Dear PENpals,

One minor way the pandemic unfortunately got me was that it hit just as I was really falling back in love with photography again. Also going to the library. The library will have to wait a little while longer, but photography's coming roaring back now.

I wrote about why, if you've fallen out of love with photography, shooting film might bring back that loving feeling.

https://little.zachphillips.blog/2021/05/01/falling-back-in.html

Zach Phillips (100/100 posts) @zachphillips

I can't tell you how nice it has been to fall back in love with photography after getting pretty numbed out through many years doing it professionally. I would urge anyone in the same boat to seriously consider taking another look at film photography. 👇

May 1st 2021

10 Likes

Otherwise, this week was absolutely exhausting, and I'll leave it at that.

This PEN will be a short one full of freshly developed photographs.

This Week's Posts

I made fun of a company that I've never been fair to, is actually an amazing company, and I really have no right no make fun of them, but I did.

https://little.zachphillips.blog/2021/04/25/blackmagic-design-brand.html

Zach Phillips (100/100 posts) @zachphillips

Blackmagic Design is a company that I've always made fun of, usually unfairly. They're, frankly, amazing, and they've made incredible cameras and color science and color grading tools available at price points that are insane. But their brand photography though… 👇

April 26th 2021

1 Like

I wrote about what most tools for thought get wrong right out of the gate.

https://little.zachphillips.blog/2021/04/26/better-thinking-through.html

Zach Phillips (100/100 posts) @zachphillips

I joined @beauhaan’s Roam Book Club because even though I read @soenke_ahrens’s book back in early 2019, the way I tried to implement a Zettelkasten was truly cockamamie and insane. I’m really enjoying Beau’s writing prompts so far. Today’s thread is from today’s prompt. 👇

April 27th 2021

1 Retweet3 Likes

I wrote about a way to think about notetaking that removes some of the unnecessary anxiety.

https://little.zachphillips.blog/2021/04/27/capturing-fleeting-thoughts.html

Zach Phillips (100/100 posts) @zachphillips

Today's Fleeting Notes prompt from @beauhaan has me all Buddhist-out. "Capturing" is itself an illusion. All expression in the embodied world is simply editing, pulling small snippets of the expansive whole and showing it back to itself. 👇

April 27th 2021

2 Retweets9 Likes

I wrote about some of the tricky things about losing a mother when you're 5.

https://little.zachphillips.blog/2021/04/28/losing-a-mother.html

Zach Phillips (100/100 posts) @zachphillips

My mom died when I was 5 years old (33 years ago). I think I'm doing okay with it but it's hard to know. It's a tricky age to have that happen. 👇

April 28th 2021

8 Likes

I’ve been in a weird mood, sorry if it becomes unbearable. I wrote about how much I love storms.

https://little.zachphillips.blog/2021/04/29/i-love-storms.html

Zach Phillips (100/100 posts) @zachphillips

It just stormed really hard here in Philadelphia for like 5 minutes. I love storms. Particularly when I feel like I can just be _in_ them, experience them fully, from a place of relative safety. 👇

April 30th 2021

3 Likes

I wrote about something I’ve gotten wrong over the years about creative tools and workflows.

https://little.zachphillips.blog/2021/04/30/the-alarm-clock.html

Zach Phillips (100/100 posts) @zachphillips

For years, I tried to use workflows, software (and people) to get me to do things that, for whatever reason, I wasn’t doing. I thought they could act as an alarm clock for Important Work. I wasn’t wrong, but there’s something important I failed to notice about an alarm clock. 👇

April 30th 2021

10 Likes

Loading some film on my own reels for the first time and getting ready to put them in the tank.

Much love, PENpals,

Zach