Contax 645 – Withjulespham

Put your pinky rings up to the…Rocky Mountains!

If you’re wondering why I’m always blogging about my adventures a few weeks late, it’s because I must send my film rolls to a specialty lab in Utah, The FINDlab, to get developed and processed.

And I wait.

I patiently wait for their email with my precious scans.

It’s always worth the wait.

Especially these from my trip in Colorado.

Just a little background info: The trip was originally planned by my sister Jill, who wanted to see Bruno Mars. Our good friend, Linh (who lives near Denver) and my best friend Michelle joined in and thus our EPIC GIRLS VACAY was on! We bought concert tickets and flight tickets about 8 months in advanced. We even had coordinated outfits ready for Bruno!

Long story short, I received an email announcing Bruno Mars postponing his concert two nights before showtime!

We were SO bummed out! I’ll admit that I haven’t listened to one of his songs since.

But with a group like ours, we made the best of it.

Surely y’all know by now how much I love being outdoors. I could’ve hiked multiple times a day. Colorado is beautiful.

Lucky for us, we were in good company because Linh’s boyfriend, Justin, was basically our tour guide.

And what I love more than Mother Nature herself is the love and appreciation others have for her too.

Justin 100% has that awe and wonder for the wilderness.

Once again, I can never truly capture the beauty in front of me, but Hans and I had a fun time trying.

I only regret not getting in front of everyone more to get shots of their faces. Stopping to take photos often, I pretty much stayed behind the crew most of the time. Hence lots of “behind shots”. Ha.

Our first hike was at Eldorado Canyon Park.

If you look closely at the towering sandstone cliffs, you’ll notice light green patches. I didn’t photoshop that! It’s the growth of lichen communities, which take over a decade to grow.Cool and amazing how those Douglas firs just grow on the cliffs.
This photo was intentional to show how giant the boulders compared to us. To be fair, Michelle and Jill are “fun-size”.

Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park is next! We woke up at 5:30 am to beat the weekend crowds and won! It was freezing, but the sun came out soon enough.Blurry but what cuties!Bear Lake wasn’t really a “hike”. It was more like a casual stroll around the lake with multiple lookouts for perfect photo opportunities like the one below!Light light light. Glorious sunlight.

After Bear Lake and the warm sun, we felt good enough to hike towards Bertha Falls.

So onward we went…and no, I promise I’m not a creeper that’s always stalking her sister from behind. Hah! Like I mentioned earlier, I was caboose. Waterfalls are breathtaking, but a frozen waterfall? A whole ‘nother level!One of the great things about long drives in Denver are the scenic views. Michelle is a genius and probably had the best seat!
Later that day we explored downtown Boulder. The historic architecture was more charming than I was expecting.
I also scored a tiny treasure– 1899 antique world map that I can’t wait to hang up once I make up my mind about how to decorate our home.And I couldn’t resist this adorable home, which is The Pridehouse that supports LGBTQ communities in Boulder County.
Ended our eventful day with these pretty sunset clouds.
Okay, last full day in Colorado.

We went to Red Rocks and almost didn’t because it started to snow…I’m so happy we did.

Just scroll down. You’ll see why.

Barely anyone there.

So quiet.

So serene.

The snow and fog made it even more of a treat.

It’s like a poem.

I personally preferred my visit this time than the time before, where it was so loud and packed with people.

I promised myself that first time that one day I would experience a concert at Red Rocks. It just one of those Bucket List places.

Overwhelmed? So many photos but I had to share all of it. Hope y’all enjoyed them as much as I did taking them.

If you’ve been undecided on whether to visit Colorado or not. Just go. You won’t regret it one bit. Go anywhere there. You’ll sure to be awestruck with its beauty.

Uber thanks to Linh and Justin for being great hosts to me, Jill, and Michelle! I would totally understand if y’all never leave Broomfield. Just another great reason to come visit. Not that we would really need one!

Thanks for reading and following

along with me,

Jules.

