I’d just gotten in 2006. Now, that one on top has been used so much that it has fallen apart and the pages are all stained. Makes me want to order a shiny new copy of the book again!

Um, the front cap to the 1954 Plymouth Belvedere I bought when I was a teenager but never got to drive…and soda cans that were set aside for recycling. Very artistic, right???

A relic from the 2004 presidential election…I am sure I must have been going for “irony” with this photo

Okay, I kind of like this one. I see where I was going with it.

This was worth the price of admission for me. A never-before-seen photo of my niece, Little AM, when she really was little! Aged approx. 4.5 years! And she’ll be a 4th grader this year! My heart is breaking as we speak.

In conclusion, there was nothing on this forgotten roll of film that would have won me a Pulitzer if only I’d taken it to a photo lab in 2006. But, still, it was a bit of fun seeing these new-to-me photos.

Now, to hunt down any other film that might have slipped through the cracks over the years…

A couple of weeks ago, there was talk of tornadoes yet again. At one point, I looked outside and the sky was yellow. This was worrisome and downright eerie. I decided, of course, to have a little photographic walkabout.

The photo I thought best captured the color cast by the strange light that evening was this one of a chair outside the house where I live.

Yashica D TLR • Kodak Ektar Film

And I didn’t get taken away by a twister for the sake of photography that night. The TV weathermen told the city afterward that the yellow sky was a good sign, that the troublesome weather had passed for the night. Thank goodness! Thank goodness that the trouble had passed…

My niece really likes it when we spray her hair with wash-out hair coloring. She’s not allowed to do so when school is in session though. I don’t know what the actual dress code at her school says, but I’m going to take a guess that it’s something like:  “Brightly colored streaks in your hair are frowned upon in this establishment!”

Because of her school’s dress code, we try to make sure we color her hair as much as possible when she’s got a break from school.  I gave AM some cans of hair color this Spring and promised we’d start using them as soon school dismissed for summer.  I went to Mississippi so she and I could spend her first day of Summer Break together, and it happened to coincide with a little picnic her art teacher was having for AM and the other people in her private art class. AM was extra keen to have some bright color in her hair for this picnic. You know, like an artistic touch to her hairstyle in honor of her art class picnic. I just took her “little braid” and sprayed it neon green. We were pretty happy with the results.  At the class picnic, the art teacher grinned nervously and said “That’s really unusual…“

And we don’t mind that reaction at all, because AM not expressing her own sense of style is frowned upon in this establishment…

Unlikely subject matter for a photo taken in North Mississippi…