Tag Archives: long
Key West is a crazy place, but how do you capture the essence of the insanity? Through a plastic lens and some crazy film, of course.
The view while floating on my back in the pool where we were staying. I miss that palm tree. Shot with Holga on Kodak Tmax 400iso.
Our favorite coffee shop in KW
While I was in Key West I did a little experimentation with double and long exposures, as well as with Revolog’s Tesla II and Rasp films. My results were trippy, mind-warping goodness. These toy camera shots not only show you the sights, they really capture the essence of Key West.
I own two Holgas and they each take very different pictures. The Holga I brought to KW was my zebra-striped special, which has a lens that fuzzes out a lot of the periphery of my pictures. Look at the first picture in this post, the palm tree. You can see the softness all along the borders of the photo, giving it a very dreamy quality. Floating beneath that tree in the pool, enjoying the cool water, was very relaxing and tranquil, a mood that is captured perfectly in this Holga picture.
Let’s start our tripped-out tour of Key West with some black and white Holga shots from my brother’s wedding.




It was a beautiful, sunny day and it was HOT! The sultry air made everyone feel a little lazy. Add some beer and tequila to the mix and the world became a little soft and fuzzy. The Holga plus black and white film brings that mood to these pictures.
I really love using the Holga for long-exposure shots at weddings because it captures the energy of the day, as it does in the long exposure shots of my brother Jim and his wife April, as they cut their cake.
The two shots at the railing by the water are especially sweet. They show Lexi, April’s daughter (and my new niece) gazing out at the sea, one with a friend Shane and the other, all by herself. Check out the clouds…all zoomy and funny looking at the edges.
Next, we’ll move onto some shots made trippy by the film I used. You’ve seen a couple of these shots before, but bear with me. The first two are taken on Revolog Tesla II and show April and Jimmy with lightning bolts.


It’s great when the random special effects on this film show up in just the right areas. Next, a couple taken on Revolog Rasp. The first is very underexposed, the second is just phenomenal.


The textures of Rasp add a funkiness to these shots that I just love.
Back to shots from my Holga, which has a tendency to wind film in a wonky manner, causing some overlapping. First, you’ll see the two pictures separately, then all together.



We’ll finish up with some of the weirdest shots on the roll. I tried for some intentional double exposures, which turned out okay, but when the film was exposed to light as I unloaded it from the camera, these shots became magic.
The background is of a fence with a sign that reads “No Parking Unless Snow Depth Exceeds 2 inches”
Long exposure of a British phone booth in someone’s backyard
Trippy scooter
Sailing off into the great unknown
as my husband put it, “sailing through tide and times”
Toy cameras are the perfect medium for a funky place like Key West. I will never go anywhere eclectic without my Holga and some film. I do love the iPhone photos I took, but once again, film gave my pictures a depth and character that I couldn’t have achieved otherwise. Thanks for virtual tripping with me
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a comment | tags: "Key West", analogue, boats, callard, camera, cheap, Cuban Coffee Queen, exposure, fi, fidelity, film, Holga, ipdegirl, jenni, leaks, light, lo, lo-fi, lomo, lomography, long, low, ocean, philosophy, photo, photography, plastic, postaweek2012, sail, tour, toy, trippy, vacation, Water, wedding | posted in Lo-fi Philosophies
I’ve been wanting to try microclicks for a long time and I finally got around to doing it earlier this year. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this technique, microclicks is a way of making an overlapping panoramic shot in a Holga or Diana. You aim the camera at your subject, take a picture and instead of winding to the next frame you just wind it 3 or 4 clicks and take another shot. Make sure you turn about 20 degrees every few shots and eventually you’ll have a dreamy panoramic picture that spans the width of 2 to 3 frames of medium format film or, if you choose, you can make the entire roll into one large panoramic photo.
For this roll I used my Holga with Ilford’s Super XP2, iso 400 and a yellow filter. If you’re doing this in sunny situations, a filter will be necessary to counteract any overexposure. As you can see in this first shot, taken at the Philly Art Museum, the yellow filter didn’t really help. I was trying to take a shot of the outside of the building from the Rocky Steps.

Oh well. Here are a couple more photos from that day.

Long exposure of a window in the museum’s cafe



I did make some successful microclicks when I took my Holga and yellow filter to the beach.




