The Plastic Lens ~ Words » Philosophy

Shoot yes, but THINK too!

Cameron — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 09:26:08 +0000

I have just been reading a thread in the flickr forums where someone was feeling uninspired about what they saw as ‘nothing good to photograph’ – someone suggested they didn’t have to think about anything, and that ‘the whole point of lomography’ as they put it, was to ‘just shoot’.

Think Different, SEE different, shoot different!

Oh boy. The first misunderstanding that occurred here was that because the post was in a Diana+ group, the respondent assumed using a plastic camera equated to the photographer having the whole lomography-type philosophy of photography going for them. Contrary to the respondents viewpoint I think that whole point of ‘lomo’, or rather a large part of the point of the lomographic society international of it is to sell LSI products. There is nothing wrong with that of course, they are a business, and importantly, promote analogue photography – all good – but to take any of their ’10 rules’ too literally may not give you the greatest photos.
No offense to anyone in love with the whole ‘lomography’ ethic, but ‘don’t think just shoot’ may give you the occasional interesting shot, but probably a whole lot of rather ordinary or just plain bad compositions as well.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with composing a good shot through thoughtful choice of subject & placement, lighting and choice of moment to relase the shutter.

Now, regarding: there’s nothing good to take pictures of!

If you feel this way, you may need to develop a way of ‘seeing’ your world differently. Our brains interpret and filter the information our senses send to it in ways that make it easier for us to interact with and navigate through our ‘reality’ but sometimes the way we interpret the world is constrained by preconditioned responses and experiential neurological ‘shortcuts’ that have very little to do with what it is we are actually SEEING (in the case of our visual senses)
This is a common problem in the world of visual art where someone first learning to draw is, for example placed in front of a cup and asked to draw it. Often the beginner will sketch a likeness of a cup that correlates with the IDEA of a cup they have in their head, missing the finer nuances, patterns, shape or whatever of the cup that is actually in front of them.

If you critically examine your way of seeing the world and discard preconceived ideas you might have like ‘how could a piece of garbage on the ground possibly make an interesting photo’ or ‘ho-hum the overpass I walk under every day – boring’ and so on, you may open your eyes and mind (not to mention heart) to the infinite photographic possibilities that are around you EVERYWHERE!

The mood you are in helps too, think positively and the possibilities you perceive around you will open up. If you are not having fun doing what you do, (in this case photography) then what is the point of doing it?

Walk around with your eyes & mind open. If something catches your eye, even for a moment, don’t just walk on; STOP and look closer, walk around and see whatever it was from different angles, crouch down or look at the scene from a higher perspective. Wait for the sun to come out from behind the cloud and..oh, wait! There it is! That flash of brilliant red that jumped out at you before, or that shape that is so interesting against the background, or that combination of elements that make for a great shot.

Or you could park yourself somewhere comfortable, choose a good vantage point overlooking some interesting background, be it a graffitied wall, a hillside covered with flowers or a busy intersection and WAIT…something might happen! The group colourfly dressed up in fancy dress going to a party against a dull city wall, or the goths so sombre and monochrome against the colourful floral clock in the botanical gardens or the truck with the huge lips advertising something lipsticky or whatever painted on the side passing a group of nuns. ANYTHING can happen!
Sometimes a good photograph happens from a serendipitous ‘just shoot’ occasion, sometimes through patience, planning and knowing how to use the tools given you and the right moment and lighting. More often than not, a great photo will come from patience, planning, experience AND that serendipitous moment.

Photography, Causality & Connections

Cameron — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 00:26:17 +0000

It has been a long while between posts and for anyone who has visited hoping to read some new material on this blog, my sincere apologies. I am still taking photographs and have recently meandered into the wonderful world of home developing my film as well as planning and starting to collect equipment to make my own darkroom. Perhaps more entries will be about these and more later, but for now I would like to talk about how Photography can sometimes really touch people, in unexpected and wonderful ways.

