Hope you’re all having a spooktacular halloween! In England we apparently now ‘do’ the whole trick or treating thing so I have been handing out gummy-eyeballs most of the evening. I’m glad they’re nearly all gone as they look as gross as they sound!
Oh, and I have a hauntingly creepy article in the Lomography magazine today – it’s a graveyard smash!
One of the (many) cameras I took away with me to The Lake District was my little Diana F+ (a 120 film toy camera).
I diligently ensured it didn’t get left out amongst its bigger, flashier cousins and that it got its fair share of snapping time. I’m nice like that.
There was a problem though. When I was gathering up all my film for a trip to the lab I knew things weren’t right with the film in my Diana – instead of being tightly wrapped like it was when it went in, it was all baggy and loose round the spool. Uh oh!
I was very close to binning the film there and then – chalking it up to experience; give yourself enough time to load up your film carefully in the future, don’t wait till you’re halfway up a mountain and wearing mittens.
As I was going to the photo lab anyway I thought I’d risk getting it developed, and I’m so glad I did!
The ones near the centre, the ones I took first were were almost perfect, but as the roll progressed there were more and more light leaks and, most excitingly, the numbers and print from the film backing paper became exposed onto the film.
I love the numbers! These photos look like I’ve gone crazy adding textures and colours in photoshop but it’s all ‘real’.
Have you had any happy accidents photographically speaking (not just with film)?
All taken with Lomo Diana F+ Edelweiss and FujiColor Pro 160NS film
Have you heard of Lomography? You probably have if you’re interested in film photography – I have purchased an item or two from them in the past and my favourite camera (so far) is the Diana F+. It’s lots of fun, it has a plastic lens and a light-leaky body the gives truly unique results…
The Diana F+ is a new twist on the ‘60s classic cult camera. Famous for its dreamy and soft-focused images, the Diana F+ is now packed with extra features such as panorama and pinhole capabilities.
Anyhoo, if you fancy checking it out, I have written an article that has been featured on the Lomography website.
Lomo Diana F+ and 120 film
There’s a chill in the air and lots of ‘back to school’ marketing about but it’s definitely still summer!
Taken with my Lomo LC-A and Kodak Ektar 100
I’m back! Well, I haven’t actually been anywhere but I am back.
Talking of backs… poor admin is sofabound with some sort of awful, agonising backpain. The doctor has prescribed some VERY strong painkillers so things are getting better – I might even let him have some soon. Ha!
Oh, I’m so happy that I never surcame to the sexual-stereotyping that was rife in the girls’ comics of my youth to become a nurse (I’m looking at you, Twinkle). I could list a million reasons why I would have been rubbish at this job but it mostly involves unmentionable bodily-functions and… gruesomeness. Thank goodness for all the women and men who can deal with this sort of thing – they are AWESOME.
Whilst I’m still not absolutely 100% sure what I do want to do when I grow up, I do know that ‘nurse’ wont be on that list, so that kind of helps :/
Here’s a photo – much safer water for me and photographer is certainly much higher up on that aforementioned list. This was taken in the garden with my NEW Diana F+ with an Instant Back (hey, another ‘back’ reference) – it’s not exactly a prize-winning photo but I now know this bolted-together contraption works and I can start shooting in anger…
Dresses for sale at the market.
Diana F+ Edelweiss + FujiFilm Superia 100 film
I took these when I was out and about at the Southampton ‘seaside’ a coupla weeks ago. I had to use the film up and get them processed though so had to wait a while to see the results.
They really sum up why I love it there – brutalist man-made tower-blocks and an abundance of nature beauty and wildlife. The two things cancel each other out so you’re left with a dystopiac, neutral wasteland.
I think the plastic-lensed Diana Edelweiss reflects the moody atmosphere there pretty well. You could easily convince yourself you’ve travelled back to a 1980s Soviet resort.
I like playing with the double-exposures too, although I need to practice balancing the exposures so they are more evenly weighted.
All photos taken with Diana F+ Edelweiss and FujiFilm Superia 100 film
Love those light-leaks – though I bet you wouldn’t want to leave the film hanging around in the camera too long or you’d lose the lot. I can remember my parents having two summer holidays on the same roll of film!
OK, this is going to be an unbelievably specialised and geeky post involving LOMO LC-A and LC-A+ cameras (that’s the original sort and the new plastic one) and batteries. Yes, batteries. You will read it and think I am some sort of battery obssessive who is good at science – both these things are untrue. There are some piccies though – just look at those if you like.
Firstly, Let me just say how much I love my LOMO L-CA camera. It’s an original from 70s Soviet Russia (but you can buy fabulous replicas from lomography.com they are the ones with a + on the end). In brief, it’s a zone-focus camera meaning it has four distances maked on the side – you pick how far away you are from your subject and the camera works out the rest. It’s a clever little thing and can work even in low light conditions, it needs to do sums though to work out the exposure and to do this it needs batteries. Fair enough.
Secondly then, let me tell you something I have learnt about batteries.
Alkaline batteries
When they have reached their peak they will drain gradually away untill they eventually die. Ideal for things like watches and clocks that are always on.
Silver Oxide batteries
These will work and work, steadily and consistently then when they’ve run out of juice will just stop. No slow draining away. More suited to things used in short bursts like calculators and cameras.
OK, so those are all the facts. Now we get to a sad, sad story. About how I travelled around with my little Lomo, snapping here and snapping there, 36 times I snapped and was very excited about seeing the results. What can I say, this is the sad part, there were no results. The whole roll of film was completely blank! I knew. I knew straight away what had happened. The alkaline batteries (remember – they drain away slowly) had enough juice to fire off the little red LED that indicates power but didn’t have enough stamina to make the exposures. What I needed were Silver-Oxide batteries – they would work right up to the last and then stop – the red light would stop glowing and I would at least spot this and know what to do.
Everything is sorted now but I felt compelled to write this, as on the Lomography website (as well as other independent Lomo sites) RR55 batteries are recommended which are alkaline and will cause the same sad, sad story to be repeated!
USE SILVER OXIDE BATTERIES IN ALL YOUR CAMERAS (err, probably, don’t quote me on that, but def in Lomo LC-A’s). Message over, thank you for listening :)
All photos taken (as you might expects) with my orginal LOMO LC-A camera & Kodak Ektar 100 film
Goodnight internetalonians – here’s a kiss from me and my lovely Diana Edelweiss. x