I’m very happy with these results! I got these by aiming, clicking, advancing the film 4 clicks and turning slightly after each advancement of the film. Next time, I’ll only advance the film 2 or 3 clicks and make a slight turn every 3 or 4 shots. It’s a really fun technique.
Here are two non-microclick pictures from our beach day. The yellow filter really makes for wonderful contrast in these pictures. I’m going to have to start using it more often.


Like this:
Like Loading...
1 comment | tags: analogue, Art Museum, Beach, callard, camera, cheap, Delaware, fi, fidelity, film, Holga, how, ipdegirl, jenni, lo, lo-fi, lomo, lomography, long, low, microclicks, Philadelpia, philosophy, photo, photography, plastic, postaweek2012, Rocky Steps, technique, toy | posted in How do I....
I love what I have to share with you today because not only are these pictures from Key West, but they’re on Revolog’s Tesla 2 film. I love Revolog’s films because they add another layer of unpredictability to my photos, creating a little surprise in each frame. This was my first time using Tesla 2 and it’s my new favorite Revolog film, for sure.
With Tesla 2, reddish lighting bolts appear in random places within your picture, kind of like this.

How fun is that? You can channel your inner wizard/mad scientist, like my brother did in this picture.

I used my Lomography La Sardina for this roll, which in retrospect may not have been the best camera for the job. The focus is SO touchy! If you’re not in exactly the right place, your pictures will be fuzzy, and not in a good way. I brought this camera because of the bulb setting and ability to make multiple exposures but I think my Vivitar UWS would have been a better choice. With it’s fixed focus, I wouldn’t have had the problems I did with the La Sardina.
I’m not sure what the trick to getting bright lighting bolts to appear is, but I’m willing to spend more money and play around with the Tesla 2 to figure it out. Here’s what the film looks like when the picture is black. I’m unsure of what happened to this frame. Possibly, the shutter was tripped accidentally in my bag?
I love it!! Freaky cool, isn’t it?
It seems to me the more underexposed the picture is, the better the lightning shows up. More lighting also shows up in the darker places of each photo.



In these pictures, which are exposed properly or don’t have many dark places, it’s tougher to see the lightning.




These two pictures were long exposures. Much like the properly exposed film, the lighting effects are more subtle.


Because Hannah and Michael, the creators of Revolog film, produce each roll by hand, the effects are totally random, so there’s no full-proof way of framing your shot to maximize each film’s characteristic. To me, that’s the fun part of it all.



Once again, Revolog has wowed me. I love the subtle effects of Tesla 2. Because I was taking pictures of an already beautiful place, the lightning didn’t detract from my subjects. Instead, my pictures received a little injection of humor and surprise. I only wish it came in frames with 36 rolls instead of just 12
Like this:
Like Loading...
2 comments | tags: "Key West", "revolog", 35mm, analogue, bolt, callard, camera, cheap, Delaware, fi, fidelity, film, ipdegirl, jenni, lightning, lo, lo-fi, lomo, lomography, long, low, photo, photography, postaweek2012, review, Tesla 2, toy | posted in I love this film!
The first roll of 1600 iso color film that I ran through my Fuji Natura Classica has returned and I must say, it has given me mixed results. The camera performed fabulously in low light conditions with faster film, but there were some pictures that left me scratching my head.
For example, a few of the photos in natural light were blurry. I’ve heard of this phenomenon with the Natura Classica, but this is the first time I’ve personally experienced it. These pictures are from a trip to Twin Lakes Brewing Co. in Greenville, DE. I HIGHLY recommend a trip there if you’re in the area. The brewer, Sam Hobbs, personally sits down and weaves a tale of history, brewing basics and the environmentally sound practices that his brewery adheres to. The brewery is on a farm that has been in Sam’s family for seven generations and has played a large part in the history of northern Delaware.


See? Just they’re just this side of out of focus. Not enough to make them horrible pictures, but disappointing nonetheless. There was a pleasant surprise on this roll. I posed with the “Stanley Cup of Beer Growlers” and had Sam take a shot of it with my iPhone while Jake took the shot with the Fuji.


Wow! The Natura Classica did a MUCH better job! Here are a couple more pictures from our brewery experience.






