Category: Toy & Trash cameras

Light Leaks Magazine Showcase Gallery

Back in April I was approached by the editors of Light Leaks Magazine to do a showcase of my toy camera and polaroid photos. I was thrilled because it’s a toy camera magazine I’ve been reading for the past couple of years, and there’s always interesting work to be seen in it’s pages. The latest issue just went live and you can buy your own copy online.

LL17-RA-FINAL-1

LL17-RA-FINAL-2

I’m really happy with the selection of images that have been included in the showcase. Featured here are photos taken with a holga, Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim, polaroid, and a P-Sharan pinhole camera.

Variations of film in a holga camera

Mannequins

When Boris and I were in Victoria earlier this year I came across the motherload of medium format expired slide film in a small camera store in Bastion Square. At first I was hesitant to buy it all because most of the film was 220 and I wasn’t sure I could shoot this in my holga. For those not familiar with film formats, medium format film come in 120 rolls which allows for 12 exposures or 220 rolls which allow for 24 exposures (this varies with the type of camera). The larger roll also doesn’t work with every medium format camera, at least that’s what I’d been led to believe. I went ahead and bought the lot deciding to take my chances because of the cheap price of four year expired film.

Mannequins

The shots I’ve included in this blog post were the first taken on the roll of 220 with a holga. As you can see, I had a lightleak and it went through the entire roll. With 220 film the whole camera has to be taped up, including the window at the back of the holga, because the film doesn’t have a paper backing the way 120 does. I’ll add more tape for next time. The trickiest part of shooting 220 is keeping track of the number of exposures because you can no longer see the numbers at the back, as well as being careful to count the number of clicks between frames.

For more detailed instructions on shooting 220 film go read “How to Use 220 film in a Holga.”

Mannequins

Portland Artist – Theo Ellsworth

Starlings at twilight
Title: Starlings at Twilight

I was less impressed with the Saturday market in Portland on my latest visit than I was the previous time I was there. It seemed much more crafty and junky with fewer “gems” here and there. My favorite artist from the visit is Theo Ellsworth, a writer, illustrator and comic book artist. His drawings are intricately detailed and feature fantastical scenes, people and creatures from his own made up world. His style reminds me a bit of drawings I’ve seen by Clive Barker but without the dark twists. I bought one of Theo’s lovely prints (and wish I’d picked up more) as well as a copy of his book Capacity Number 7.

A very tall tree in the tea garden

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A very tall tree in the tea garden

I’m up for the second time this morning after a very late night of going to bed at the magical hour when 2am becomes 1am again.
I was looking at my cell phone when it changed back.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen it happen before.
Neat.
And even though I went to bed THAT late my body clock still insisted I be awake for 6am.
Blergh…

Japanese Tea Garden

Tea garden

I was in San Francisco for nine days at the beginning of October, and even though I was able to get my film back two days after my return I have still haven’t managed to upload many shots to Flickr. The above shot was taken in the Japanese Tea Garden, located in Golden Gate Park. It was a lovely place, but I think my favorite Japanese style garden is still the one I visited in Portland. The rest of the shots of this same location can be seen on flickr using this guest pass.

I’m trying to figure out the best way to upload the seventy-two shots of San Francisco graffiti without overwhelming myself or my audience…

Looking for art

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While I’m remembering, I thought I’d post some links to a few of the galleries and artist’s work I saw in Seattle a week and a half ago. I took the above photo with the Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim as I was wandering around Pioneer Square looking for galleries.

Paintings by Flora S. Bowley – I love the colours, layers, and textures in her work, but none of it comes across very well in the photos online.

Sculpture by Paul A. Metivier and paintings by Glenn Ossiander – I felt like this show was made for me to see because the paintings were all red, and most of the sculpture were of crows. Again with the online photos the viewer doesn’t get the full effect of the paintings’ colour, texture and the layers of paint.

Oil paintings on paper by Joanne Hammer – I was only able to take a quick look through the gallery because I arrived at closing time, but I wish I’d had the chance to look again.

New red parasol

New red parasol
A crop of a square format photo shot with my holga.

I think a parasol is essential to my survival during the summer weather. I can’t stand wearing a hat because it makes my head feel unbearably hot, and it wouldn’t protect the rest of me anyway. Sometimes I feel self-conscious when I’m walking around with my parasol because it’s a real eye-catcher, but the benefits of extra sun protection outweigh the drawbacks of attention.