Ashley in the west village

My lovely friend Ashley and the Contax met on a blissful Friday evening for some portrait making. The Contax enjoyed Ashley very much, especially her eyes and her hair. Killer colors, both of them.

It's funny because Ashley and I only started talking online in maybe January or February of this year but she's become my go-to person to bounce ideas off. She also calms me down when I'm flipping out (which happens almost daily) about my business and whining about various expensive things I lust after. She reminds me to breathe and carry on and gives me pep talks. She's the best. :D

We got together on Friday afternoon to take some portraits in the West Village. I must have been nervous because I literally did the dumbest things - like when the Contax was OFF, and I was freaking out that the metering wasn't showing, and then having the dark slide in position where I couldn't press the shutter... it was a rough start.

Sadly, a few of the negatives were messed up; one was beyond repair. The one processed to black and white here was also extremely botched. I did the best retouching I could and figured I'd have better luck with a high key-ish b/w processing. It just sucks that I lost quite a bit of detail in doing that.

We found a gorgeous cobblestone-lined quiet side street and had no trouble blowing through most of the roll on that street. My favorite on the roll was actually the very last shot that I haphazardly took while waiting for a cab to drive through the scene.

And just for fun (digital - I'm not quiiite ready to get the timing perfect on a jump shot with film :P.):

Portraits are rewarding but HARD. I really want to get better at more interesting poses and compositions. To me, formal portraits are still much more stressful than still life and food and it definitely does not come naturally or effortlessly. This is a challenge I'll gladly take on though.