That’s a giant bag of hops.
There were also pictures on this roll of our trip to the Philadelphia Art Museum. I had lots of opportunity to play with light and shapes. First, I have to show you the picture that almost got me kicked out of the museum. I snapped this shot of Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” and a security guard TOTALLY busted me, telling me to put away the camera. No pictures allowed. I figured it was no FLASH photography, but I was wrong.


There’s lots of graininess in this picture, but I don’t think it detracts from the subject.





This last shot is one of my favorites
There was a beautiful display in a dimly lit room of some iron work. The play between the hard shapes and their shadows was interesting.



I think this is the point at which the Natura might have been on the outer edges of its range. While I really like these pictures, they would’ve looked better if they weren’t so grainy.
Here’s another fun comparison shot between the iPhone

And the Natura Classica

The 1600 film gives the second picture a much different feel and character than the digital Hipstamatic shot.
Lastly, we had dinner at Garces Market and I took the opportunity to snap some pictures.




Again, for comparison, here’s an iPhone shot at the restaurant.

All in all, I’m quite pleased with this roll of 1600 but once again, I’m reminded of the limits of film when it comes to dim light. I still love my Natura Classica and will continue using it on a regular basis, especially at places like museums and restaurants. Sometimes the graininess of the fast film adds character, sometimes it just detracts. The experimenting will continue.
Like this:
Like Loading...
1 comment | tags: "Fuji Natura Classica", "Twin Lakes Brewing Company", 1600, analogue, art, callard, camera, Delaware, exposure, fi, fidelity, film, ipdegirl, jenni, lo, lo-fi, lomo, long, low, museum, Philadelphia, photo, photography, postaweek2012 | posted in My Adventures
World Toy Camera Day is always a fantastically fun day for me. Not only is it a great excuse to use any of my cameras, but it’s also the same day as the party of the year in my neck of the woods. My great friends hold their annual Lakeview Invitational Lawn Tractor Race, which is a little poke at the culture in our area, mixed with Halloween costumes and the biggest drinking game on wheels (don’t worry, we only stick to the lawn).

Riders are in teams of two and must be in costume. First person chugs a twelve ounce beverage of their choice, then does one lap around the house. When they get to pit row, the second rider chugs a beverage and hops on until each rider has completed three laps. So that the chugging is the element of speed (so to speak), there is a qualifying round in which the judges take your tractor for one lap to determine your start time, which is staggered so the slowest riders go first. After the race, there’s a wicked Cornhole tournament, then a poker game.

This year’s winners, The Flintstones, with the coveted trophy

The Ref and Fred

I was the Queen of the Tractor Races

Flo the Progressive Car Insurance lady and the Utz Girl

My daughter Phoebe on our borrowed sweet ride

My other daughter Zoe as a Dead Lalaloopsie Doll—she always dresses as something dead

Gorton’s Fisherman and Jolly Green Giant discuss the details

Sarah and Zoe

Favorite shot of the day—Flashing the woods

My husband Jake, dressed as the “One Percent” who’s rich in the USA

Phoebe’s Glamour Pirate Shot

Assessing the Cornhole bracket

Cornhole overlapping shot
All shots were taken with my Holga on Fuji slide film that was cross-processed.
Like this:
Like Loading...
2 comments | tags: "World Toy Camera Day 2011", analogue, autumn, callard, camera, cheap, costumes, Delaware, fi, fidelity, film, games, Halloween, Holga, jenni, lo, lo-fi, lomo, lomography, long, low, party, photo, photography, plastic, postaweek2012, races, toy, tractor | posted in My Adventures
Over the holidays I decided to try my hand at some light painting while walking along the streets of my town at night. For these shots I used my Smena 8 with Kodak Gold iso 400 film.

I was getting warmed up here. As you can see, it’s just a hand-held long-exposure shot, but I like the composition.

This one is zippy! I moved the camera in circles near a bare tree lit by LED lights.

The lights in this tree were further up in the sky. I must have used small, circular motions because the shapes made by the lights look like little snails.

