It is completely inexcusable of course, but I haven’t had a chance to do anything much except fulfil work & family responsibilities lately, so my apologies for any lack of content here. I hope everyone has had a very safe & happy festive season and wish you all a incredible New Year!
Here is a small edited snippet of some 8mm film I shot for Powershovel/Superheadz featuring my favourite plastic Twin Lens Reflex Camera, the blackbird,fly – http://www.superheadz.com/bbf
Thanks to my nephew who filmed most of this clip (on a Fujica ‘Single-8′ P2) whilst I wandered around with my bbf. Many, many thanks to Nick and all at Powershovel/Superheadz.
I have edited the footage in iMovie ’09 the backing music is ‘comfortable mystery’ by Kevin MacLeod – http://incompetech.com

In other news I was browsing a local “Opportunity Shop” the other day and spied an Olympus XA camera with flash in it’s original box for a modest amount.

Olympus XA

A good old fashioned movie camera.

We Love the BBF from artpunk on Vimeo.

T

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.

O

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!!

N

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)

fter a few enquiries and the fact that I have been meaning to put together and upload this for a while but just never got around to it, here is an otherwise boring (insomniacs if you need a cure look here) visual tutorial on how to load film into your BBF (blackbird,fly) camera, I hope it is of use to someone out there.
As I said, I have been planning on uploading a guide to loading film into the blackbird,fly camera for a while, but life (and having fun taking photos!) sort of distracted me. The reason I initially planned to do this has not changed; when I first got the prototype version of the camera I was initially very unsure if I was actually loading film into it correctly – and this is someone who is used to loading film into cameras, so I could only imagine how approaching the job would be for people not as familiar with film photography!

The trick with loading film into the bbf is patience and practice. When I first got the camera I found it quite fiddly as my fingers are fat sausages in relation to the fine workings of the camera, so I felt quite clumsy (which I am anyway) but even I got there in the end.
(loading film into a Horizon panoramic camera is far more of a challenge IMHO)

Please note – if you find that you are winding the film on after loading and the film advance knob does not ‘lock’ in place then this means the film leader has not properly engaged in the take up spool and you will need to open the back and try again.
(After each exposure the film will advance a certain amount and then the film advance knob will stop winding on, indicating that the camera is ready for photography and the shutter needs to be released before the wind on knob will advance again)

Loading Film Into the BBF from artpunk on Vimeo.

W

ell, today is the first day of the last month of the calendar year. It’s been a busy year here at theplasticlens, with one exhibition, developing B&W film for the first time in donkey’s years and let’s not forget the arrival of the new blackbird,fly camera from Superheadz/Powershovel in Japan.
In other exciting happenings I took the family to the Northern Territory and we drove from Central Australia to Darwin at the top end, taking many photos as we went. Also, one of my Polaroids will be used as cover art for a published book (more details when it is actually published).
But we still have 30 more days for the year I hear you say – what else can we expect? Well, the mad holiday season of course BUT! also – new blackbird,fly colours are to be released for all you bbf fans out there. That’s right! Apparently there will be a release of white and red versions of the bbf. You may remember that on the initial release of the blackbird,fly in Tokyo there were a limited number of alternative colours to the black, orange and blue versions released. These were yellow, brown and white. It looks like Superheadz are looking to expand the regular colour range, including the previously rare white, but adding red as well. This is all good news because it must mean that the interest in (and purchases of) the bbf is high enough to warrant a new production batch with new choices. I’m very happy about this because the Powershovel/Superheadz people deserve success with this refreshingly new approach to the toy camera field (and they’re really nice people too, which makes the success and ongoing developments with the camera even sweeter)
I will keep you posted with news as soon as more information comes to hand.

T

his post is for my readers in New York, New York (or near New York or planning on visiting New York) who might be interested in the blackbird,fly camera. I received an email from a nice person named Amy, who asked me to pop in a plug for the International Center of Photography Museum Store where the blackbird,fly camera is available for those looking to buy one. Blue, Orange and Black versions are available at what seems to be a very reasonable price considering the global market ~ oh, if only I had American dollars and not the (rather depreciated at the moment) Aussie dollar!
Here is the direct link to buy the bbf camera at the ICP store and here is the address if you are lucky enough to be in New York:
1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036 | Phone 212.857.0000

I

n Tokyo there lives a very generous man named Susuma Kohda, who also happens to be a very talented photographer. This morning an Australia Post vehicle delivered a package to my door. Inside were two magazines kindly sent to me by Susumu, one was the latest edition of Snap! where more of my images (along with those from other talented photographers) were again used to illustrate what the blackbird,fly camera is capable of. Both of my children were represented which thankfully prevented any sibling rivalry, naturally they were excited to see themselves in print again! The other magazine was called 34 ThirtyFour Magazine and had some truly fantastic examples of Susumu’s portraiture work using a Diana + camera.
Thanks very much Susumu!
I would also like to thank Skorj, another great guy who lives in Tokyo, who sent me a copy of the first Snap! magazine my photos appeared in at about the same time Susumu did, so I ended up with two copies of that one!

WTCD Lillies - taken with the bbf

I also mentioned that the blackbird,fly website is updated (again) with an english version and links to availability of the camera outside of Japan. – For Australian readers that would be Via Alley, which I have provided a link button to on the sidebar. Not only do they sell Superheadz gear but have lots of other interesting stuff on their site. If you visit and actually order something (like, let’s say a bbf) – please tell them theplasticlens sent you!

To all my Australian friends asking about the bbf please check out the Via Alley site. This comes to me today from Kat White (thanks Kat) -

“I have spoken to one of the guys at the Via Alley store (based in Paddington) and he has told me that they will have them instock in 2 weeks and they will be selling them for $180. I’ve asked him to tell me when they come in stock, so I’ll let you all know. Oh and they will be getting all three colours in”