Let me explain; in the ‘RESPECT’ EXHIBITION (talked about in my last entry in February) I was a contributing photographer. Every contributing photographer donated money and a print to the exhibition, with the money going to Jeff (the wonderful chap whom the exhibition was a benefit for) and each contributing photographer got to choose another artists print in a random selection process (explained later). It was sort of like a giant print swap/charity event for a good cause. Anyhow, for the purpose of the print swap we all had a list of our preferences of prints and at a pre-opening function where all the contributers had gathered and the names of the participants were randomly pulled out of a hat. Once a name was picked out the photographer then got to choose their preferred print, a red dot popped beside it to say it was taken and so on.
Those whose names had not been picked out of the hat yet then had to cross those print(s) off their lists as they were claimed. It was an interesting (and slightly painful process) but all done in the good spirits of the sentiment behind the event.
Well, names kept getting called out and my listed choices were being scratched one by one, except for this one which I did have somewhere in my top twenty as I really liked the colours and compositions in the image, it was one I kept glancing across at, checking to see if it had been ‘claimed’ yet.
When my name finally got pulled out & I got to choose, and despite the majority (over 75%) of the prints being claimed, it was this print on my list of ‘possibles’ that was available and that I chose. As I mentioned, I had admired from a couple of meters away (& thus popped on my list), but not taken a really close look at until I chose it.

Carmel Riordan & Print

Perhaps to many people, it would be a very nice photo but maybe not much more; it is an image of these weathered old blue and red wooden seats at a sporting ground curving off into the distance (and mounted on really nice watercolour paper too I might add) – but when I went up to the print and read the title underneath, my breath literally caught in my throat and I had one of those ‘shiver down your spine’ moments.

The print was titled: “The Old Seats, Whitten Oval, Footscray” and it was by Photographer Carmel Riordan who lives and works in the Western Suburbs.

When I was a young lad, we used to visit my Grandmother and Grandfather (when he was alive) in their little house in Picket St, Footscray. We did this religiously every Saturday up until the time Nan Stephen died. Dad grew up in Footscray and my Grandfather had even played for the Bulldogs in the reserves for a while way back when. Needless to say, we were all big Bulldog supporters.

Dad would usually take us to the footy (at the Whitten Oval) at 3/4 time to watch the last quarter (and also because you got in for free at 3/4 time!) I have many fond memories of it, that was when the footy was only played on Saturday and the teams were all part of the VFL, not the AFL.
In summer Dad used to take me to watch the cricket there (but not a soften as the footy) and one day I got knocked out by a cricket ball that whacked me in the back of the head from some kids who were playing their own match in the area behind the seats.

So those were my memories of the Whitten Oval, but there’s one final poignant kicker. My grandfather LIVED for the Bulldogs and for the Footscray RSL. If he wasn’t at the RSL, he was at the footy watching his beloved Dogs play.
Anyway, one fine day when Pop was in his late 80′s he and an old mate were at the footy (once again, at the Whitten Oval) when the Dogs kicked a winning goal (not sure if this is entirely true but I like to think so) according to his friend, Pop was up on his feet cheering one minute and the next, his pal turned around and Pop was there flat on the ground, dead from a massive, quick, final stroke/heart attack/whatever. I think if Pop had to choose a certain way to leave this mortal coil, he may have chosen this way…(in other words, what a way to go – a good way, I think, for him)

I usually didn’t think about any of that all that much in my teen & later years, but sometime in my 30′s when I got around to watching the documentary Year of the Dogs I found myself suddenly weeping inexplicably halfway through it….go figure.

So I reckon I was meant to get that print, but it does make me wonder at how the universe works in mysterious ways at times.
I sincerely hope I didn’t bore any of you with my story, but I had to share…

