Fuji Instax - Be still my beating heart!

Oh Polaroid photography, what a thrill.
My memories of people using Polaroid cameras are somewhat foggy, I can remember them a little, I can see a cool artsy type in the 90s holding one up to my face telling me to smile, maybe it's a memory from a past life, but I am pretty sure it's this one.
I am no photography enthusiast, I like a pretty picture the same as the next person, if I'm feeling particularly artsy I might ramp up the 'contrast' setting on a photograph for a thumbnail on YouTube. But that is as artsy as I get with this sort of thing.
Two weekends ago, at a party I saw a big white camera that looked like a marshmallow on the counter, picking it up in curiosity the owner retrieved it and told me to 'Smile', I grabbed a pal, the owner looked through the viewfinder and there was a flash and a clunk.

Several seconds later a credit card sized photo churns out the top.

It begins white and takes a few full minutes to come through- What a dream! How exciting! What fun!

Yes I was quite enchanted by this little clunk-o-matic and I kept thinking that I might like to own one. I have a rule with shopping (usually for clothes) that if I am still thinking about a garment that I put back a week ago, then I should go back and purchase it, and if it's out of stock then our relationship was not meant to be.

These cameras however were coming up pricier than the average dress, jumper etc so I'd need to think about it a little while longer...

I was browsing through ebay and by stroke of chance a white Fuji Instax was up for auction, ending in under a day. I pondered about what to do, and whether it should be mine to have and to hold!
I thought about what my top bid should be and shortly before the auction ended I placed a bid.
To my delight, the camera was sold to me for the humble price of £30-ish
I was delighted!
Coming from ebay it was second hand, but I decided that I didn't mind too much if I didn't have a new one. (that's what a hipster would think, right?)

So here it is! All mine!

The film is not cheap, maybe £12 for 20 shots and that's the cheapest I could find. So I am quite determined not to waste a single one on 'test' shots and go all 'snappy happy'. I will just have to test and experiment with different settings as I go along. So far it seems very self explanatory, I have taken two lovely photos. The first try was with my friends and it was such a treat to take it, and we all sat waiting as it slowly, slowly developed.

The next photo is taken in front of the Coca Cola truck, I had to ask a stranger to take it and she looked a little baffled by the prospect of having to 'look' through a viewfinder in this day and age.
The photographic result is very forgiving of imperfections. The photo effect is completely and utterly charming!

I am not the cool-artsy type but I do hope that the novelty of this doesn't die and that I continue to hold it up in peoples faces and tell them to 'Smile'

Why today has been wonderfully lucky...

1.My beautiful patches from the other side of the world arrived! In an envelope covered with exotic stamps, here's a little peek of the patches!

Expect to see lots of wonderful Hello Kitty and Harajuku designs up soon, meanwhile, you can see the current treats I have for sale here:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/alexias_closettt/m.html?item=320828592214&sspagename=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649&_trksid=p4340.l2562

2. I was able to rescue my videos from my camera!

3. While editing, I saved my video for the first time once it was nearly all edited and then thirty seconds later the software crashed!

4. Some footage that wasn't importing correctly suddenly decided to import correctly once the programme had crashed.

5. My friend has leant me the book 'One day' which I'm really excited to read although I've heard mixed thoughts- some people love it, others have said it's mediocre, I'm not sure where my thoughts are on this one!

Birthdays and Camera troubles

Today I've been wrestling with my camera once again to recover lost videos that I've had recorded for some time now, I'm not going to give in and share what they are yet because I still have hope of them being edited and uploaded, but my camera at present is refusing to turn on.

After the frustrations of that I went to dinner for my friends birthday and then a group of us stayed at her house, it was fun to have a slumber party like back when we were little. I sported a cow print onesie for jammies, it was a christmas present and it came from Primark, they did all other kids of fun prints, tigers, paw prints and blue stars! I liked my cow one the best and it kept me snug because there wasn't much bedding between eight of us and it's pretty freezing in Janurary to sleep without a blanket!

Last night was a great night for inspiration as I've been waiting for a great Valentines day makeup tutorial to pop into my head and a little something came together in my thoughts yesterday so I'm looking foward to filming that and showing you guys what I've come up with!
I love taking requests so show me what you've got and I'll try and make it happen (trying to avoid the smokey eyes though, Youtube is all smoked out!)
Whatever time it is where you are, have a great rest of your day and I'll 'blog you later!'
(instead of see you later, geddit?)