Following on from yesterday’s post – it’s been kind of interesting getting a feel for what all this Lomo stuff is about. I don’t know what it is that draws me to the Lomography style exactly… I think it must be the lack of any fixed rules, and the way it captures bits of life and the environment in a way that is hard to duplicate with conventional photography. Again, you can see examples of what people are producing at http://www.lomography.com/photos.
The one thing I’m missing in using my iPhone for this is the restriction that film photography places on you. The thing about digital is that, in the end, if you don’t like a shot, you can delete it. I’ve purposely been trying NOT to retake shots I’m not happy with, reason being that I wouldn’t have the chance to review and reject with film like I do with digital. I’ve been really enjoying it, and I’m going to carry with the iphone Lomo – Including a run down of the apps I’ve been using to produce the shots (more on that later!).
Talking of yesterday’s Eureka moment, I had another, even bigger on this morning. A real slap on the forehead, why-didn’t-I-realize-that-before moment.
I was thinking back over the film cameras I’ve still got, and digging through my collection of old Zenits, Canon EOS and Minoltas, when i remembered an old TLR (Twin Lens Refex) medium format box I got hold of years ago. I got hold of it back in university, in an attempt to do some experimentation with Medium Format 120 roll film. Unfortunately, it’s something I never actually got around to doing, what with the advent of digital and all the cheap snappyness associated with it. So I dug it out…
Turns out, it’s a Lubitel 166B. What’s a Lubitel 166B when it’s at home I hear you cry (or not). Well… it’s a Russian camera, produced in the early 80s, but based on a design from around 1950. It was cheaply made as a way for Amateurs to experiment with using Medium Format. The best bit…?
It’s made by LOMO.
I’ve had it here all this time, and never realised I was sitting on a bit of classic Lomography kit! It’s one of a selection of cameras used by the Lomo community to capture images on film. Examples of such work can be found at http://www.lomography.com/photos/cameras/Lubitel%20166B/popular.
Looking over it – it’s a lovely little bit of kit. It feels so raw and primitive compared to the most basic of digital SLRs. It’s completely mechanical, so no batteries, and no electronics. It’s a box, with a variable hole at the front, that allows you to project a fixed image on a piece of film. In short – it’s a camera – with no bells and whistles. No auto focus, no auto exposure. Nada. Why is it that that makes me feel so excited??? Shouldn’t I be looking at this, in all it’s out-of-date plasticness, and be horrified at the prospect of having to manually work out exposures? The answer is a resounding no. The simplicity of all this is what interests me.
Anyway – I thought I’d take a few shots of the little beauty (ironically, with my Digital SLR) and share them with you…
It’s got a plastic-covered body, with a metal underframe. Focussing is done manually on a groundglass screen (pic two), and there is a little pop-up magnifier which assists the process a bit, though ease of focussing is not meant to be one of its strong points. There is something nice though, about using a focussing screen to frame the shot rather than a held-to-the-eye viewfinder – not sure what – I just like it! Aperture (f4.5-22) and shutter speed (Bulb, to 250th Sec) are done manually. It does have a self-timer though, so selfs are a definite possibility. Pic one shows it all packed up and capped. It only weighs about 500g – nice and easy to carry.
The upshot of this is that I now have a ready path to follow in actually trying genuine Lomography. Bizarrely. I’m actually looking forward to the restrictions that this camera and the use of film will place on me. The fact that it has the viewfinder on top is also going to be interesting. This will allow me to ‘shoot from the hip’ so to speak. I know for a fact that getting interesting candids probably wont be as hard with this. I will, of course, blog about it once I’ve done a bit more fiddling around…