Recently (within the past year or so) the discount grocer, ALDI has made its way across the USA and finally into Dallas. Their website is a little misleading as it states that the first ALDI opened in Iowa in the 60s but I think their origins lie across the ocean. I first encountered this friendly store in Germany as it, and competitor REWE, make up the two largest grocery suppliers in Germany.

Not too long ago, I was on a business trip near Memphis and was astonished to see this little store on the highway. We went in and the experience brought back fond memories as it was nearly identical to the German store. The biggest difference was in the parking lot, in that it had one. But we are in America and American love their cars. Anyway, ALDI has now flooded the greater DFW area with a staggering 29 stores! And they have an interesting style. All their items are set on the sales floor straight from the delivery truck – pallet and all. Also, there are no prep areas or fancy displays – just huge aisles, two walls of refrigerated shelving and one long refrigerated bunker. And, if you want a shopping cart, you insert a quarter into the cart to release it from a storage area. After you’ve shopped and loaded your groceries into your car, you take the cart back, re-lock it and your quarter pops out. Imagine the company’s savings on staffing… and your car’s joy at no shopping cart dings!

One other thing I noticed is their graphically pleasing weekly circulars. When I think of a common retailer circular in the newspaper, I immediately think of the ugly, messy and chaotic smash of colors and dollar signs all competing for my attention. With ALDI, their circular is a breath of fresh air. Clean lines, excellent photography and an appealing color scheme all make me want to shop there even more. I counted and ALDI displays 37 items while the competitor (shown below) has 45. There is less, but I actually looked through and considered each ALDI item after throwing the other in the recycling. I can’t be the only one.

And the commoner:

95% of the food ALDI carries is under their own brand. The manager at our local store informed me that nearly all the food is actually the name-brand food, just under the ALDI name… and packaged in Illinois. Apparently many stores do this – they may not have the infrastructure to produce a certain item so they pay someone else but receive permission to sell it under a different label. For example, Target’s “Archer Farms” or HEB’s “Hill County Fair” or Walmart’s “GreatValue”. All of these are really just Kellogg or General Mills or Tyson. It at least made T and I a little more at ease at eating food packaged under such unfamiliar titles. The store doesn’t carry too many specialty items, or more of one kind of item. They have a lot of pre-packaged foods and frozen foods which is great for most things. So, welcome to Dallas, ALDI. You are on your way to saving us a lot of drive time and money!

Top images from ALDI website.

On our Colorado trip, T and I took advantage of the views (and cool weather) with my new Polaroid 600. We got some terrific shots of the Rockies. What is also interesting is that the film is temperamental and changes over time. What you see here, over a month after the film was exposed, is very different than what was first shot. I wish I had recorded this better. Now, there is more texture, some of the fading has increased and the Texas heat has turned them all a little more orange. But that is just part of the fun. These are also among the first few batches of film made by the Impossible Project, so they were still getting all the bugs worked out.

Arriving on my desk today was a box full of new B/W film. This set is supposedly more advanced in it’s makeup and will be more resilient to light and temperature. AND … I also ordered … wait for it … C O L O R film ! (!!) Yes, the nice and dedicated people in the Netherlands have mastered the chemicals to bring the first newly released color film made for Polaroid instant exposure. This is pretty big. Look forward to seeing more of that later. Until then, enjoy the first batch of Polaroids shot in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Okay. It’s been two long weeks of limited down time and I have finally a chance to come up for air. Here are a few pictures of our road trip up to Rocky Mountain National Park. This was the first leg of our journey: from Dallas, through Vernon and Amarillo, through a back-roads beautiful ride in New Mexico and finally up into Colorado in the dark. We were mostly leisurely on our way – stopping here and there – to see what we could see. The trip was more enjoyable with these breaks. I’ll post a more detailed commentary soon. For now, please enjoy the beautiful outback of the United States.

Forgive me for my pause in posting lately. It has been busy around here. I am finally learning Autodesk Revit in the form of a night course at UTA all this week and next. Also, I am preparing for the GRE I am taking on Saturday. Thus it has been nothing but work, class, studying and sleeping.

So here is one image from our great vacation to Colorado. More to come later.

As part of my new obsession with vintage and nostalgic-esque photography, I have recently acquired (read: purchased on a whim on eBay) a Polaroid instant camera. It all happened pretty fast. I was reading about the comeback of Polaroid instant film. You see, in 2008, much to the dismay of hippie photographers everywhere, Polaroid decided to stop the production of all instant film. Something about losing money. And that competing cameras can shoot thousands of images instantly for nearly no cost compared to the $1-3 a pop per Polaroid instant image. Well a large population of those angry enthusiasts rounded up enough money to reopen a production factory in the Netherlands. And after nearly two years of work, and a terrific re-brand (see original packaging in case you forgot), they were able to once again offer the lifeblood to those old garage-sale plastic rejects. They call themselves the “Impossible Project.”

Anyway, after reading about the ability to once again purchase film, I began wondering just how much these ancient photo-capturing devices would cost nowadays. I was surprised to see the first one selling for just $20. In fact, now is really the time to buy. That is, if you can’t find one in your parent’s attic. So I thought, “Why not?” And since there were only 3 minutes left in the bid, I hurriedly clicked the “Buy It Now” button. I anxiously entered my account information and without thinking I had actually verified my decision to buy, the bid had closed and it was mine! Hooray!

Very soon after this excitement, it occurred to me that the select film now on sale would maybe not be compatible with my new camera. Scrolling back through the IP’s website I was relieved to see that my new Polaroid CloseUP 600 Instant Camera was indeed supported. Happy day.

I then completed the eBay transaction, purchased three packs of the PX600 Silver Shade, and waited for both packages to be delivered. As of now, only one type of film is being produced for select camera models. The “Silver Shade” name is just as it sounds – monochromatic prints, mostly of the black/white variety, with color film to be available later this summer (!!).

Only days before our upcoming vacation (post soon to come), I received both items!

The film did not disappoint. It is expensive. Not too much more pricey than the original film, but you have to realize what you are getting into. It’s the instantaneous and tangible quality of this form of photography that is so appealing. No having to deal with image editing, selecting, sending and printing, or darkroom-developing… You just push the button and the image spits out. You are forced to really think about each and every shot.

After carefully pulling the perforated ribbon, sliding out the inner box and removing the seal, the plastic film cartridge finally revealed itself. It is constructed almost exactly as the previous generation’s cartridge, but with an extra designer touch: one of sixty-one specialty darkslides on top. This slide pops out upon closing the camera after inserting the new film cartridge and can be used as a shield from light for each take.

So there you have it. A new life given to an old classic.

One of my favorite things is flying.

There is nothing more incredible than being way up high above the clouds, soaring along with hundreds of other people in an air bus. While air travel may not be the most convenient of processes – expensive ticketing (are there no young-people/student discounts out there!?), demoralization at security, time it takes to actually leave the tarmac, waiting for luggage – I always feel as giddy as a five-year old when the engines come on full-blast and I wave goodbye to whatever city is now beneath me.

ironic: the image number for the photo above is no. 737, which happens to be the model whose wing you see there.