Category: photography

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So happy to walk in the house and a see a box waiting for me. My Polaroid Land Camera was here! I opened the box and there was at least 10 cameras in the box! Many were digital and that’s just not my thing these days but there was a great 35mm in the box that will get some use on my trip to Cuba.

And here it is….an original Polaroid SX 70 from 1977. Slightly dusty but new and never opened. My fiancé suggested I keep it closed and display with all of my other favorites so that is exactly what I did. I want the larger Polaroids so I headed to my local Target to see what they had in stock. That is how I ended up with the mint green Polaroid OneStep 2.

I am already in love with the larger Polaroid photos! It’s exactly what I want in an instant camera. More to come…..

I am going to take ‘Minty’ on a stroll tomorrow and see what Charm City has for me.

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is-3I thought I had it made! There was a photo store 15 minutes away on the other side of Baltimore and I was ready to develop rolls ten at a time. Before I got myself organized to send off the first set they stop developing. It means I don’t have a local place to develop my film. I am an amateur and jumped into film photography without thinking the development process through. I get a great deal on all types of film from Adorama so it’s easy to acquire but sending my good, bad and ugly to an online development store is intimidating af!

 

fjcasp36My saving grace is my local Walgreens still develops 35mm film with one exception…black and white film. Sigh! So that is another set I have to mail to some stranger who doesn’t understand the trials and tribulations of embarking on a new hobby. I have had days where I forget to take the lens cap off and others where I didn’t make the proper adjustments to my camera before snapping away. I get a little leeway at Walgreens because they don’t charge you for the mistakes that don’t come out.

Thankfully, my family encourages my passion for photography. Check out this website for photo labs that develop film.

 

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500x369x2I have received cameras from friends and family all over the world. People find vintage cameras in their attics and basements and think of me. I have acquired cameras in flea markets in Europe that costs as little as $3 US but an unexpected trip home to Chicago added another camera to my collection. My Auntie Janell and her longtime partner Gus remembered that they have an original Polaroid SX-70 One Step instant camera new in the box. The SX-70 OneStep was first released in 1978, and it was designed for the amateur photographer. The Land camera is fully automatic, motorized folding single lens reflex camera that self-develops film. To find an original new in the box is a coup for photographers.

The Polaroid Lad Camera Sx 70 has been on my radar for a while. I have found the updated version on several sites but couldn’t justify buying one right now. Those funds normally go to more film for the cameras I already have in my collection.

is-2The look of this camera draws people to my desk to oooh and ahhh and share stories of the cameras their parents had growing up. I can’t wait to receive my new camera in the mail. Although my Auntie Janell is threatening to hand-deliver her gift to my door step. It will be a great opportunity to takes portaits of her when she has a glass of wine in hand.

Before my new addition arrives I will do all of the approriate research so I know the ins and outs of this gem. I want to have a supply of film on hand when it arrives so my first stop is Adorama to stock up on black and white and color film.

So stay tuned for the photos I produce from this camera. Special thanks to my Auntie Janell and her partner Gus for the gift! I am over the moon excited!

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images-1The term “lomography” refers both to the artistic movement and to the organization that promotes it, Austrian company Lomographische AG, sells updated versions of vintage cameras and promotes the culture of lo-fi photography with its Lomographic Society. Lomography started in Austria in 1991 as an art movement, when a group of art students found they liked the imperfect images created by the Lomo Kompakt Automat camera made by the Lomo company of St Petersburg  in the then Soviet Union.

In a world where almost everyone carries a professional-quality digital camera in their smartphone, the idea of imperfect, uncontrollable photography appeals to many. If you are ready to embrace Lomography that means you are ready to accept its deficiencies. You know that this plastic toy camera makes no apologies for it shortcomings. If you want to become the photographer that goes against the grain and really gets it grab a Diana Mini or Diana F+.

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The Diana camera is really basic so if you are going back to film this is the camera for you. You have to be aware of the camera’s quirks. Here are a few that you may encounter.