February, Fires and Other Things

Cameron — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:13:30 +0000

he last few weeks have been extremely hot and dry with high winds, culminating in the worst bushfires Australia has seen in recorded history on Saturday the 7th (now being called “Black Saturday”) where the temperature reached over 46º C and many fires broke out, involving vast swathes of the State and in some cases totally obliterating some townships. Nearly 2000 homes have been destroyed and over 180 people so far have lost their lives (the final numbers are not confirmed yet, but I suspect it will go higher) My family have been fortunate, despite living in area surrounded by many forests, national parks and wooded catchment areas and the like, danger has so far passed us by, but we remain on alert and have important paperwork, photos (and for me, cameras) packed and ready to go should we need to abandon our home in the face of a dangerous threat. Of course our children and our lives are the main priority, so we must be prepared to lose those material things, if need be. So far the weather has settled and we are just waiting for some rain, but early last night as we were preparing to get the kids to bed and relax when we received a few phonecalls in quick succession from concerned friends and relatives, as a fire had broken out just ‘down the hill’ from us. Thankfully it was contained with alacrity by our brave Country Fire Authority volunteers and other emergency service workers who have been tireless in their dedication to protect the community.
I suppose this leads me to ponder on the transience of ‘things’ and the importance of photography in our personal lives and the construction of our reality through our memories. Often the first material things people try to preserve in the face of disasters like fire are their photo albums. I know that looking through my photographs of my wife and children brings me great joy and sparks recollection of happy times that often get buried below the surface of consciousness by the ongoing events and concern of everyday life.

n a lighter note, the French publisher Editions Allia has kindly sent me 5 complimentary copies of the booklet of Andalusian Poetry featuring my Polaroid abstract on the cover. This is my first Book Cover!!

ic Nichols of Four Corners Dark has an interesting interview with hideki ohmori of powershovel you know Powershovel, the cool people behind the blackbird,fly camera – this is part one, so I am looking forward to reading the next installment – update: pert two is here: interview with hideki ohmori of powershovel part two. Thanks Nic! Speaking of the BBF, the latest issue of Lightleaks magazine (Issue 22) has a review of this fine camera by C. Gary Moyer (as well as many other tasty lo-fidelity photographic content)

Photographer Public Enemy No 1?

Cameron — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:23:24 +0000

Don’t you think it’s a bit sad, the atmosphere of fear and loathing that modern society (and more to the point government and media) has managed to whip up into a frenzy in the minds of the people on the street? This link leads to an interesting view on how amateur and professional photographers alike can be treated in public these days. As the writer of the article (freelance writer and photographer Christopher Deere) notes;

Meanwhile, every train station and office building and shopping centre and corner pub and casino is taking my picture, and there isn’t a damn thing that I can do about it.

Superheadz Shots back from Japan!

Cameron — Sat, 24 May 2008 08:24:56 +0000

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!

Interview

Cameron — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 01:33:56 +0000

Im at work and cant spend too much time entering much, but thought I would grab a quick quiet moment to cut and paste an interview sent to me by a local newspaper reporter in relation to a joint toy camera exhibition coming up later this month (Oct 2007) called The Plastic Photo Show – the questions and answers are fairly self explanatory. Yes, its all about me, me, me

1. Can you please explain the type of cameras you use for your work. How do they make the work different/easier/harder?

The cameras I use are usually manufactured from poor quality materials, usually plastic with little or no quality control. They have simple plastic lenses with questionable optical quality. The degree of control over shutter speed and aperture is usually pretty limited, if it exists at all. The very factors that most photographers would consider drawbacks in these cameras are what work towards making the images produced by them unique and often quite artistic in nature. The poor quality of manufacture leads to edge vignetting and blurriness, light leaks and so on. You can’t ever be really sure what you will get when the film is developed. Sometimes this leads to disappointment, but more often than not you can be pleasantly surprised. When I collect my developed film from the lab, I often feel like a kid on Christmas day, waiting to unwrap the presents. Its a continual buzz of anticipation of a magic shot that keeps me coming back. I guess you would say Im addicted.

2. Do you develop the film at home?

No, I mainly shoot colour and the process is a bit more exacting and unforgiving than Black and White processing. Also having a septic system is incompatible with some of the chemical by-products of home development.

3. What made you decide to start using outdated cameras for your work?

I was getting a little bit jaded by all the digital photos crowding my hard drive. I mean they were ok, but sort of predictable and I felt my photography was getting stale. Then I won an online raffle hosted by another toy camera aficionado, Susan Burnstine, from the U.S.A. on her website. She sent me a toy medium format camera called an Empire Junior. I shot a roll through, developed it and when I saw the quirky results I was hooked. Soon afterwards I began collecting second hand toy cameras and using them almost everyday.

