A (not so) Successful Project

It all started when my boyfriend was grounded. When he is grounded, it is equivalent to being stuck under a rock with no contact from the outside world. BUT, I am a clever child. I had the snappy idea of sending a letter (oh so obsolete snail mail) with ideas to break boredom, for example I wrote the whole thing in invisible ink telling him to learn the sign language alphabet, write a comic book, teach himself the guitar etc. In the midst of my research, I came across the most peculiar concept that blew my mind (growing up in the age of digital cameras)….a camera lacking electronics, made of PAPER! Simply print the blue print from Corbis.com, cut, puzzle over the instructions, glue and insert film. How could this be possible?! I decided the fluke was too good to pass up; I spent till 2 in the morning assembling the pinhole camera, sure enough it was quirky , intriguing, and absolutely a work of art. I had to manually lift a piece of cardboard to take a picture. The best part was acting like I knew what I was doing, when onlookers were obviously thinking “Poor girl, she thinks shes taking a picture with that paper camera.” I knew nothing about correct exposure times, so unfortunately, only one of my much anticipated photos were decipherable much less good. But it was too late. I already wanted to take more pictures. Next time around I used the more practical digital camera, fiddling with the oodles of settings. My hunger was not satiated. My friends thought they were so clever using cheap iPhone apps to artificially vignette or cross process their photos. I could not stop until I had found the holy grail of beautifully eccentric photography: Lomography. I now live happily ever after with my white Diana Mini, and the promise of analogue completeness.

written by dreaminphotographs on 2011-08-20