Showing posts with label sooc. Show all posts

LC-A+ Russia Day : Summer Night Glimpses

Bene and I managed to take some 24 hours off to go to the seaside. It was barely a day, but we manage to sunbathe like lizars, swim in the sea, dine out with my lifeguard friend Emi and then get a drink at my former favorite lounge bar [the previous owner used to make the best negroni in the whole world!]. The first two were taken in my bedroom at my granma's seaside house, the third one in the dehor of the bar I was talking about, and the last one is one of the books I've been reading this summer, William S. Burroughs' "Junky".http://www.flickr.com/photos/sidseltilotte/7863788460/in/photostream

*Click on each picture to see it on Flickr*
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LC-A+ Russia Day: Out with the Doggies


Photos I took at the park last April. My collie, my mom and her rottweiler [still a puppy].
Lomo LC-A+ Russia Day & Unknown Color Negative 400ASA film [expired].
I <3 light leaks!
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WWPD Project #1: Instant Pinhole Camera Tutorial

Last year I built my very first pinhole camera less than a week after Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day. This time I want to make sure to celebrate it properly. I will build three pinhole cameras, one for each of the film formats I'm familiar with: 35mm, 120 and instant film.


The first of my three projects for this year's Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day was building a pinhole camera that works with instant film. I wanted to turn one of my SX-70s into a pinhole camera, but being the Impossible Project film so expensive, I decided to try this easier and cheaper version first. I am aware that the Diana F+ has a pinhole function, and I know there is a Diana Multi Pinhole Operator camera too, but lately I'm feeling crafty [well, sort of].

This project only takes about one hour and you don't really need to be a crafty person to make your own instant pinhole camera, you only need an Instant Back+ and a few items you can surely find at home:


You will need:
1. An Instant Back+ [I used the Diana F+ Instant Back]
2. A box fitting your Instant Back+ [approx 12 x 9,5 cm, you can also make one using cardboard]
3. Cardboard [to make sure the box is thick enough to be light-tight and to build the shutter]
4. A small piece of thick aluminum foil [you can cut one out of an empty can, or you can use a jar lid just like I did]
5. A needle [you could use a hammer to make the pinhole, especially if you're using a jar lid, and a clothespin]
6. Black vynil electrical tape
7. Masking tape or just normal tape
8. Scissors and a cutter
9. Permanent marker
10. Black paint and a brush
11. A sound-track
12. Instant film




First of all, take a look at your box. In my case, it was't thick enough, so I decided to add a piece of cardboard inside to make sure the light would not leak in from the front of my soon-to-be pinhole camera. Cut a 12 x 9.5 piece of cardboard and draw a line at 2.5cm from the bottom. Mark the two diagonals on your piece of cardboard in order to find its centre. 


You need to exclude the 2.5cm margin at the bottom as this area in the Instant Back+ does not correspond to the place where the film is, so if you mark the two diagonals without taking the margin into account, you will not find the exact place to put your pinhole. 
You will have to mark this margin and the diagonals on the back of the box as well.

Now you will have to cut out a small window around the point where the two diagonals meet both on the piece of carboard and the box. Place your cardboard sheet inside the box and stick it to it. Use your black vynil electrical tape to cover the edges of the window.
I decided to add another piece of cardboard right on the 2.5cm margin in order to hold the Instant Back+ steady into the box, but I guess you can skip this part.


Check if there is any place the light might leak through. In case, cover it with vynil tape. Now you can paint the box all black inside.


While you're waiting for the paint to dry, you can make the actual pinhole. You will need a piece of thick aluminum foil: just cut a tiny piece of aluminum out of an empty soda can or use a jar lid. The pinhole has to be teeny-weeny [the smaller the pinhole, the sharper the image] and its border must be as sharp as possible. If you're using a piece of can, simply lay it down on the table [make sure the table is somehow safe from accidental punching] and punch it with the tip of the needle. You may want to hold the needle with a clothespin [like a wooden one] if you have very sensitive fingers. If you're using a jar lid like I did, I suggest you use a hammer, so that the hole's edges are clear. Again, you only have to punch it with the tip of the needle, you don't have to hammer like crazy. If you're feeling a little frustrated you can always have a break and go wave your hammer around somewhere else [just kidding].


Once the paint is completely dried, check again both the inside and the outside of the box and tape any corner, hole or crack on it.


Tape the pinhole to the box making sure it is virtually placed exactly where the two diagonals meet [you can do this looking at the box and pinhole against the light].


Your camera will now need a shutter. You can use a piece of black tape that you can remove when you want to expose the film and put back in place when you're done, or you can make something a little more crafty. Due to very limited skills, I made this slide shutter cutting two pieces of cardboard about the same size as my jar lid, then I stuck them together cutting out a part big enough not to cover my pinhole and to slide a piece of cardboard through to use as the actual shutter. Once again, I painted both of these pieces of cardboard black. I didn't take a picture of it, but you'll get the idea in the final photo.

Now you can put the Instant Back+ in place. You will load the film later, but now make sure you put some fresh batteries in it!
You will need lots of tape to hold it down to the box, so I suggest you use normal tape or masking tape first and only then black vynil tape to make sure your camera really is light-tight. Just make sure not to tape the pinhole itself, the film ejection slit of the Instant Back+, the Instant Back+'s back, and the tripod thread mount on the bottom of it... it will definitely come in handy, as we're talking about pinhole photography!


