The Holgasnake

Carmen and I were thrown together as college roommates our freshman year. What a happy twist of fate that was: we've been best friends ever since. Remember my frolic in the poppies? That's Carm, who's also an insanely gifted and wildly creative artist and photographer. She came over last week and we had Luciana photo day. Carm's digital and film photos are gorgeous, and she's actually in the process of building a dark room so in the future I'll be showcasing some of her prints for sure. But she took one of my favorite pics of Luciana so far on her Holga:

Carm brought over that wagon, which her mom pushed her around in as a babe, along with the blocks which we're pretty sure are from the 50s--her mom played with them--and the bear is Boris, who lives in Luciana's nursery. How adorable is this picture??? I love the corners of black, like you're peeking through a keyhole, and how Luciana's happiness is made more so by the fact that you can kind of see her legs kicking in glee. This one might be a framer. I'm pretty sure it is.

Other Holga beauties Carmen's taken:

I love this vintage car slipping like a ghost through the trees

This one hangs in our house: me and Sky at our engagement party, which was a Pink Panther theme

and that's from our rehearsal dinner, which was at an old school Mexican restaurant

and this otherworldly one is downright mystical--the trees almost look like feathers

For more of Carmen's work and for her contact info, visit her website and her flickr stream, where she's known as the Holgasnake. And yes, she'll photograph your baby, wedding, or hike through the woods.