Diana’s Quirks

  • It’s entirely plastic which contributes to its deficiencies.
  • The camer’s housing  doesn’t fit properly and has to be taped to prevent major light leaks.
  • The viewfinder is not an accurate representation or the contents of the photo.
  • The film has to be manually wound and it’s a toss up on how far you have to wind it.
  • If you forget to wind your film you will have a double exposure.
  • Film doesn’t fit very well and jams from time to time.

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I own five Dians’s and plan to buy more because I believe that all of these quirks contribute to the Diana unique appeal. The images are soft-focus, unpredictably blurry and full of unexpected light effects, with a dreamy, colour-saturated quality. No two images are the same; in fact, no two cameras are the same – no two Dianas will record the same scene in the same way.

Read more at:

http://frame.bloglovin.com/?post=6456073919&blog=644358&frame_type=search&search_term=lomographyDirty

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HipstamaticPhoto-555132247.974488I started my Holga journey because I was bored out of my mind after graduate school. I needed something to kickstart my creativity. Film photography is a form of therapy for me and I can lose myself in the camera and the beauty of life around me.

Hipstamatic sparked my interest and after some research I started hunting Holgas, Diana’s, La Sardinia’s and all the different film formats that produced the gritty, grainy artistic photos that I see in my head. My first set of developed prints made me want to cry but I toughened up and soldiered on. I studied my technique, my awful mistakes and the light leaks that destroyed more than a few of my prints. My mistakes made me start paying attention to what the heck I was doing. I will write another blog on my common mistakes this blog is for the light leaks.

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Why Tape Your Holga

The Holga is a cheap, light-weight camera from China that comes with a plastic lens and  a plastic body. Light leaks are natural to the Holga and there is really no way to avoid them unless you tape the entire camera and what is the fun in that. I can understand how  light leaks can be intimidating to someone new to this type of photography but I encourage you to embrace the unpredictablity. Let yourself be surprised by your images.

The first time I developed 35mm film in my Holga I realized I needed to tape up the back of your camera, or light will leak in through the film counter window and over-expose every single shot. Along with my other mistakes I’d ruined an entire roll of film but hey… that’s part of the game of experimenting with your camera. 35mm film doesn’t have paper backing like medium format film does so it has no protection from the light seeping in from the little red window at the back of the camera. Without covering this window your roll will be exposed to light in every shot. A common solution is to seal the window off to keep everything nice and pitch dark inside the camera. I use electrical tape to make a flap so I can tell when I have gotten to the first shot while loading and how many shots I have remaining. I get some leaks but my shots are not completely blown out.

Toni and Holga
Me and my first Holga!

I also cover the bottom of the camera and the metal clips on each side. The cilps are worthless to me a lesson learned after I put my brand new camera around my neck for the day and the weight of the camera was no match for the cheap clips. I watched in horror as my hours-old Holga slipped off my neck and hit the cement. It works….I played with it for hours and coaxed it back to life.

I am not an expert at anything. I research and share my journey with others. Have fun and let yourself go. Follow the Golden Rules! Share your experiences and your photos.

 

Next up….My common mistakes and what I learned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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IMG_5853The rainy winter season has been taking a toll on my need/desire to take photos so I spend the time researching and choosing new equipment. I have had two cameras on my list since Christmas and finally decided on the HolgaGlo 135BC a 35 mm version of the Holga. It is smaller than the Holga 120 CFN and GCFN’s that I have already but I am pretty happy. It joins my other pretty girls…the Holga family and the La Sardinas. (photo below)

The La Sardina collection was a compete fluke. I ran across them on Amazon and completely fell in love. The set of four cameras was extremely affordable at $159.00 making it a no brainer purchase and the free overnight shipping …one of the flukes of being a Prime member made me pat myself on the back. When you want to start a hobby it is important to look everywhere for your tools. HipstamaticPhoto-537075141.850249Cameras, film, flash units all require tons of research so I am always on YouTube and Ebay looking for that thing that catches my eye and inspires me to hold it in my hand. I need a camera that makes me smile, one that makes me want to carry it and look at it all the time. So that is what the winter months are for…research and camera sprees. It’s sick…I will pass up a great pair of shoes for film and new cameras. I am officially obsessed! Take a look at my babies and stay tuned because the Summer is going to be camera fierce!

