A Lomo View On... Spring!

I feel like I can finally breathe again now Spring is here, I love the milder weather, the sunshine and the smell of fresh flowers in the air and I can open up all those windows in my house and clean out all that dust and let in some clean, crisp fresh air again.

I love photographing flowers it's a very girly thing but I just think they're beautiful and they instantly bring me warm feelings about Spring and Summer. The photos above were actually taken with my dad's old Pentax ME which I borrowed briefly last year, can you believe that camera is nearly 40 years old? It takes such amazing photos I hope he lets me borrow it again.

Some people may not like the fact that the Holga lets light in but I love the haunting effect that these light leaks can give and also the splash of colour they bring to an otherwise mundane photo, when I look back at some of the photos I took with my Holga it does make me miss it but I'm hoping that my Diana Mini will more than make up for it.

I visited a farm in Thailand a few years back and they had this field full of huge sunflowers, I knew sunflowers grew tall but I'd never seen ones quite this big before so had to take a photo of them despite the incoming rain storm but I love how the gloomy skies are contrasted with this bright pop of colour.

Colour is something I like to experiment with in my lomo shots and I often use coloured gels over the flash to enhance my photos. Perhaps one of the reasons I photograph flowers so much is because of their vibrancy in photos which works amazingly on film and now it's spring again I'm sure I'll be taking out my cameras to play more often so watch this space!

Shutter Bugs & Lomo Love

Cate

xoxo

Related Links

♥ My Lomography Collection on Flickr

A Lomo View On... The Animal Kingdom

I love animals and they're definitely my favourite things to photograph especially with my lomography cameras. Looking through all the photographs I've taken it's been hard to pick out my faves but I think the one above taken of a Killer Whale in Seaworld San Diego, which actually was one of my very first shots with my fisheye, has to be one of the ones I'm most impressed with.

One of the most interesting things about lomography is the different effects each camera can give, I often photograph the same things with multiple cameras so I can compare the results and see which camera is better suited to certain subjects and locations, the two above were taken with a Holga (left) and Baby Holga (right) and although taken at the same place at the same time they are completely different and give the impression of a completely different atmosphere.

I have to admit when it comes to animal photos the fisheye is the best for getting up close and personal, I really love the effect the fisheye lense gives as the results can be both hilarious and bizarre, but I do have to be careful not to get too close to the animals just incase they decide my camera is their lunch!

My two favourite animals, Bo (left) and James (right), I absolutely love how my Holga has managed to capture the different personalties of each of my pooches in these photos, although my wolfie Bo is no longer with us this photo will always be one of my favourites of him and the one we remember him most by.

OK I can't take credit for this "Smiling Buffalo" photo as it was actually taken by my nephew who I lent my camera to for the day out we had in a Buffalo Village in Thailand, but I absolutely love this shot just for the fact that there is an animal grinning to the camera, see sometimes even animals like to smile for the camera!

Shutter Bugs & Lomo Love

Cate

xoxo

Related Links

♥ My Lomography Collection on Flickr

 

A Lomo View On... Religion in the East

Whenever I go back to Thailand I always make sure to go visit a temple at about once a week to pay my respects. I wouldn't call myself a Buddhist but I guess it's the religion I most identify with and have grown up around. I mostly like the calming aspects of temples and how amazingly intricate and beautiful the architecture is that and the fact it's a nice little break away from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok and my crazy Thai family!

The photos above (and Fisheye below) however were taken whilst I was in China and each of them depicts a temple dedicated to a different religion the first is dedicated to Taoism, the one above left is a Buddhist temple and the one to the right a Mosque and although they each celebrate a different religion there is a distinct Eastern look that almost seems to unify the religions.

The two Holga shots and the Fisheye (above) were my first rolls of film I cross-processed. I'd seen such amazing cross-processed shots from fellow lomographers that I had to try it out for myself. I used Kodak Ektachrome for the Holga and for the Fisheye Agfa Precisia and I was so pleased with Fisheye shots that I ended up buying another 20 rolls of that film!

Every house in Thailand has a little Buddha house outside their house, our house has two. The black and white film I used for my Holga shots kind of gives an eerie presence to the temples, especially the temple (Wat Si Chum) which you can see in the photo to the right and below which houses a humongous Buddha inside a tiny ruined temple in Thailand's historical capital Sukhothai.

Sukhothai is one of my favourite places in Thailand although quite small, it's much more peaceful than Bangkok and although the ruined temples there are not as pretty and intricate or detailed as some of the more common temples the architecture is still quite amazing and let's not forget some of these ruins are hundreds of years old!