Fall in the Great Smokies

After a wonderful night at Song Sparrow Hill, we woke up refreshed, ate breakfast, then hesitantly followed Boy and Mangus down the hill back to our car.

We didn’t want to leave! I regretted not booking a second night especially what was to follow later on that evening.

Our next stop was Max Patch Mountain in Pisgah National Forest.

The rocky and narrow winding roads were nerve-wrecking. I felt so bad for Khang’s car tires.

Oh but the views were gorgeous like the one below!

The fall colors peeked through more and more as we got higher in elevation. And so did my excitement!

Parking was ridiculous but the trail was short and pretty straight forward. And so was the steep incline hiking up! It brought back memories from Patagonia.

We were treated with 360º panoramic views!!
The colors were ahhhhmazing!!

And then we took a nap right there.

Fun fact: I can nap anywhere, anytime. Ask my family and friends.

Afterwards we walked around to enjoy the colors some more.

We also played with Hans’ self-timer and got a winning picture of us both for our Christmas card this year!

Here is another attempt at freelensing.

During my research, I read about the sunsets at Max Patch and really wanted to watch it.

But we still had about 4 hours till sun down. I was growing hungry too so we decided to hike back down to the car to eat.

The plan would be to hike back up Max Patch with all our camping gear and set up shop for the night.

Well… unfortunately, when we returned to the car, Khang realized his battery was DEAD.

It was partly my fault. When I’m excited, I tend to rush things and I rushed Khang…well you know how that works…

Fortunately for us, we had jumper cables and the owners of the car parked in front of us came back from their hike and helped jumpstart our car! Lucky stars I tell ya’!

So we drove back down the winding roads to AutoZone to have the battery checked just in case.

Car battery looked fine so…back up the mountain we drove. Khang was basically pro at this point.

And then we carried about 30 pounds of equipment/food/water/clothes back up Max Patch in time to watch the sunset.

Whew! I remember feeling so happy and relieved that we made it to our last stop for the day.

Or so we thought.

So Khang set up the tent while I took photos.

I swear my husband could be a model.

Y’all, he is NOT posing. This was him setting up while glancing at a family trying to fly a kite.

Finally, we sat in our tent eating our favorite: Salami, boursin cheese, and crackers for dinner.

And enjoyed the sunset in the old but Great Smoky Mountains.

I’ll never grow tired of Mother Nature’s beauty!

Wish I could say that was the end to an exhausting but exciting day.

It wasn’t.

Long story short, the sun took all the warmth with it and we weren’t quite prepared for the 40º temperatures. We thought we could brave the cold but it was miserable.

So at around 8, we decided to pack all our stuff, hike back down, and drove home.

We were in our warm bed by midnight.

Hey, we tried. Really really tried.

Another story for our future children. Hah!

Thanks for reading and following

along with me,

Jules.

Gena+Oliver

So here’s the thing, I’ve been trying to get more serious with photography.

Experimenting with different kinds of sessions: Portraits, couples, family, still-life, personal, etc.

And what I feel most comfortable photographing are the intimate connections and spaces between humans, animals, and things.

The connections created through love.

So I approached Gena.

Not because it looked totally fun to photograph a freakin’ horse, but because I’ve always admire Gena herself.

And her apparent love for horses.

To quote her, “It’s more than a sport, a hobby, or a pet – horses touch your soul and there’s something special about being in sync with another being & working together as a team. Nothing like it.”

She’s special.

So is her horse, Oliver.

And together, they are a remarkable duo.

What I love most in these pictures are Gena’s facial expressions-the looks of love, joy, laughter, peace-and her soft touches with Oliver.

Pay close attention to her hands in these photos.

There’s so much trust between them that some people struggle to find all their lives.

The correct term to describe Oliver’s coat is “flea-bitten grey”.

Look at how darling his ears are!

Gena, you’re beautiful.

No lie, I’ve been staring at your photos and picturing them in my head multiple times everyday since getting these scans back last week.

Can’t stop, won’t stop!

This one.

It was the last shot. I asked her to take off the floral crown because I wanted to capture the glow of her fiery hair.

