Why would someone who has taken photographs most of their life using Single Lens Reflex and Rangefinder cameras to capture crisp clean compositions on film, and later use the latest technology in the form of digital cameras with the best megapixels their money can buy (at the time), turn more and more often to plastic & toy cameras with less than optically perfect lenses?
Why indeed?
This is not intended to be a discussion on the relative merits of digital or film photography, glass or plastic lenses or the superiority (or not) of Leicas over Hasselblads. This is my personal musings of my experiences using low-fi cameras that give me strangely hi-fidelity pleasure when I see the photographic results they produce. It’s about the surprises one can get when seeing the developed film from your latest shoot for the first time. It’s about living for the simple joys of capturing the moment through a plastic lens.
About me:
I‘m a forty-something Registered Nurse with a passion for art, music and more pertinently, photography. I am fortunate enough to be married to a beautiful woman and am also blessed to be father to two lovely children. I have mixed feelings about also sharing responsibility for a little Australian terrier cross-breed, fluffy, woofing-thang, two chickens, two budgies and a continually fluctuating number of goldfish. I’m always learning and am always happy to be surprised and amazed by the world around me. I believe most people are intrinsically good (with the possible exception of some politicians and despots)
My predominant musical education came from listening almost exclusively to the likes of Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart from the age of 11 years onwards. I read lots (mainly science fiction) and I like Sushi & Thai food. I can never get my hair right.
My Cameras:
More cameras than most people have comprise my collection, but the majority of them are over 30 years old. The cameras I use in the photographs for The Plastic Lens are for the most part, plastic lensed and pretty low-tech as far as options re: aperture and shutter speed are concerned. All have what I have determined to be a very plastic feel, both literally and in the photographic results they give. You can read a bit more about them in The Cameras Bit
About the site:
Both The Words & The Photos part of this site are managed in WordPress, currently using the veryplaintxt theme, © 2006–2008 Scott Allan Wallick that I have modified slighty for the purposes of this site.
Elsewhere
Like many people on the web, I have some of my work elsewhere, some sites I have probably forgotten about.
- redbubble
- flickr sets
- file magazine
- ‘lomo’ home despite good reasons to dislike the lsi I owe them a nod.
- polanoid
Contact:
Feel free to contact me by clicking this: e-mail link if you would like to give feedback, bug reports or enquire about purchasing prints of the work on this site. Any contact (apart from spam) is most welcome.
Buying Prints:
All photographs on this site are copyright Cameron Stephen, but if you want to use the images for non-profit, charity or personal use, please feel free to contact me.
About purchasing any of the photographs you like on this site: I can offer most images on this site for sale if you think you would like one (or more!) hanging on your wall. I can provide enlargements in most sizes up to 30″ x 30″ printed on whatever archival quality paper you prefer (note that the results on metallic paper are beautiful). Feel free to use this e-mail address to contact me for more information. You can also purchase some of my photos and artwork in different formats (including T-shirts!) at redbubble.