 

 

Folllow me on my Lomo journey and don’t be afraid to get one of your own.

 

 

 

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Blog Revamp! 

HipstamaticPhoto-532235655.059912I am passionate about Film Photography, Blogging, Travel and Journaling so it is time to combine my interests. Join me on my journey and allow me to bombard you with CAMERAS, FILM AND PHOTOS! I carry a camera or two everywhere and want to share my highs and lows with you. It has taken a lot of soul-searching and thought to get to this point and I am really excited. The research alone keeps me busy and fully engaged. I love the journey! I hope you are as entertained as I am.

I want to reach as many people as possible and creating custom content is the first order of business. Successful relaunch requires a total Blog Revamp, Search Engine Optimization research, along with plans to start a YouTube channel. Your comments and observations are valuable to me so feel free to share.

Welcome to Life In Lomo!

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images Film photography inspires me! It makes me slow down and think. I have to pay attention t0 the lighting conditions, my settings,  loading the film and most importantly taking the lens cap off. You can laugh…the first few times I did. Digital cameras and cell phone cameras have made me complacent and I am determined to go back to the basics and get this right. Yes, I am a home grown photographer and I am proud of it.

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My journey into photography started when the photography world went digital. I started with film and didn’t know what the heck I was doing. Digital cameras made everything so easy but the work didn’t nurture my soul. It was a job that I loved but I was not passionate about photography until I started collecting vintage cameras. I was in Tbilisi, Georgia on a humanitarian mission and we used our free time to go to a few street and flea markets. The quality and the cleanliness of the cameras I saw as I wandered from stand to stand was amazing. But….I am a Soldier and my spidey sense let me know that word had passed ahead of us and everyone knew that an American was buying cameras so the prices tripled. I had to cut my shopping short because I am nobody’s fool and I know the game. I went home with 15 or 20 cameras because we switched it up and went to different markets. I paid around $25 U.S for each camera and felt good about it.

images-1Fast forward to 2016, I came across a cheap Diana F+ and a Holga for less than $80 bucks, new in the bo mind you, and it was on. I have made mistakes and I share these stories to remind myself to slow the hell down. I didn’t do any research before I loaded my first roll of expensive a$$ 120 Lomography film. I didn’t know how to load the damn things. I didn’t know where to get them developed. All I knew is that I had to do something before I lost my mind. Well, it was an expensive lesson and it taught me to slow down. Twenty rolls in and I have finally figured out where to get the film developed. I have learn that you don’t shoot multiple shots of anything or it will come out of your pocket. For sure I have learned to take the darn less cap off….and it still happens if I am in a hurry. I also learned that those cute little clips on the side of the Holga will cost you a brand new 3 day old camera.

All those lessons and those most important thing I learned was that I love it! I am going to stick with this hobby and master it. Maybe one day I will be an expert….today is not that day. So I want to hear your stories and your lessons because this is all about sharing. I am not an expert and I don’t have a particular direction. I am taking it slow and relishing the journey.

 

Leave a comment…Join me in the journey. We can share the ride!

 

LIVE LIFE IN LOMO!

 

 

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Ahhhh my hobby….it consumes me and I love it! I am constantly doing research and watching vHipstamaticPhoto-538193775.959969ideos for the best tips and tricks. It has been a cold winter and I am done with grad school so it is the perfect time to dig into my film photography hobby. I love the research! I watch YouTube tutorials and read countless blogs. I don’t have many subjects….the dog is tired of my camera in her face so I have lots of selfies. I experiment with light and different types of film and film settings. Today was a different day. It was over 60 degrees out so the fiance and I went for a nice long walk. I slung my Lomo’ Instant around my neck and stuffed a few packs of Fujifilm Monochrome in my pocket and off we went. Meh…I didn’t have much success as you can see from the photo but I love trying and will never stop trying to master this camera and the Monochrome film. So if you are reading this please understand that I am by no means an expert. I am amazing with a digital camera but where is the challenge. I need to learn to slow down, check my settings, be aware of the light and shoot from the heart.