Le sigh.

They both live on a farm with other horse owners and horses.

Her apartment is attached to a barn.

Y’all, she basically lives in a barn.

These photos were taken in an open field next to her.

It’s absolutely lovely there and I’ve been secretly planning on how to convince Khang to live on a farm too!

I wish I took more photos of the entire compound.

She even has a little garden of tomatoes, strawberries, green beans, and carrots, which she pulled out from the soil and gave to Oliver as a snack after our photoshoot.

That is the dream.

They were a dream to work with!

Gena and Oliver, thank you both so much for welcoming me into your home.

I hope you’ll look back on these photos as fond memories.

Thanks for reading and following along

with me,

Jules.

Life in film: Grayton

I was able to find a little time to shoot with Hans during our camping trip to Grayton a few weeks ago.

And I’m glad I did.

Got some good shots of good people in one of my favorite seaside towns.

Shot with Fuji400, but I asked the film to be scanned with Noritsu instead of Frontier.

I was going for a more “light and airy” look.

This explains the difference between the two scanners better than I can.

Can’t believe this stud is mine.& then there were these two.

Mat and Nles.

So effortless.

I told them just to act normal and do whatever.

They really did fall asleep on that hammock together.

Thanks for letting me practice on y’all!

I really love capturing love.

Just wish I could get my scans back faster. Ha.

Thanks for reading and following along

with me,

Jules.

My lovely Yang

There’s so much I could and would like to say about my best friend, Michelle, who I endearingly call “Yang”, but I’d never be able to finish.

Not only because there’s so much to tell, but also due to the fact that after basically 25+ years of knowing her she still continues to surprise me with her unwavering love.

Y’all, she is the best person I know.

Great, now there are tears in my eyes as I’m typing this.

Those who know her well or even just a little will undeniably agree with me.

One of the many things I love most about her is the love and care she shows to complete strangers.

There’s so much good in her.

And she doesn’t keep it to herself. Not at all.

If you’re fortunate enough to have encountered her…I would not need to tell you how lucky you are because you would just know right away what a beautiful and kind soul she possesses.

And when you’ve known someone since babyhood, things get nostalgic.

Our friendship has seen its ups and downs.

I remember a time when I had very unpleasant feelings towards her around our middle school years.

I confided our problems to someone close to me and that person gave me the advice to just end the friendship.

But after thinking about it, I decided our friendship was worth fighting for.

And it makes me feel so incredibly thank you that we both fought for our friendship because it has honestly gotten better and better with age.

So here we were on what felt like a typical day.

[She’s always supporting me and my crazy random ideas]

She’s my absolute favorite person to photograph. Wayyyy before I had this new fancy camera.

We drove around for almost an hour trying to find a good place to start taking photos.

It was just two best friends catching up on life.

Her shoot is how I’d like to “model” my future shoots to come.

Just two friends chatting it up and me capturing the natural beauty in front of me.

So simple and effortless.

Minus the ant-pile I stepped in. It was totally worth it though. Ha.

For those who have always seen Michelle as a “cute girl”, prepare yourselves.

Actually don’t.

You’d be wasting your time.

There’s no way to prepare yourself for this.

She’s a freakin’ unicorn.

Shot with Portra 800

Those to die for cheekbones.Shot with Fuji400, which is becoming my favorite stock so far. Shot with Portra 160Shot with Ektar 100

I changed these last shots to black and white because the stock and exposure I used made her skin splotchy and there was a little blur. All my fault. Not hers!

I also think the BW makes the photos more powerful and do justice to her expressions.

I love you so much, Yang.

Thank you for being … you.

You’ll never understand just how grateful I am to have you in my life.

I’m still surprised myself how you make me feel.

Last weekend, Ngoc told me a sweet story about you during your CCD days and it made me choke up with emotion.

You’re the best.

Never forget.

Thanks for reading and following along,

with me

Jules.

Oh and by the way, none of these photos were edited by me.

Processed and scanned with FIND lab.