In which there’s film!

I follow a bunch of photography folk on bsky, because not only are cameras cool, posts about enjoying analog hobbies are much more nourishing than the goddamn inescapable political doomscroll. (At this point, if I could not know about DOGE or P25 or this idiotic venal disgusting fucking war, or, indeed, about 98% of anything the current administration is doing or saying, it’d fucking great, even if lacking in civic responsibility.)

So anyway, the photog group I interact with most is called Shitty Camera Challenge. (A shitty camera is one that’s instant, disposable, Soviet commie, rangefinder, fixed focus, low res digital, or in general mass produced and mediocre: basically my whole camera collection.) Every so often a challenge is announced and then people post pics that meet the parameters, which are generally along the lines of ‘use a shitty camera to shoot instant’ or ‘use a shitty camera to shoot black & white’ and it’s really very nice.

Anyway, a member—who lives in Hong Kong, and knows the Camera Film Photo people who released it—decided he wanted to help create some buzz around a film called Kikipan, so he bought a bunch and did a giveaway!

Four cameras on the kitchen table.

Kikipan, named after a Kiki the cat, is a grainy black & white film that comes in a box covered in cat graphics (so naturally people take a lot of pictures of cats with this film). The only string attached was that recipients were asked to agree to post at least one photo taken with the film, and even I should be able to produce at least one good shot off of three rolls!

After chatting with another woman who received this film, I think I’ll shoot a roll through each of my 35mm cameras: the brick, the Yashica my dad repaired for me last year, and the Minolta from my uncle Gale.

Just a cool thing.

I haven’t purged my closet in so long I can’t remember, and have far too many clothes I don’t fit or wear. So far I’m about a third of the way through a thorough sort, and am looking forward to being able to find things again. I’ve already found four items I hadn’t seen in so long I’d forgotten they even existed (but which still fit and are still wanted), which is functionally like getting something new, and dumped a whole bagful of stuff I haven’t worn since we’ve lived in this house.

It will be particularly useful to get rid of all the non-viable socks and underwear stuffed into the drawers. Some socks I’ll mend, but most aren’t worth the effort, so there’s no damn reason to keep them. The last couple times I went to grab a pair of socks I couldn’t find anything because it’s all shit that needs thrown away.

Went to Home Depot today and got tomato and herb starts! Whoo!