This post is part of a blog circle that takes time each month to reflect on what life over the last month looked like for each member. Please continue on in the circle and visit the Lisa Howeler, as she shares a glimpse in to her family's life.

I can't believe it's August already!

The summer has flown by, and it's hard to believe that kids will be starting back to school soon. Summer this year has been a quite one for our household this year. Since mid-June I've been struggling with persistent pain on the upper right-side of my body. Although I've suspected for years, it was confirmed with 100% certainty that I have gallstones and a gallbladder that needs to be removed. Not feeling confident in what foods cause the pain to flare-up, and not wanting to risk a potential ER visit away from home, or for that matter emergency surgery, we have stuck close to home.

Although I'm feeling better now, between work and not feeling well, I haven't had much energy to pick my gear up and shoot. It's been frustrating; I've had so many ideas for some personal photography projects for this summer and they have all had to have been pushed to the back-burner. One "project" though seemed perfect for this time where my body has forced me to take it easy - film.

There is something about film that I absolutely love, but words fail me when it comes to describing why. I think part of it has to do with shooting film is something I do so completely for myself. Not wanting to waste a frame - I slow down so much and really think about each shot. And a silly as it will sound to some, waiting for scan day is like waiting to open presents on Christmas. I check my email far too many times the day I expect my scans and can't wait to open them and see if I was really able to capture what I saw.

Below are a few glimpses in to my everyday, from my August batch of scans.

&nbs… — Yashica Mat 124 G, Lomo 400, FIND Lab

&nbs… — Yashica Mat 124 G, Lomo 400, FIND Lab

&nbs… — Pentax 645Nii, Ektar 100, FIND Lab

&nbs… — Pentax 645Nii, Ektar 100, FIND Lab

&nbs… — Pentax 645Nii, Ektar 100, FIND Lab

For the last three years I've had a pretty strong itch that needed some scratching...an itch called FILM. In July, this beauty joined my camera arsenal.

I've had a lot of people look at me like I was crazy when I've expressed my desire to start shooting film. Many have asked "Why?!?!" It's just one of those things that's really hard to express why. Anyone love the sound of records over CD's or MP3's? Or, how about, anyone prefer handmade over mass produced? There's a quality to the product/music/photograph that you just can't duplicate (or duplicate easily). And don't get me wrong, by quality I don't mean good or bad, high or low, I just mean a difference.

Loading my first roll of film in to the camera took forever, and then trying to decide what was worthy of one of the 16 shots I had on each roll was painful. I wanted to make sure every shot counted. I slowed down, I looked at my subject from different angles, and then made a decision whether to push the shutter release button or not. My first roll of film took two trips to Chincoteague to finish. My second roll of film took about 45 minutes to shoot thanks to my awesome sister-in-law who is always willing to be a model when I'm trying some new technique or gear out!

After what felt like weeks and weeks of waiting, I finally got an email from the lab saying that my scans were ready to download. I help my breath as I downloaded everything to my computer and opened up the files. I was certain none of the frames I shot would be keepers, but I was wrong. I was over the moon to see that my patience shooting paid off, rather than one or two keepers from each roll, there were only one or two discards. There's definitely room for improvement, but for my first rolls of film shot in nearly 20 years, I'm pretty proud of myself.

Stay tuned, more film images are in the works!