These lights were at the top of a lamppost. They were the old-fashioned kind of lights with giant colored bulbs. You can really see the difference in color temperature between these and the LEDs.
I have more light painting shots on the way. I loaded my Canon 70′s film SLR with Fuji slide film (which I’m getting cross-processed) and am eager to see what I captured.
Remember the Photo Palace bus? Well I got this email from Anton, one of its creators:
Hi Friends,
Well with two weeks left in the funding campaign I really am hoping for a miracle. We are only 20% funded and somehow we are supposed to raise the rest in just 14 days.
I was going to make a video update talking about the educational component of the venture, but with 30 minutes left at my job (which is where I edited the last video because my computer is not powerful enough) my Final Cut file crashed and the info got lost so there’s no time to start over…
In the update I was going to say how many wonderful things we will offer to the film community at large: art shows where people can see a gum print and a tintype and a bromoil print, workshops on pinhole cameras and cyanotypes for kids, more involved classes for adults, lectures on the history of film and how it affected the developments in photography, setting up community dark rooms all over the country…. there was a lot there, but now it’s all lost in the digital realm (if I was working with film this would not have happened…). In any case – imagine me looking rather desperate in my packed-up darkroom pleading for help
It was going to be a good movie…
I really hope that this goes through and we’ll be able to get on the road by summertime. PLEASE help us out by doing another wave of postings here and there and everywhere about this project with a link to it. If you tell the people – ‘hey, I support this!’ they may listen closer and support it as well, right?
Below is the photo of Rollov Film Center – the space where I taught about a dozen students for the past year. It’s all cleaned up and ready for my departure. Please help make this campaign a success
Sincerely,
Anton
Yikes! Please help spread the word about this fantastic project and if you haven’t yet contributed to the fund, hop on over to their Kickstarter site and do so. It’s such a fantastic way to let people know that film is NOT obsolete and that there are lots of us who still love kickin’ it the lo-fi way. Besides, I really want to meet these two fellas when they come to my town!
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a comment | tags: "Smena 8", "The Photo Palace", analogue, callard, camera, cheap, Delaware, exposure, fi, fidelity, film, ipdegirl, jenni, light, lo, lo-fi, lomo, lomography, long, low, painting, philosophy, photo, photography, retro, Russian | posted in My Adventures
I don’t use my Brownie Hawkeye enough and a roll of film I recently scanned is proof of that. It gives me the coolest light leaks when I take long-exposure shots. This is my favorite shot from a roll of Fuji slide film that I exposed in Cape May, NJ and on the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach. I don’t know what the little granules are on the right side of the picture but they create some really interesting shadows in that light leak.

Here’s another one that I really like because the numbers on the film paper are very faintly exposed on the right side of the shot (I’m noticing a pattern here…maybe the right side of the camera is leaky).

Another long exposure shot didn’t turn out so well. This was a kiddie ride in motion. I was hoping to get some blurring from the swings but that didn’t happen.

My Brownie Hawkeye is also fun to use because it usually sparks a conversation between me and someone who remembers it fondly from their youth. I love hearing those stories.


Inadvertently, I got a great double exposure.

Here’s a spidery-looking ride at Playland.


Finally, a shot of me and my husband Jake in the mirror of the vintage photo booth on the boardwalk. We were waiting for our black and white pictures to develop

My next project with the Brownie will be long exposure shots only on both slide and negative color film. It will be interesting to see what I might get.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a comment | tags: "Brownie Hawkeye", "Cape May, "light leaks", "Rehoboth Beach, analogue, antique, callard, camera, carnival, cheap, DE, Delaware, exposure, fi, fidelity, film, jenni, lo, lo-fi, lomo, lomography, long, low, NJ", photo, photography, plastic, postaweek2011, retro, rides, toy, vintage | posted in My Adventures
One of my closest friends, Mike, practices Aikido, a form of martial arts, and was kind enough to invite me and my family along when his group was training on the beach. I was thrilled to capture the group’s flowing motions, stark uniforms and weaponry against a backdrop of sand and surf. Since Mike also appreciates the lo-fi aesthetic I was ready to capture some beautiful black and white images with my Holga and maybe print a few for him. But, as often happens in the toy camera world, that’s not exactly how things worked out. I made a totally amateur mistake when I forgot to check if the shutter was set to “Bulb” instead of “Normal” (you can see where this is going now, can’t you?).



Big fat whoops on my part. I really wished these pictures had actually been in focus. Somehow, I did get a shot of the group that came out really nicely.

