Lomo Wednesday - werriston

I still feel like I'm figuring out how best to present these featured Lomo homes. Do I go in for a lot of text or just go straight in for the photos? I'll get the format right eventually.

This week's Lomo home is werriston. Found via a tag on Tumblr, it was his use of the Pentax K1000 that drew my interest. I like this camera. I would like to own this camera. But then again I would like to own every camera. Here's a small selection of my favourites.

I must say that this is a very small amount of what werriston has produced. I've featured nothing but 35mm format and could quite easily do a separate post on his alternative format shots. But I don't wish to bombard you with these posts. These posts are mere tasters in the hope you'll check the link out and see for yourself what else each Lomographer I've featured has produced.

I digress. I love the high saturation and clarity of the first and last shots. And I love even more how it contrasts with the grain of the middle shots. I'm a sucker for little details and I think werriston has a knack for framing that kind of shot.

As usual I hope you've enjoyed this post and I hope you check out more of werriston's Lomo home. He has some really great albums on there.

Laters,

P x

Analogue Gang

I wanted to introduce my analogue camera collection. It's a small collection for now but I have big aspirations for it. Before I started buying cameras for myself I would mess around with the various family cameras we've had over the years. As well as disposable cameras. I used to buy the Boots black & white disposables and take silly photos of my boyfriend of the time. My stepdad is one of those technology types especially when it comes to cameras and to this day he always has a camera on him. He was the one who pushed me to use the family cameras if I wanted. I must have used it more than I realised because I've got heaps of photographs from my school days, primary school mostly. When digital became more affordable for the common man my stepdad was there for it. And again I was allowed to use his latest bit of kit. What trust he must have had in me as this was in my secondary school days. Then he bought my first digital camera (which I've still got!) for my 17th birthday. And since then I've been buying my own cameras. I upgraded digitally, both times with a Canon, and then over the course of 2011 I fell back in love with analogue.

So this is my little analogue collection so far as I've purchased them over time.

Ah the good old Polaroid. Who doesn't love a Polaroid picture? This was probably the first film camera I purchased for myself many years ago before Polaroid went bust. I have a little stack of Polaroids and I absolutely love them. It's one of the most attractive and satisfying formats I'd say. I know you can buy film for this camera from The Impossible Project but it is painfully priced and you only get 8 shots in comparison to what you used to pay for a twin pack. Sigh. Maybe one day as part of something very special I'll treat myself.

Gifted to me by my darling friends the Supersampler was my introduction to Lomography. I must have been banging on about it somewhere for my friends to see this as a worthy gift. It's a funny old camera this one. With no viewfinder you just have to aim and shoot with this camera and you're encouraged to use it on sunny days for best results. I must confess the fad of this camera wore off after a little while but I re-discovered it last year and took it along to Portugal. I ran a couple of rolls through it, seen in this album, and in the Portuguese sun this camera became fun again. I am going to endeavour to use it more this year.

After a hefty few years stay in digital photography I began becoming interested in analogue photography again at the start of 2011. In particular I'd keep seeing blog posts about people using analogue camera and every so often I'd see Lomography related stuff as well. So once in a while I'd happily browse the Lomography website pining for the money to buy one of their cameras. When I finally got the full amount of my student loan early last year and a conveniently timed Lomography voucher came about I took that leap. I bought myself the Diana F+ deluxe kit and shortly after we fell in love in Seville. This camera can do just about everything and actually has 3 formats to work with; 35mm, 120 and instant. It's like 3 cameras in one!

After a summer in Portugal with my Diana I knew I was ready to take it to the next level with analogue. So shortly after returning I visited The Real Camera Company and invested in my Olympus OM10. That shop by the way is analogue camera heaven. I knew roughly which cameras I wanted purely from what I'd seen online and was actually leaning more towards a Canon since digitally that's what I use. But this Olympus won my heart and has remained with me at all times ever since.

Then a funny thing happened. I rediscovered eBay. As I began using the Lomography website more I would see all these great examples of photography and the same few cameras kept popping up. I know that it's the photographer who makes the photograph not the camera but undoubtedly the camera plays a big part in the deal. So when this Zenit-E appeared for the right price I went ahead and indulged. Be warned this is a hefty camera. And Russian. It has fewer settings than my Olympus and I'm yet to actually test it but I am excited to get to grips with it.

I still fancied a Canon SLR and as luck would have it eBay had one for me. So I hastily purchased this Canon AE-1 which came with a bag full of random accessories, a flash and a 28mm lens. Again I'm yet to test it out but rather excitingly the camera did come with a film already in it and about half used. I am so excited to eventually get the roll developed because what's more fun than mystery photographs? I'm planning on taking the Canon out to finish that roll and run my own test roll through soon. It's fully manual so it should be pretty exciting to get to grips with exposing photographs with proper consideration.