HipstamaticPhoto-536885842.316455My FujiInstax Mini 8 is the first instant camera that I bought and the easiest camera to deal with. Everything is automatic and I don’t have to think as much when I use it but where is the fun in that? My photos from the Fuji are clear and give me the effects I want but it is almost too easy. So I go back to the Lomo’ Instant time and time again. I refuse to be beaten by a plastic instant camera! So if you are looking for a challenge go for the Lomo’ Instant it will hurt your feelings and waste your money but it will challenge you and make you think.

Bottom line…enjoy the journey, relish the challenge. Don’t be hard on yourself and do the research. Most importantly…DON’T GIVE UP!

 

 

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LomoThe summer season is winding down and my thoughts are turning to fall. It has taken me all summer to get my head out of grad school mode. It has been hard….re-focusing my after a commitment like graduate school was tough. So I channeled my energy into analogue photography and it has helped me find peace.

 

I started reading up on Lomography and my curiosity went into overdrive. Lomography is the style of pop photography based around the quirky cameras by the Austrian camera manufacturer known as Lomo.  There are several camera types that fall under the images-3lomography genre. Among some of the more popular, are the Diana and Holga. These cameras, and (all of them in the Lomo line) are usually poor technical cameras. They are inexpensive, plastic and often have light leaks, poor alignment of their lenses or other defects, which makes it a cool signature look. They are inexpensive and can be found on Amazon and Ebay for less than $100.

 

I carry one or two cameras everywhere I go and follow the Golden Rules of Lomography… “Don’t Think, Just Shoot” motto! After all, Lomography is all about having fun while taking good pictures, so memorize them by heart or break all the rules; either way, be ready to throw your photography inhibitions away!

 

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The Golden Rules of Lomography…who doesn’t love Golden Rules?!

Be prepared to shoot in the moment! Carry your camera everywhere and observe life as we live it. Find beauty in the simple things. Most of all have fun!

Break the rules and use it anytime you want. Research ISO’s and film combinations and shoot in low light. Inside or out, day or night. Do your research and most importantly….take a chance!

Lomography photography is not an influence on your life….it enhances it! Embrace your art! Your camera is hungry for thrills and spills, whatever the weather, whatever day of the week it is and whatever time it is. So keep shooting restlessly and relentlessly; give your memory a kick in the ass with your lovely, crazy, beautiful, artistic and silly Lomographs. Esse est percipi est Lomographi. Use your camera whenever you’re alive!

Shoot from the hip! Try different angles and see what pans out! Don’t look through the viewfinder; forget about safety margins and unnecessary shyness! And why should a photo always be taken whilst standing up and looking through the viewfinder? If we did that all the time, every photo would be from the same kind of perspective. How about holding your camera below the knees for your next shot? Or as high as you can hold it above your head? You’ll end up with all manner of crazy photos you never realized were possible…..it may take a few rolls of film, get them developed and see where you ‘eye’ takes you!

Don’t think….Shoot! Your best shots won’t be the ones you plot and plan! Shoot when people least expect it….capture the beauty of life! I discourage posing and stiff smiles…..I want to shoot the living, breathing beauty of the world we live in. Shoot blind without a care in the world.

Be Fast! Hold your breath, be brave, take a chance, move, shoot, have fun and act fast – that’s Lomography!

Be patient! You will not get the instant gratification that you are accustomed to with lomography photography. You shoot, switch film and go on. The results come after you have handed your precious film over to the lab for processing. Yes, you have to wait! But when you get the film back you can proclaim yourself an artist!

Don’t worry about any rules! You don’t have to know what you captured on film…be patient and trust your instincts. See the beauty in your creation lol….the good the bad and the ugly. Adjust your shots, learn your camera and practice!

 

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Next up…Shooting with the La Sardina in low light.