2022 FAVORITES PART 2 - ISSUE 20
More fun favs from the year!
Housekeeping
Hello! There have been quite a few new people signing up to this newsletter in the last week and I want to say thank you for sharing your time with me here at Love Lucy!
Do you love music just as much as photography? Well if you do then consider signing up the memberships over on YouTube so you can watch the latest members only livestream with Lux and I sharing some of our fav records of all time. I made a playlist of our fav tracks from these records which is available here for your listening pleasure. Hit the button below to join the membership club and get some extra Lucy Lumen content in your life :)
Don’t miss out on the iconic duo that is Matt and Lucy over on the Matt Loves Cameras YouTube channel! We discuss our year in photography and find out who kicked the most goals in 2022. Lots of laughs and banter as per so definitely give this one a watch.
Fav YouTube Channel of 2022
So unless you have been living under a rock for the entirety of 2022 then I would safely assume you know about and have watched Faizal Westcott’s awesome YouTube channel!?!
I am not even really a street photography fan but boy do I look forward to the fortnightly uploads from this guy. There is not a trace of arrogance in Faizal’s presentation or demeaner and despite his HUGE growth he keeps it real and always delivers a beautifully put together video. I really enjoy the direction he has been going in, with more visual storytelling and cinematic feel to the the b roll.
His photography really inspires me to try shooting street as he seems to be all about the composition and not just reproducing the usual street shots we see so often in that genre. He also just seems like such a nice guy and the world for sure needs more of those. Keep it up Faizal, excited to see what you will do in 2023. P.S. if you are reading you should totally come on my podcast!
My Film Lab
We all know how a film lab can make or break our photography and for someone like me who isn’t going to start home devving, having a film lab that knows what they’re doing is really crucial. Pre Ikigai, my film scans were pretty average and we often ended up re editing every single scan and it just didn’t feel worth it. So we did what a lot of film shooters do and tried flat bead scanning. I have two words for you in response to that short lived period of my life - NO THANKYOU.
It wasn’t until we did a photo walk with Matt Murray of Matt Loves Cameras that we used Ikigai Film Lab in Melbourne and from that moment on it was just clear that it was worth sending away to them. The scans are the best around and as Matt Murray so rightly said to me when he recommended them on our first photo walk “it just feels like my photography got 25% better when I started using Ikigai.”
The lab aren’t just pumping out great scans though, they have also implemented a recycling initiative this year that is turning your plastic film canisters into a fun product for film shooters. How bloody cool is that!? The team at Ikigai, along with the labs that partnered have already recycled 27,000 film containers, which is a whopping 150KG of plastic that would have otherwise gone straight to landfill.
It feels really good to be supporting a lab that is supporting our future and environment and is dedicated to making a change in the industry where possible. If you’re in Australia and your lab isn’t sending their disused canisters to Ikigai HQ then tell them they should!!!
This kind of dedication to sustainability is an admirable move and a step in the right direction. I am pretty excited to see this new product that will be available soon and further support the team at Ikigai to keep developing, scanning and recycling.
In other news, I am pleased to announce that I will be partnering with the team at Ikigai film lab in 2023 to make some fun and informative content for YouTube with their kind support. Sponsorships are often integral to keeping channels and creators going, so having the support of a small business that is directly related to my entire channel is a dream come true and something I’m not only grateful for but also super excited about! Bring on 2023 and thank you to the legends over at Ikigai Film Lab.
My Favorite Photo of 2022
So if you have children you know how difficult it can be to shoot them and land focus. Even more so on film, so much so that I tend to stick with digi when capturing the little one in motion. On occasion I do try and make the most of a rare still moment in Luca’s life and fire of a few frames.
In this instance here the film gods blessed me and I nailed focus, resulting in this beautiful diptych of Luca looking playful, on the left, and on the right, sultry and ready for his modeling career. I just can’t stop looking at this set and I feel so accomplished as both a mother and a photographer having caught this moment to pop in the family album to cherish for years to come.
The Best TV Show of 2022 - Hands Down
Whilst I enjoyed watching the new and improved Wednesday Adams dance rigidly to Goo Goo Muck by The Cramps (originally done by Ronnie Cook) and I morbidly and ashamedly also enjoyed Dharma on Netflix, these two shows weren’t a patch on the HBO series The White Lotus.
I am slightly late to the party on this one, catching up on season 1 and then backing it up ASAP with the second season in the last few weeks of 2022. Wow, what a show.
I liked the first season a lot, but the second season brings so much more selfishness, lies, deceit and beauty to the table it felt like gorging on your favorite food or spending all your money in one place. Everyone in the show is kind of awful and completely self consumed but in the most appealing, humorous and likable way and that is an achievement. Each character had a relatable sense of flaw, desire and discontented state despite having seemingly everything a person could want.
The location is, to say the least, lush beyond belief and the Italian character Lucia is drop dead gorgeous. There were also some banging outfits and sunglasses on show here which is a total side note but a little extra that really kept me watching and made me a White Lotus super fan. Season 2 is by far superior so if you watched the first and you weren’t totally sold please give season two a go even if it’s just to gawk at Lucia and the beauty that is the Sicilian landscape. Bravo.
Playlist Of The Year
So to be completely honest with you, this is not a new find, it is a mainstay for me and if you want to carry on your Sicilian dream life post season 2 of White Lotus, this playlist will have you drinking spritz and making pasta in no time.
The first song features in another fav show of mine titled Master Of None, that much like White Lotus also had its best season in round two. There is a scene in Master of None where the two main characters dance in the kitchen to the first song on this playlist, which I think is quite famous, anyway it’s one of those amazing moments that you wanna recreate and it’s what lead me to this 60’s Italian playlist. You can watch the clip below and I highly recommend the show and its whole soundtrack.
So that’s it! My little man has woken up, which gives me just enough time to say thank you, subscribe if you haven’t and most importantly, MERRY CHRISTMAS!
See you next week for more ramblings and recommendations.
Love Lucy xx
This xpro shot you started the newsletter with 😳!
Awesome! 🙌