4. How did you first get into photography and what is it about the medium that you like?

My first memory of photography was having a camera thrust into my hands by my father when we were in the city during the Queens visit in early 1970s – I snapped a photo of the royal personage as she passed by. It was at a bit of an angle but not bad for a first effort. I still have that photo. Photography as a medium is amazingly versatile, it can convey a story, an artistic statement, capture a memory, convey emotions and sometimes help change the course of history. Think of how photography helped change peoples perceptions of the Vietnam War, or help save the Franklin River in Tasmania, for example.

5. Are you a professional photographer or is it a hobby? If a hobby what do you do for a living?

It is a hobby, but one that consumes much of my free time, Im very passionate about it (my wife would say obsessed, thankfully she is very supportive!) I am a Registered Nurse, working in the Emergency Department of my local hospital.

6. What are your favourite subjects to photograph?

I have a fondness for the many varied examples of public art that we are blessed with in Melbourne. I also love people and although initially quite shy, I am gradually becoming more confident asking if I can take peoples portraits. There is a wealth of stories in every individuals face.

7. Explain the main themes behind your work?

My work is very eclectic, but I try to capture points of view of scenes in a different perspective to how we would usually look at them in the normal course of our daily life. In the rush of modern living I believe we sometimes forget to see what is really around us, the inherent beauty in everything and everybody.

8. What is it about photography that you think makes it stand out from other mediums?

The ability to capture a unique and definitive moment and mood, never to be repeated in exactly the same way again, makes photography something special.

9. Is this your first exhibition? If not what have been some of the others?

Ive been in one other joint toy camera and pinhole photography exhibition, called Lightleaks at the Kerala Gallery in High St, Northcote, earlier this year.

10. How old are you, any children?

I am 46 and have two children aged 9 and 6 who continually inspire me and help keep my vison young!

Capture the Moment by being Open to the Moment

Cameron — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 10:02:25 +0000

How many times do we drive down the road, busy, busy going places and we see something, say for example, an abandoned rusted out car, lit just right by the setting sun, or as another example, a large group of goths emerging from the train station after a big night out…so, we see something and think “That would make a good photo” – but do…nothing about it, we keep driving, or whatever, because we are too busy, busy, busy to slow down, pull over and take the camera out of our bag and snap a shot or two.

Hang on, lets stop for a moment ~ Q: Everyone reading this always carries at least one camera with them wherever they go, right? Right? If not, why not? Sure, you can capture a moment in your memory, but as far as my current knowledge of neurological sciences goes, no-one can extract that vision from your memory to share with others…yet.

Anyway back to the potential photograph you almost took – I know I’ve let many moments such as this slip past, and later on regretted it. I wonder how often others do. Do we really need to get to wherever we are going so quickly that we can’t pause to smell the metaphorical flowers? This question brings to mind the occassion where I did stop to take a shot I thought would work. It was of a golden Buddha sitting outside a local shop/cafe and looked so shiny and just plain photographable that I decided to make a u-turn pull over and take a photo. It was only when I got closer to the statue that I could read what was on a sign hanging round its neck (I hadn’t even registered the sign as I was driving past, just the lovely goldeness of the thing itself) and what the sign said was this:

“More Buddhas and Gods Inside“

I don’t know about you, but these words changed what would have been a quite nice golden Buddha statue photo into a very interesting (and kind of funny) one in my eyes. I wouldn’t have even seen the sign if I didn’t take the time to pull over and look. There is an added photographic karma angle to this anecdote, because a moment after I took the golden Buddha photo, a local character named Des came out of the shop. Des is a spiritual healer & fondly known locally as “Papa Desi” “Baba Des” and “The Wizard” to name a few of his a.k.a’s. He is frequently seen on the street dressed in usually colourful garb of eastern influence walking with a distinctive cane with a polished metal skull on top. As my wife put it, he looks like he could have stepped off the set of Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. As far as being a wonderful subject for a portrait, well, say no more! Des is a great bloke and has kindly posed for my cameras before, so there I had another nice shot. But wait, there’s more (that’s right, not only do you get the steak knives, but you also get a free chopping board!) – right after I photographed Des, the owner of the shop, Chris, came out. Chris for all intentents and purposes, could be Frank Zappa’s double. So I then captured both Chris and Des on film together. Sheer serendipity!
I think there’s something in this little story for all of us…don’t you?
Happy Snapping!

