The colour and texture of film with the Mini Diana F+
I’ve been running plenty of rolls of film through my Mini Diana F+ over the past few months. I’ve been quite experimental with black and white and colour film, and some colour rolls I have cross processed. Some shots I’ve structured the composition, but many have been just quick snaps without thinking about it too much. This spontaneity is what the principles of lomography are all about, which I like because they are more about a creative philosphty rather than technical stuff. Shooting spontaneously puts a smile on my face, but has drawn me to notice some of what I call ‘happy accidents’. This is where you capture something great unintentionally. When scanning my film after developing, I discover what I have actually got on the film. Sometimes what you hoped for doesn’t work out as desired, but a lot of the time wonderful things present themselves, sometimes bold, sometimes subtle.
Check out some of my photos below. Click on the images for an enlarged view:
Remember, these were taken on a tiny camera, with a fixed plastic lense, and often the film likes to scratch as it’s wound along…
These shots were taken using lomography’s 100 iso redscale film.
These two were taken with the standard 100 iso ‘lomo’ film from lomography, which has good colour saturation and contrast.
These last three shots were taken with Rollei “crossbird” 200 iso film. This is print film put through a regular C41 negative process. It did weird things, but I like some of the results. Different delicate bits of detail present themselves, along with gritting celluloid grainy, blobby bits like on the edges of the frames.
These are taken with Kodak TMAX 400 iso, black and white negative film. There’s something about the shots that I really like. They’re a little soft, and not with the full range of contrast, but there’s an abstract appeal I think. They almost look like really old paintings.
roadtrip & custom hot rods with mini diana F+ lomography camera
I recently purchased a Mini Diana F+ lomography camera as part of my own renaissance back to analogue and the world of low-fi. Keeping up with the latest digital technology is a constant demand, so now I’m back to real film. I shot 4 rolls of colour and one black and white, testing this rad little camera. You can do wacky things like multiple exposures or partially winding on the film for the next shot (check the panorama below). It’s so cute and fun to play with, and it’s probably the easiest camera I’ve ever used. Lovin’ the low-fi…
Last week I went on a road trip with the family for a week house-boating on the Murray River. I took pics the whole time. I’ve included a couple of the road trip up, and some from by the river (at the bottom). The rest of the photos are from the when I stopped off in Newstead, just out of Castlemaine for the 2009 Chopped Custom Hot Rod Show. What a great place to further test the little lomo cam! Check out the pics.
sigma dp2 photography exhibition
Recently I was asked to take some photos to test the new snappy from Sigma – the “DP2“. It was for an exhibition to showcase the new camera. There were a variety of artists who were asked to contribute, making a great show from a mix of talent.
…and this is my image that I submitted for the exhibition:
“Hayley and the night cranes”
Not far from Melbourne Zoo, Parkville has its own herd of industrial giraffes overlooking Royal Park. Ordinary, even unsightly by day, they are transformed into serene, surreal elegance after dark.
In this photo I was lucky enough to capture a gazelle in the foreground.
This photo was taken with an 8 second exposure and manually fired flash, to capture Hayley in the foreground. 100 iso for less noise. The camera has a fixed 24mm lens. The aperture was at its maximum open – which is F2.8
Not a bad camera. I like the fact you can shoot entirely manually and in raw mode, but it would be nice to have different lens sizes to play with.