And finally, the latest and truthfully possibly one of the most exciting additions to my camera collection is the Lomo LCA+. I have lusted for this camera for YEARS now. Actual years. The more I read about it, the more I saw what it produced, the more I wanted it. And again eBay had one for me. Brand new in box and about £100 cheaper than they're sold on the Lomography website. I couldn't resist. I was so excited when it arrived and took on a state of unbelieving awe that I finally owned one. It got its first run at The Blue Planet Aquarium last week and I'll be taking the film to be developed tomorrow. Fingers crossed for that. This has become the second camera that comes everywhere with me now. Expect many photographs from this little guy.

So there you have it. My little camera family which I hope will continue to grow over this next year and many years to come. I may well do a separate post on my current camera lusts. I'm forever browsing eBay and am planning on exploring the world of car boot sales and charity shops in the hope of finding some camera gems. Should you happen to have any old cameras that you'd like to see go to a good home or know of anyone wishing to get rid of their old cameras, well you know who to contact ;)

All shots were taken on my Canon 450D.

Laters,

P x

Happy 2012!

Out of 2011 and into 2012

Almost every blog I follow is doing an end of year round up and each time I read one I just feel so inadequate. Everyone seems to have achieved something this year and whilst that is undoubtedly fantastic for him or her, it leaves me pondering on my own year and what few achievements I feel I’ve scraped together.

2011 has been just another year for me. I started it on a low and I’m ending it on a low. Suffering from depression has a way of doing that to you. In the first 4 months of the year I was in a constant battle with myself over college and the relationship I wasn’t in but was still totally involved in. I was in a very toxic place which I very much needed to get out of but couldn’t. Even in the worst storms it is preferable to cling to the sharpest rock to avoid being drowned. Eventually everything came to a head and my ex-boyfriend and I walked away from each other. He sent me a message saying how he was going to work on his own issues to get better and I promised to do the same. It allowed me the respite I needed to spend my final two months of college trying to get enough work together to pass the year. Which I just about did thankfully.

In July after a painful and brief reunion with the ex, something I felt would happen on the way out to the night we would happen to see each other, we said goodbye for good and I left for Portugal for two months.

Portugal wasn’t what I expected. At first I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy where I was. I wanted so badly to go home. But eventually I began to feel better and I began to smile again. Then I took a turn for the worse, which led to a turn for the better. I began to feel great. I began to plan. My creative side woke up and the part of me that depression so masterly covers re-appeared under that Portuguese sun. I wrote and wrote, planned and planned, smiled and smiled. I got excited to come home. I felt hopeful. I felt excited by the prospect of life finally getting better.

But leaving for two months didn’t mean my problems had gone away; I’d just left them here waiting for me. Within a week of being home I was back under my depression blanket crying.

Going back to college felt painful and I felt I no longer belonged there. I tried to fit back in, tried to take up the plans I’d so eagerly made in Portugal but in the end I just didn’t want to be there anymore. So against absolutely everyone’s advice I left. I didn’t even say goodbye.

And now for this past month or two I have been here in my room feeling emptier than I have in a long while. It isn’t easy being here. I am ashamed that my life has become this. I never wanted this for myself. I just didn’t have the energy nor motivation to stop it becoming this. I have no education, no job, no prospects, no confidence and I’m still in love with someone who I can’t be with. I feel like I have little to nothing to offer anyone.

What I know I do have though is a new year ahead of me. I try not to think of resolutions and what 2012 may hold for me too much. But I want so badly to achieve something this coming year. I want at the end to look back and say, “hey I did these things and I am proud of that”. I want to not be ashamed. I want to get better.

So 2012 I’d like to suggest you and I work hard together to make this a good year for us. I’d like you to be the year I start getting my life back.

Laters,

P x

Lomo Wednesday - stratski

Last Thursday I gave a very succinct glimpse at the shots of Lomographer stratski because I simply couldn't resist posting those misty dawn photographs. So for Lomo Wednesday I'm going to give you a more rounded look at her photographs. I go through periods of not seeing any shots I like on the Lomography website to suddenly finding loads I like then not knowing who to post about first. Next week's featured Lomographer has already been selected in fact. But for now here are some of my favourites from stratski.

No doubt you've noticed the preference for the black & white shots here. Makes a change from my preference to photographs taken with the LC-A. But I think you'll agree that photographing nature in black & white can give it such a beautifully haunting feel.

The other thing I noticed about stratski's Lomo home was the inclusion of some themed albums. Understandably I think most people upload their photographs and collate them according to the event they were taken for or the camera type or film used. Stratski has a few albums which contain nothing but photographs of one subject. Such as The Airplane Flies, an album which contains nothing but shots of airplanes flying above. And who hasn't at least contemplated if not shot a roll featuring all the local graffiti much like this signs album. Or my personal favourite Sleeping Beauty, an album featuring nothing but sleeping festival goers. I think it's a really sweet idea to keep a themed album together and I may well try it out in future should I notice a subject pattern emerge.

So there you have it, the delightful stratski. I hope you've enjoyed this selection of photographs and are encouraged to check out more of her photographs. And indeed the Lomography website in general. Opinions are always welcome!

Laters,

P x

The true meaning of Christmas.

It's all for the kids right?

Laters,

P x