JPG Magazine: Photos: "For Nicole" by Paul Lavallee

For Nicole

By Paul Lavallee

On 14 February 2008

Favorited 122 Times

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Nicole Gesmondi is much more than just a favorite photographer of mine. I have saved the most important dedication for last (and timed it perfectly for Valentine's Day). When we met, I was a wanna-be photographer who had some cool photos only because I have seen every cool location in the U.S. Now because of her, I know much more about color and composition and thanks to her I have a plastic film camera obsession.

I actually enjoy being her assistant at weddings, helping her develop her website, and growing her photography business. She is a lot of fun to work with and go shooting with. She also doesn't mind that I have never bought her any jewelry, prefering to get her cameras, lenses, flashes, or film for aniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, and even Valentine's Day.

Abandoned bumper cars at the Enchanted Forest, a former kiddie amusement park in Hope Valley, RI. Nicole has a much cooler shot of these on her website from one of our first dates.

You can purchase selected photos of mine at mylatehope.imagekind.com.

Created using my Holga 120CFN with Fuji NPZ 800 film. Negative scanned with my Epson v700 Perfection scanner. No digital manipulation used!

In the story Inspirations and the story Are Child's Eyes Made of Plastic?.

46 Responses

On 14 February 2008 Penny Nannini said:
What a sweet valentine!
On 14 February 2008 Brittany Biel said:
i love this photo!!!
On 14 February 2008 Alexis Gerard gave props:
And a great picture too!
On 14 February 2008 Torild Hoyland said:
This shot is so great...!....all the different greens, cars and trees, and I like the crop here, too.
(And also: Thanks for bringing me, through your dedications, all those photographers, that I did not know of, since I've just started on this site.)
Torild
On 14 February 2008 Paul Collins gave props:
This has a great "oddity" to it. Nice composition too!
On 14 February 2008 Nicole Gesmondi gave props:
Awww... ::blushes:: Thats right, I am the one who got you obsessed and don't you forget it! :-P
On 14 February 2008 Howard Seelig gave props:
Holga shots are the best. I need to use mine more.
On 14 February 2008 rory cobbe gave props:
just brilliant, you spend so much time eulogising others work when your own is very special indeed.
On 14 February 2008 Daniel Go gave props:
This is awesome!
On 15 February 2008 Frederic Frognier gave props:
So cool. Where did u find those?
On 15 February 2008 Rachel McKinnie gave props:
What a perfectly sweet valentine to your lady. Hope you 2 had a great one.
On 16 February 2008 Steven Goranitis gave props:
Awesome photo! I'd love to explore that place, we have nothing kije that in Aus :(
On 16 February 2008 Jimmy Tomzak gave props:
what a great find!
On 16 February 2008 Chris Whitney said:
Paul-this one gives me a great feeling of nostalgia-one of my favorite amusement rides of years gone by.
On 18 February 2008 maria tizon gave props:
So sweet. Both your dedication and this shot. I love the colors and the leaves gathered around.
On 18 February 2008 Joshua Blankman gave props:
This is an awesome shot! I love the look of this.
On 19 February 2008 lucyna b. said:
funny :)
On 20 February 2008 Becky Cote said:
You and Nicole have to be my favorite contacts on this site...I love all of your work and hope someday to meet you and just sit in a coffee shop and talk about plastic cameras and film...
On 22 February 2008 D B said:
Love it! :-)
On 25 February 2008 William Foley (Kreddible Trout) gave props:
awesome shot
On 26 February 2008 Rhian Syahzana gave props:
Cool
On 26 February 2008 Nelson Campbell gave props:
Cool spooky shot!
On 26 February 2008 Bryan Jozefowicz gave props:
This is so great, love it!!
On 3 March 2008 Jim Robertson gave props:
Sweet find, Paul!
On 10 March 2008 Adrian Rodriguez gave props:
Awesome Capture.........You need to submit this to Human Impact
On 11 March 2008 Jessica Hollenback said:
What a wonderful find for a photographer (location)! And I agree with Adrian Rodriguez, this would be a great pic for Human Impact.
On 12 March 2008 Michael George gave props:
Strange, but nice
On 17 March 2008 Belinda Berglof said:
loving it!!!! i wanna go play there!
On 18 March 2008 shomil shah gave props:
wow, seems like i stepped through the mirror and entered some alice in 'amusement' land!
On 27 March 2008 Toby Caughron gave props:
this photo is a trip!
On 27 March 2008 Gina Mantegna gave props:
Magnific situation :)
On 31 March 2008 Wesley Furgiuele said:
I immediately thought: well, that's weird. Then I read the description and yeah, it's still weird. Wonderfully so.
On 2 April 2008 Bransen Samuelsen gave props:
haha what kind of maniac abandons bumper cars?! what a great shot though. kind of eerie
On 12 April 2008 Aubrey Collins gave props:
Surreal
On 17 April 2008 Robert Echavarria gave props:
great find! :D
On 18 April 2008 John Linton gave props:
Brings back memories of Rocky Point.
On 29 April 2008 irene grazi said:
meravigliosa!!!!
On 13 May 2008 Christopher Robleski said:
sweet jesus this is awesome...
On 14 May 2008 Eric Hart said:
Wow, what a strange and wonderful place. And a great photograph, too!
On 16 May 2008 Rachel McKinnie gave props:
Dude! If only I could vote a HELL YEAH!!! for this story to be published.
On 17 May 2008 Chris Whitney said:
Great story Paul. It reminds me of growing up on the East Coast and our trips to the Atlantic City boardwalk. Years later those amusement piers looked so much different.
On 31 May 2008 Lee Rees gave props:
great capture, and great story. nice one!!
On 1 June 2008 Céline gave props:
amazing catch, surreal
On 4 June 2008 Steve Hogle said:
Superb paul!
On 16 June 2008 Morgan Courtney gave props:
I love old amusement parks! If you're in Ohio any time soon contact me and I'll send you directions to an awesome old one in Northern Ohio. It was recently purchased by developers so i don't think it will be there much longer.
On 24 July 2008 William Banks gave props:
This is an awesome shot!