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April Rocha Happenings Holgaroid Photography Project Polaroid Film Through the Viewfinder Toy Camera TTV Why I Love Film

Ace Hotel & Swim Club – Palm Springs


My good friend and fellow photographer, Laurie Bailey, came back from this hotel a couple of weeks ago and told me immediately that I had to go there myself. I went to their website and I was hooked!

The Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs was a former Howard Johnson that had fallen into disrepair. It reopened as the Ace Hotel & Swim Club in February of this year.

I don’t consider myself the queen of hip but I immediately felt at home in this hotel — from the record player in your room, the vintage-looking bikes you can ride and the old GMC van near the swimming pool (I looked for a choke inside the van but alas there wasn’t one, my Dad’s 1969 Ford van had one).


When you hang out in the pool or eat in their great restaurant you hear Bill Withers, Johhny Cash and Nick Drake over their sound system. There is also a real and I mean real photo booth in their lobby (which I went a little crazy with since it takes credit cards). I mean you just can’t beat it.

I asked hotel management if I could photograph their hotel and they immediately said yes. So I brought every camera I own and every type of film I had in my fridge and shot away. I even shot a roll of (don’t freak out people)……Kodachrome film and used a pack of my very precious Polaroid Viva Type 80 film with my Holgaroid.

I will definitely be going back there some time this summer to shoot more.

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April Rocha Happenings kudos Paper Goods Santa Monica Through the Viewfinder TTV

A Little Piece of Home is Featured on Kolo’s Blog

Kolo Albums was nice enough to feature my A Little Piece of Home book in their very own blog, The Koloist, today.

Click here to read the blog entry.

The response to this book has been tremendous.

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April Rocha Happenings Etsy Paper Goods Santa Monica Through the Viewfinder TTV

A Little Piece of Home






Last month I gave you sneak peek of something I was working on. Well it’s finally finished.

Question: Don’t you wish you could always have with you a little piece of home?

With this customized small journal you can.

Santa Monica, my hometown, has many iconic landmarks and I’ve included some of them in this lovely journal.

The Santa Monica Carousel and Ferris Wheel
Station 26 Lifeguard station
Vintage postcards of Santa Monica
A vintage map of Santa Monica from 1940
A glassine envelope where you can add a Santa Monica bus token or some other trinket

The rest of it is for YOU to fill out yourself with what you consider to be your personal little pieces of home.

Size of book – 5×5″ x 3.6″
Each book has two inserts – photo sleeves (one sleeve filled with an image of the carousel building) and
a blank journal insert which includes a glassine envelope to put a little trinket in (Santa Monica Blue Bus token, perhaps?)

There is also a pocket in the back of the book.

This item would also make a great gift.

On sale now on my Etsy site. Click here for more information.

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Paper Goods Through the Viewfinder TTV

Free Shipping on All Note Cards through the end of June

FREE SHIPPING on all of my note cards (both blank and happy birthday) in my Etsy shop through the end of June.

Custom card orders with one of my fine art images also accepted.

Click here to order.

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Adorable Animals April Rocha Happenings

Introducing Ruby & Flynn

I got my own place in 1993 and in April of 1994 I felt confident enough, and independent enough, to get two kittens, Montgomery and Zoe. They were part of my life for 12 and 14 years, respectively, and had wonderful lives with me.

After being, as I call it, “critterless” for almost a year, I felt a good remedy for all of my personal and business woes would be some kittens. I picked them out at the Santa Monica Animal Shelter and they became mine last week. Ruby and Flynn make me smile, laugh and love and as you can imagine have become my new favorite subjects to photograph. If only they stayed this little.

I feel grateful and honored to have them in my life.

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April Rocha Happenings awards kudos Why I Love Film

Artists’ Reception at the Annenberg Beach House is Scheduled for May 14


The Artists’ Reception for Beach Stories at the Annenberg Beach House has been scheduled for Thursday, May 14 from 6-8 pm. One of my photographs is in the exhibit (through September 21).

Click here to view my other entry about the exhibit.

I’m really looking forward to the reception and for my friends to see the new space.

I found in my vintage postcard collection two postcards that showcase the Marion Davies Estate (which is now the Beach House). The only building remaining is the guest house on the north side of the estate.

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Why I Love Film

Kodak’s New Ektacolor Film


When I went to the WPPI convention in Las Vegas in February I picked up a couple of free rolls of the new Ektacolor film at the Kodak booth.

I finally got to try it out at my photo shoot at Silver Lake Farms and was really impressed with it. It’s the finest grain color negative film on the market and is wonderful to use on subjects such as nature and outdoor photography.

I was pleased to recently learn that they have just released a 120 version of the film as well.

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April Rocha Happenings Etsy Photography Project Polaroid Film Why I Love Film

I’m Going to be Announcing Something Very Exciting in the Next Few Days

Yes, this blog entry is a teaser to something very, very big that I’m going to be doing. It is something that is going to involve all of YOU.

Check the blog again in the next couple of days for more details.

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April Rocha Happenings Etsy Through the Viewfinder TTV

My Adventure at the Paramour Estate











Some busts I encountered along the way to the flowers




The base of the statue


Part of the statue from the now empty pond on the estate


The back gate to the estate.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I’m a magazine junkie. The number of magazines I subscribe to is in the double digits.

One of the magazines I enjoy is C Magazine and a few months ago I came across a little feature on Silver Lake Farms. I contacted them and asked if I could shoot their farm and they agreed.

Little did I know that one of their farms is situated on the Paramour Estate. The estate’s owner, Dana Hollister, offered some of her land to the Farm to grow flowers and vegetables. The minute I got to the back gate of the estate I knew this would my kind of place — old, a little mysterious and filled with character.

The Paramour Estate was originally built for silent screen star Antonio Moreno and his wife and oil heiress, Daisy Canfield Danziger and was eventually turned into a convent for Franciscan nuns until Dana Hollister purchased it in 1998.

Not only did I shoot beautiful flowers that day but also some relics from the estate. I can’t wait to go back there and shoot some more.

A special thank you to Tara Kolla of Silver Lake Farms for making all of this possible.

Click here to read the C Magazine feature.

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April Rocha Happenings Paper Goods Photography Project Santa Monica TTV

A Sneak Peek of a Prototype I am Creating

Something I am creating to eventually sell on Etsy. It’s going to be called A Little Piece of Home.