from russia with love
EDITOR'S NOTE: This entry is best read after reading this article on lomography. Yup, it's time for some edumacation.
In my quest to amass an arsenal of varying cameras, I have made two recent purchases.
One arrived Friday afternoon, and in enough time for me to shoot off a roll of 24 and have it developed, all before bedtime. Whee! Bummer is, because it's 35mm, I have to scan it in. And if you know me at all, that's not gonna happen for some time.
So. I'll steal someone else's pix and show you what mine kinda sorta look like. Or better yet, what they will look like once the sun starts shining again (I didn't spring for the flash version).
Without further delay, I present the Lomo Actionsampler:
Neat, eh?
I love the effect.
As for purchase number two, well, that's a bit different.
I *could* have tried to buy one from lomography.com but they rarely have any in stock, since they're hard to come by. I ventured to eBay, and lo and behold, I found a genuine Lomo Smena Symbol from a Russian dealer.
So it's sloooowly making its way here from Russia and should arrive in (gulp) thirty (30) days. It's not exactly the Lomo LC-A or Holga I want, but $30 (with shipping from Russia) is better than $95-$200+.
For now.
Assuming my Smena from Russia works when it arrives.
As an aside, I've recently developed an interest in "toy cameras," which is the term used to describe what the Holga and LC-A are. These cameras are made of plastic, including the lens, and are built so cheaply that some light is allowed to seep in, giving the photos an unusual effect.
Lomo pix are generally characterized by their dark edges, "tunnel effect, and the hazy quality of the photo, drastically different from typical 35mm or digital shots. The Holga uses 120 film, creating an especially specatcular image when developed as a 6x6 photo.
There are ways to Photoshop an image to give it a "Lomoized" effect, but nothing looks as good as good as a true Lomo photo.
There are some good examples here of pix taken with toy cameras.
For Holga specific photos, I offer up one of the Flickr groups dedicated to Holgagraphy , of which I am member, if only a spectator at this point.
If this entire entry seemed foreign (pun intended) to you, my apologies.
But not really.
I am so glad that you found something you are passionate about. Next thing we will hear is that you are turning your guest room into a dark room!
ReplyDeleteVery cool. I love photography too but have been sucked into the digital world...so I'm very generic now. I took two photography classes in college and was pretty decent for a time...now I'm just a point-and-click type.
ReplyDeleteI love globalization, and the fact that if we can't get it in the good old US of A, we can just order it online from another country....sigh...I will never be bitching about the "good ole times"...nothing like the world wide web.
ReplyDeleteThose pics are cool...I have seen that camera in the window of a camera shop near my place...am almost tempted to get one for giggles. Looking forward to your Lomo works of art.
If you send your roll of pictures in to Snapfish, they'll develop them and also post digital images of your photos online for you. The only thing is you can't get the instant gratification of 1-hour-processing. But if my memory serves me right,the cost is about the same or better than local developing, especially if you consider the cost of buying the digital CDs.
ReplyDelete