It probably wouldn’t have been much sharper had I had it on the Normal setting. In retrospect, even though the shots didn’t come out the way I planned, I really like them. The motions look ethereal and ancient, which I feel reflects some of the character of the martial arts. Also, the sun was going down at the time and the bulb setting gave me the light I needed for a decent exposure.



Before I take a shot with any toy camera, I often follow the advice given to me by a photographer when I was a kid: Hold your breath, then press the button. That advice certainly saved some of these photos from being completely disastrous.


Then there are these last two shots. After I got home and realized my mistake I fired off these last two shots. The first is of four circles of roofing nails. They’d be much cooler in macro mode, but I seem to have misplaced my diopter, so this is what I got.

And finally, my wonderful children showing their love for each other at the dinner table….

Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a comment | tags: aikido, analogue, Beach, black, callard, camera, cheap, Delaware, exposure, fi, fidelity, film, Holga, ipdegirl, jenni, lo, lo-fi, lomo, lomography, long, philosophy, photo, photography, plastic, postaweek2011, toy, white | posted in Lo-fi Philosophies
Lomography’s La Sardina is a great looking camera. I love my Marathon and the way the olive drab colored case is decorated with graphic prints that make this simple camera look like a sardine case. So, do I love how this camera takes pictures? The answer is a resounding yes.


Let’s start off with the basics. La Sardina is a 35mm camera with a rather wide 21mm lens that gives you an 89-degree look at your world (wow!). The aperture is a fixed f/8, which is relatively large in the toy camera world (the majority of plastic cameras have f/16 or higher making it necessary to use them only in bright sunlight). Two shutter speeds are available, bulb and normal (1/100). I love this feature in toy cameras and find it almost a necessity because of their tiny apertures. Here are some long-exposure shots.



It’s also possible to create multiple exposures with just a flick of a switch.



There’s a film counter on top and a window on the back door to view information on the film canister. This often-overlooked detail is huge because in many plastic cams it’s impossible to tell what kind of film (if any) is loaded in the camera. If you’re anything like me you’ve exposed many frames of film to direct light while opening the back of the camera to check what’s inside.
The La Sardina is one of the easiest rewinding cameras around. The process is simple and fast PLUS your film is always left with a bit of the leader exposed, making it much easier to shoot a doubles roll with your favorite photography buddies.
Also included on the body of the camera are a cable release connection, tripod screw mount and the ability to attach an external flash.

Now, enough about aesthetics, how does it take pictures? I have found that, like many wide-angle lens cameras, the closer I am to the subject the better the picture. Here are some shots of far away action


And close up



Since the closest focusing distance is 0.6 meters (roughly 3 feet) you can stay pretty close to the action and get some nice shots but only if you remember to set the focusing ring to the appropriate setting. The one drawback to the La Sardina is its two-step focusing system. There are three distances to choose from: 0.6m, 1 meter and infinity. It is important that you set the right distance on the camera otherwise your subject will be out of focus. I found this out the hard way, as you can see from these shots.


With other plastic cameras setting the focusing distance is irrelevant. In fact I don’t even bother with that step when using my Holga. I’m going to have to play with La Sardina a while longer before I figure out it’s optimum focusing distances and that’s OK. The other features of this camera make it a stellar addition to LSI’s line of cameras.



Like this:
Like Loading...
1 comment | tags: 35mm, analogue, callard, camera, Delaware, exposure, fi, fidelity, film, Holga, jenni, La Sardina, lo, lo-fi, lomo, lomography, long, low, photo, photography, plastic, postaweek2011, review, toy | posted in Camera Reviews
Whenever I travel I bring a film camera along and our latest trip to Philadelphia, PA was no exception, but there was one little twist. Usually I bring a 35mm or medium format camera with me but yesterday I brought along my Polaroid Spirit and three packs of The Impossible Project’s instant film. It was a little bit of a risky move for me because it’s tough taking instant shots on the run: My family gets tired of stopping for me and often leave me in the dust so I have to be fast with my composition, focus and button pressing. Also, I’ve not yet mastered TIP’s films and usually get crappy results.
Of course, I also had my iPhone with me and I set a mission for myself. Take some macro shots of anything but flowers. They’re so easy as macro subjects, beautiful too, but I wanted to try to branch out (no pun intended). First thing I needed to do was find out what kind of film was left in my Polaroid–color or black and white. These two shots were the last of that pack.