The Why’s and Wherefore’s

Cameron — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 05:47:43 +0000

I was browsing the toycamera.com forum today and stumbled across an interesting post talking about the underlying philosophies and process of shooting with toy cameras. It’s something I have been thinking about a fair bit and is one of the reasons I created the “words” part of the Plastic Lens site, so I could “think out loud” so to speak, to clarify in my own mind what it is that draws me to this kind of photography.
If you’re interested in reading other people’s thoughts on the subject, it’s not a bad place to start: link -> here

Wandering with Don

Cameron — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 09:21:06 +0000

I had the very good fortune to catch up with Don Brice last Week. Don is a professional photographer and toy camera aficionado from Adelaide and was over in Melbourne on an assignment. We met up at Federation Square amongst a crowd of people following the Australian Open Tennis on the big screen in the square and wandered around the area taking photos with our toy cameras. Having not met Don in person before, I recognised him from his website bio photo and the fact that he was the only other person in the square carrying a dinky looking Diana clone.
It was very illuminating seeing how a truly professional photographer with years of experience behind him approached his art. I really don’t think it matters what equipment you use, the principles of patience, observation, composing and looking for the right light apply universally. Having the kind of experience and knowledge behind you as Don does means that not only can he use his inherent awareness of photographic and composition “rules” effectively, but he also knows how to bend and break the rules to maximum effect. The image included in this post shows him balanced up on a plinth on a wall along the Yarra next to Federation Square pointing his camera towards the West to try and capture the silhouettes & shadows of pedestrians walking towards him (at least I think that’s what he was doing!)
Having a bite to eat and a beer at the famous Young & Jacksons rounded the day off nicely, thanks Don!

In the Beginning

Cameron — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 12:35:58 +0000

To outline how I managed to wander onto the path of toy camera-dom here are extracts from my old blog punkclown daze – Flash Back to April 2005 ~ (wavy visuals and twilight zone theme goes here)

Saturday, April 09, 2005
Whooot! I’m a WINNER!

Well, to cap off a lovely sunny day spent with friends and family I arrived home to find an email from a generous photoblogger named Susan B – who recently had a camera raffle on her site outafocus (has some great photos btw) for some toy cameras. If you wish to find out more on Toy Cameras there is a website devoted to them: toycamera.com ~ anyway to cut a long story short, I actually won one of the cameras she was raffling! I have never won a raffle in my life, so I was pleasantly surprised. Susan is also sending a roll of film with it to get started (I think it takes 120 film) so I have no excuse not to do a bit of Toy Camera Photography (stay tuned for results from this camera) I’m looking forward to it. Some think that the lomo’s are toy cameras but i think there would be debate about that, as traditionally toy cameras usually have plastic lens, but perhaps it’s more about the look of the final developed image…my Supersampler is probably somewhere between a novelty camera and a toy camera, but it has glass lenses (all 4 of them) ~ anyhow digression and discussion aside, I would like to say a big THANKS to Susan!
Now I’m going out to look through my Telescope as it is a wonderfully clear and balmy night.

(later that month)

Saturday, April 16, 2005
Thanks Susan

I would like to thank Susan Burnstine from outafocus for being such a nice person and fellow camera afficianado – today the Empire Junior she raffled (and I won) on her site arrived by post! Cool! I even managed to load the 120 film (which Susan also generously supplied) without busting it. Now to get some black masking tape for the light leaks she warned me about!
Stay tuned for some 120 photos from this cute little camera (refer to image of me very happy with aforementioned camera)

So there you have it, although I was aware of toy camera photography and had admired other people’s toy camera work elsewhere, I really was inexperienced until I got my hands on this little beauty from Susan, so if you apprecaite my stuff, thank Susan B. Of course if my toy camera photography sucks, that’s entirely my fault, not Susans!