Aww geez...I feel a quote coming on...

It's late Sunday morning. I have coffee and sunshine and puppies and Otis Redding. Normally this would make me a content and rather happy girl. Instead, I crave the instant gratification that is digital photography as I countdown to Monday 1700 hour, when the first set of prints taken on my new Diana F+ camera will be ready for pick-up.

A former novelty given away at gas stations & boardwalks in the '60s (and very unexpected 29th birthday present from my husband), the toy-like Diana is made almost entirely of plastic and is stupid-simple to use. The camera's noted unpredictability, though, has taken a recent and compelling hold over me. Her fruits are often those of mishap, failure and unfortunate accident, but their dreamy blurriness and cult-worthy artistic quality leave me intrigued.

Sadly, I lack the patience to wait for the actual results of my virgin attempt. So I hosted a little self-challenge to see if I could mimic the trademark Diana elements, sans-camera, using digital pics and somewhat modest editing software.

I give you " The Diana Initiative".... (yes, I watch Lost)

Ok.....

I'm not sure I actually enjoyed that exercise. Kind of took the fun out of it. Once again I find that the short cut ended up being the long way to the wrong place.

What it boils down to: The adventure of the shoot + the suspense of production = way cooler shitty photos.

"The gratification comes in the doing, not the results." - James Dean.