Lesson # 1: I got much better results on the second shots because I turned the light/dark slider to the middle, where it should be been in the first place for a bright sunny day, instead of all the way to the light side, as is often recommended for TIP films. So from now on, I’m going to set that slider where I think it should be, not where they recommend it be set.
We got a late start leaving and didn’t arrive in Philly until well after 1:30 pm so the first stop was lunch at Reading Market. I had a VERY yummy Italian Pork sandwich with broccoli rabe and provolone cheese from this shop 
Lesson #2: You can actually take a decent Polaroid picture inside a busy market! I was shocked that this one came out as well as it did but I applied the knowledge gleaned from lesson #1 and voila!
Next we visited the Franklin Institute where I tried to take some macro shots but there just wasn’t enough time. We had to move quickly through the museum because we only had an hour and ten minutes before it closed. These are my macro attempts
This diamond patterned metal never looks as cool close up as it does far away. I’ve tried a couple of times to do macros of it and haven’t found an interesting way to photograph it close up. I did, however, get some other really cool photos 
The entrance to the museum
Pendulum filled with sand that drew a pattern on the table as it traveled
Pola shot of some optical illusion art
Looking down the stairs at the pendulum on the bottom floor
Surgical instruments
Cool, glowing light sconce
Old pocket watch and my eldest daughter in the background
We had a long walk back to Independence Hall and had to plot our course, so we stopped at the giant fountain in Logan Circle where I got one of the best shots of my three kids to date.

First they were goofing around. My son waded up to his knees in the water and then I got….

The Money Shot!
I saw them sitting staggered on the side of the fountain and took two shots, in which my son was giving his best cheese-ball grin, before I got this one. Look for it in this years’ Christmas card.
Lesson #3: The best family portraits are ALWAYS spontaneous!!
Our hike included Chinatown where I got some of these pictures

Loved the red in the lady’s hat and bags that echoed the red ribbons on the Foo Dogs necks



I’ll probably texturize this in Pic Grunger at a later date, but I loved the symmetry
On to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall where I KNOW I got the coolest shot of the day

I was FLOORED that this came out so well!!!!! It’s far and away the coolest Liberty Bell shot of the day. Here’s the picture I took with my iPhone. It’s a bit of a different angle, but you get the idea

No where NEAR the same detail. Which brings me to
Lesson #4: Just because a film has performed poorly in the past doesn’t mean it will perform poorly in the future.
I did NOT expect to get the crazy, detailed results of the Bell in those poor lighting conditions but, once again, I switched the light/dark switch all the way to dark because it wasn’t very well-lit, and I got a fantastic picture.
Other cool stuff from that area…

Granite wall with the names of George Washington’s slaves
Looking for something for dinner we strolled through what must’ve been the young and hip section of the city. All the beautiful people were sitting in tables on the sidewalk eating fancy food at restaurants with one name. That’s not really our style, especially with the kids in tow, so we found an alley with some excellent Irish-style pubs. Dinner was eaten here

Then, it was back on the subway for the trip back to the car. There are TONS of things to photograph in the subway. Here’s my Philly subway collection.








It was a really fun day and I learned some important lessons. The last of which is…
Lesson #5: Go with the flow. You may start out your day expecting to do one thing (taking macro shots of stuff other than flowers) but that thing might not be in the cards for you that day. Something better may be planned for you instead (getting excellent family photos and Polaroids).
Thank you, City of Brotherly Love, for inspiring my photographic journey. My little family and I will be visiting again very soon.
Like this:
Like Loading...
2 comments | tags: "DiNics", "Franklin Institute", "Liberty Bell", "Reading Market", "The Impossible Project", analogue, antique, callard, camera, cheap, Chinatown, exposure, family, fi, fidelity, film, history, instant, ipdegirl, iPhone, iPhoneography, jenni, kids, lessons, lo, lo-fi, lomo, lomography, long, low, macro, PA, Philadelphia, philosophy, photo, photography, plastic, polaroid, portrait, postaweek2011, retro, subway, TIP, toy, vintage | posted in My Adventures