One of the most amazing things about Temples in Thailand is they they can be found in such amazing and unusual places whether it be deep in a cave, on top of a mountain or even in a century old tree and not only can they be found in strange places, some are dedicated to the strangest things I've seem hell gardens, penis shrines and a whole temple taken over by some feisty monkeys!

I can't wait to spend the summer in Thailand again this year as I just love taking my Lomo cameras on temple visits with me, they seem to capture the beauty and atmosphere so much better than my digital cameras, each photo is always a surprise to me as I've got into that "Lomo habit" of just snapping away without even looking through the lens so it's always a real treat when I see the final results.

Shutter Bugs & Lomo Love

Cate

xoxo

A Lomo View On...

Lomography is one of my favourite hobbies and it's bizarre that I hardly ever discuss it on my blog. I'm now entering my forth year as a "lomosapien" with a brand new camera to play with so I thought for 2012 I would start a series of blog posts showcasing some of my favourite shots taken by my little army of cameras over the years.

This was my very first shot with my very first (and favourite) camera the Fisheye 2. This was taken at Seaworld in San Diego in 2009 and even after the hundreds of photos I've taken with it this still is one of my favourite photos I've ever taken with it. After I got my first roll of film developed by this camera and seeing the amazing images it produced I was pretty much hooked on lomography and wanted to try out more cameras!

I then purchased a Baby Holga and a Superheadz Ikimono Harinezumi which were tiny pocket sized cameras but unfortunately I don't have many shots from either of these cameras as the 110 film they both took was retired shortly after I bought them and became increasingly hard to find so I ended up selling them for my next camera...

When I purchased my Baby Holga I also got a Disderi Robot 3 Lense camera which was originally intended as a gift to my nephew, however when he decided he didn't want it I though I would experiment with it myself and despite the fact that I don't use it as much as my other cameras I still have it and always take it on holidays with me, this year I have vowed to use this camera more because it gives such interesting pictures.

The Holga CMY was the last camera I purchased as I had always wanted a "real" Holga so when it arrived I was extremely excited to try it out however as much as I loved this camera I was never really happy with the shots I took with it and it became increasingly expensive to develop the 120 film from it so I finally decided to bid farewell to my dear Holga and save up for another camera...

This is the newest addition to my Lomo family, a Diana Mini en Rose, which was a lovely Christmas gift from my dad. I've already taken a handful of shots with it and will be taking it on a few outings to play with so am very excited to see what the shots will turn out like. Lomography has so many amazing and cute cameras now it's hard to choose which one to get but for the time being I'm having fun with Diana Mini and will be sure to share some of my favourite shots with you once I get them developed.

Lomo Love & 35mm Hugs

Cate

xoxo

Related Links

♥ My Lomography Collection on Flickr

A New Obsession

Mica playing with my new toy camera by halixia

Do you remember what your first camera looked like when you were younger? I remember mine was a small yellow one with a bright red button which I got as a gift from one of my aunties, my brother also got the same in blue and I remember wanting to swap with him as I preferred the colour blue. That was the start of many other cameras I got as a child, a sparkly Barbie one, a disc camera and one which printed captions on the photos, but they've all since been lost or broken.

Last Christmas I received a Fisheye camera, which lead me to find out about the world of lomography and toy cameras. These camera's create the most wonderful and fun pictures, they can either distort the world you see or add a splash of colour to it, they don't create your average photo but something wonderful and imaginative and they look just as amazing as the pictures they take.

Spreckles Organ Pavilion by Me

I took my fisheye with me to San Diego to try out, excited to see what pictures it would create and I must say I'm absolutely delighted with the results, so much that I have since bought two more toy cameras which I am eager to test out.

This obsession does come with a big problem though as with people moving towards digital cameras most shops seem to be taking film off the shelves and processing some films has become difficult. I personally prefer working with film because of that excitement you get waiting to see how your photos came out and what they look like, it's part of the enjoyment of taking pictures which you don't get with digital. Digital cameras mean you're always aiming for the perfect shot but with some photos its their imperfections that make them, the glare off the lens or an accidental double exposure. I have found that film is still widely available to buy in Asia where toy camera's seem to be quite popular so there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

城市之花 by art.style

Even though I already have three toy cameras I have my eyes on a couple more which I would like to try out to. These cameras give me a different view on the world and make me notice things that I wouldn't normally or take for granted and I'm always eager and interested to see the results and the results of others, it's opened a whole new world for me and it's one that I'm excited to see.