Lomography

Even though lomography is all about improvising and shooting from the hip, it can never hurt to think ahead a bit, and plan for some killer shorts in 2012. Here's how I'm doing it.

Photo by stratski

Make a list of events
As the saying goes: “regeren is vooruitzien” (to rule is to look ahead). So I’ve made a list of major photographic events: planned holidays, daytrips, festivals, world pinhole day, anything that might provide cool pictures. Modern folks might upload all that information into a calendar app on of those fancy smart phone thingies (you could even set reminders a month, week or day ahead), but I use a plain old paper diary. The kind with one day on evey page, so I have plenty of writing space.

Photo by stratski

Plan ahead
Just knowing an event is coming up is one thing. You might do yourself a favour by actually planning ahead. What camera or camera’s will you take? What film? I find it relaxing to know beforehand what I will take on a trip, in stead of stressing out at the last minute about camera stuff while my nr. 1 guy is tapping his foot impatiently, telling me to get a move on. Take plenty of time for this. You might want to order in fresh rolls of film, for instance, and that takes time.

Photo by stratski

Write it down
If, like me, you have the memory of an ageing gold fish, better write things down. In my diary, for every event I write down what camera and film I plan on using, and what other gear I’ll be needing (tripod, cable release etc.). This way I won’t stress myself out by trying to think of what I had thought up before.

Photo by stratski

Since I own about twenty (working) camera’s, and have that crappy memory, I tend to forget if a camera is loaded with film, and with what film, and what I shot before. After finishing a roll, I often wait a while before processing (it’s easier to process multiple films at a time), and forget in what camera I used the roll, what is on it, etc.
The solution: every time I load a film into a camera, I write down the following:

• the camera
• the film
• the date.
• any noteworthy recognisable shots (“Birthday mom”, “Zoo”), plus the date
• when I finish the roll
• when I develop it (plus details about chemicals and developing times)

This helps me keep track of what is what when scanning my negatives and filling in the meta data on lomography.com. I actually have a separate notebook for my film administration, but for 2012, I’m thinking of integrating it into my events diary. After all, the less paper, the better.

Photo by stratski

It may all sound a bit anally retentive, but after a few hundred pictures, it can save a lot of headaches to have your administration in order.