The Plastic Lens ~ Words

These shots actually came back at the start of the month, as promised, but I’ve been so distracted by other stuff that I haven’t gotten around to discussing them yet. If you click on any of the thumbnails a larger image should pop up. As mentioned in this previous post I was given 5 rolls of 400 asa 35mm to expose using the Holga 135BC camera sent to me courtesy of Powershovel and Superheadz Ina Babylon. Once exposed they were sent back to Japan for development. I have revisited many familiar themes for me with much of the photography in the collaboration due to the fact that the film was being sent back to Japan, so I took images of Melbourne and my family life and so forth to give them a taste of my corner of the world. The Madly Waving image shows the ‘B’ shutter option in use, my daughters and a friend happily obliging in my request to ‘stand as still as they could for a couple of seconds but just wave their hands madly’! Zebra Face shows how the threaded cable release in the shutter release can be used for silly self-portraits. The only shots I didn’t take that I would have liked to try were night exposures, but I’m sure this camera would have been fine with those too, making use of tripod, ‘b’ setting and cable release. The vignetting with this camera is evident in most of the shots I took, less obvious in brightly lit exposures but still giving most of the shots characteristics reminiscent of most of my favourite medium format plastic cameras. I may have mentioned in the last entry I wrote regarding this camera reminding me of the Lomo LC-A, but with softer feeling images due to the plastic lens I suppose. The images in this post are just a few of the shots that Powershovel have since developed, printed and returned (both prints and negs) to me. it was a surprise to receive these images after two months, as I really wasn’t sure how they would turn out. I was pleased to see that most of the shots I took were adequately exposed and sort of interesting. It was a challenge to explore different creative possibilities for approximately 100 shots! I hope Powershovel and Superheadz can use my contributions to their project in some constructive way. Speaking of projects, I’m hoping to take part in a new plastic camera project with Superheadz very soon. More on that later! Origato!