In August I went to Jakarta, Indonesia to visit my parents. My father does work overseas and so we have moved around from India to South America to Indonesia. All the moving and travelling has left me wanting to study the world around me, finding new ways of capturing the beautiful and the not so beautiful.
In high school my main way of expressing myself, and what I observed about the world, came through the power of words. Now that I am in university I want to discover other ways to express myself and have settled on toy photography. Toy photography involves the use of old school cameras, ones that require good old-fashioned film. There is a twist though every toy camera is different. They all can create different effects. Some, like the Diana, create dream like photos while others create fishbowl effects with the right lens use.
But back to my Jakarta visit. While there I stumbled upon this beautiful little camera, the Diana Mini En Rose.
This little pink beauty is no bigger than my palm, but creates the most beautiful and dreamy images. I love the attitude that toy camera users or Lomographers have. They are not afraid to take risks; they love taking photos in a carefree way. There isn’t too much planning and preparation, point and shoot, wait for happy accidents. And so I am about to embark on a photo challenge this semester.
I will follow the “10 Golden Rules” of Lomography:
- Take your camera everywhere you go.
- Use it any time-day and night.
- Lomography is not an interference in your life, but part of it.
- Try the shot from the hip.
- Approach the objects of your Lomographic desire as close as possible.
- Don’t think. (William Firebrace)
- Be Fast.
- You don’t have to know beforehand what you captured on film.
- Afterwards either.
- Don’t worry about any rules.
While following the Golden Rules I will learn to scan negatives, so I can share my adventures here. If anyone wants to join me on this adventure go to www.lomography.ca and find a camera you like, maybe even make an account, and post the pictures of your journey.
Good luck!