30 April 2011

New Beginnings

Many moons ago, when I was young, my friend Mark and I would go out to the local cemetery and shoot rolls of film with our fathers' old cameras.  In fact, they were the exact same cameras:  the Mamiya/Sekor 500DTL.  My father got his around the Vietnam war era and I forget when Mark's dad got his.  This was about ~2002.  We would drive out in my jeep with the wind in our hair and sneak about with hotboot flashes firing off shots.

Fast-forward to this year.  I found myself completely enamored with lomography.  I like the way the pictures look, it reminds me of how the photos Mark and I took looked.

In the beginning of my foray into this mystical art I was using an Olympus 600-UZ set to the pinhole setting.  I'd enhance the vignetting and then Photoshop the color changes to make it look cross-processed.  After a while I was playing with "multiple exposures."  And this was entertaining for me.  But... it didn't feel right.

Some time ago, maybe 5 years ago, I found myself believing that digital was this hot thing.  My wife was utilizing film at the time and we were trying to save money.  I calculated that spending a good portion of money on a digital camera would end up eventually saving money as we wouldn't pay for processing.  So, somehow I ended up with a digital camera and doing what I'm doing. 

Recently, since I've taken up the Diana Mini, my thoughts have changed.  With the Diana the film becomes a canvas on which to paint with light.  There isn't instant gratification.  I can't just shoot shoot shoot (if I'm in square format I can't, I guess.  But, if I'm in half frame on a 36 exp. roll 72 shots sounds like forever); there's thought that goes into a shot. 

So here I am, older... a little wiser maybe; realizing I made a mistake.  And this is my journey back to film.  This is my catalog of my adventures in analogue.