Finally, here's your pinhole instant camera. I know, it looks much like an ugly duckling, but you can add stickers, draw something cute on it, glue stuff to it... but most of all, you can take great, tiny pictures with it!


All you have to do now is load some film and go take a picture. Being Fuji Instant Mini a 800 ISO film I couldn't find an accurate exposure guide, so while I'm trying to figure out the proper exposure time I'm currently exposing my pictures for about half the time recommended for 400 ISO film in the guide that comes with the Diana Multi Pinhole Operator. Also, you can put a color filter on the pinhole, but then you will have to keep the shutter open a bit longer.


Here you can see some test shots taken indoor at noon; the exposure time was 3, 4 and 5 minutes respectively [pictures are 100% unedited].




Let me know if you try this very easy project, I'd love to see your results!

LomoHome | Album | Article | Flickr | Album | Articolo in Italiano
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Diana Mini: Seaside Rush


So six months ago Bene and I went to the seaside. Which was absolutely great as it meant spending some time with one of my favorite people while doing some of the things I love the most in life. Like driving my car in the desert highway, eating out at my favorite grill restaurant, drinking some of the finest beers on my windy balcony while staring at a huge red moon reflecting on the dark sea at night, and then watching Clerks for the nth time and drinking some more icy Bud or Viru. And smoking too many cigarettes in between. As you can see from my shadow on her shoulderblade in the picture above. 


As I mentioned in this post, we only spent 20 hours there. Getting there at around 10pm, we could only go to the beach the next morning. The weather was just perfect for testing out some of my [then] newest toys, the Diana Mini and the Russia Day. So we hanged out a bit snapping some pics, bought some food and then went chilling out at the beach. 



I didn't take many pictures as I wished as it was such a fleeting visit, but I think you get the idea of how nice a place it is! Also, I've spent so much time here that I'm sort of used to its beauty.


I used Lomography x-pro slide 200 and [obviously] cross processed it. I really liked the film, even if my 1hour lab must use the oldest chemicals ever, as these pictures don't look cross-processed at all.


Wait a second: did they really cross-process it? I guess they did, I don't think they even know the difference between C-41 and E6!


I'm not much of a fan of the Diana, I guess it depends on the impossibility to process 120 around here,  and I now have mixed feelings about the Diana Mini.


I really love its size, its look, its weight, and the half frame format really comes in handy when you want to "pack light" and get 72 frames out of a 36 exposures roll. I would love to try the square format too, but my camera seems to be stuck on the half frame mode. 


The half frame mode can be quite tricky too. This picture above wasn't meant to be vertical at all, but I forgot about the hf-thing, so here it is, a sliced graffiti. My bad '-_-


It took me so long to get this roll processed because 72 shots can be too much sometimes. I guess I'm more of a 12 exposures-girl. That's the main reason to such a useless picture.


Occasionally this camera yelds strong vignetting... which I love!


Ok, maybe this is a bit too hardcore a vignette, but I like it anyway!


Bene aka my favorite model. This picture makes me wonder why we don't go there more often. I mean, that's some nice chilling out... gotta go back there asap, I guess. Weekends in the city: screw you.
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Holga 135BC: My favorite double exposure

Long time no see, right? I still have to get quite a lot of rolls developed, so I had to dig in my old shots, and there out came this one, which I particularly like, as I think it is my best... er, well, most decent, at least, double exposure so far. Taken in late July/early August 2010 at the seaside on Fuji Velvia 100. They're Vale [horizontal] and John [vertical]. So this was my only lucky moment with multiple exposures. Too bad.

Latest analogue news is Lomography published another article of mine, which is an attempt at reviewing my Sexy Lomo with the Funny Logo. Thanks to Mikahsupageek you can now read it French too: does it get any sexier than this?

Also, I've bought some amazing pro slide film expired in the 1990s... and made a few lab-rat experiments I'll be testing these next weeks [and most likely develop in 2057]. Wicked.

Coming up next: playing around with the crappy instant back of the Diana F+.

Have a great weekend!
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Lomo LC-A+ "Russia Day": I Feel Good


Long time no see, I know and I'm sorry. I've been über busy, lately. School is taking most of my time, then there's work and then there's hanging out with my pals. I couldn't feel any happier: I'm doing quite good at school, my last exams went 24/30, 25/30 , 27/30, three 28/30 and I even managed to get a 30/30 cum laude, which totally made not just my day or week, but probably the whole exam session!
I'm also making friends with the other kids in the first year [we're 90% girls, which is pretty awful and yet obvious when it comes to language schools]. I was afraid I could end up being the lonely girl having lunch all by herself for ages, but it's safe to say I'm doing good in fitting in.

I don't have much time to hang out with Bene & Hector, or N, or whoever, but last Friday Bene had a sleepover at my place and the next day we had some shopping [light shopping, sigh!] and then Chinese take-away dinner at my place with Hecty, who left at around 3am after a nice chat indeed.
Talking about photography, I totally suck. I was supposed to take some rolls to the lab but didn't manage to. Tomorrow I should be going shopping again, hope i make it to the lab [and really hope I get something half decent from these Christmas negs].

I guess I miss having a real blog, my tiny corner in the www to tell people about what goes on in my life. I know this was supposed to be all about my attempt at analogue photography and stuff, I'm not even sure I'll get back to heavy blogging about my worthless existence, feel free to unfollow me in case.

The mirror shot with my beloved bunny ears is just because. Just because I'm feeling good, and cheerful.
Lomo LC-A+ RL "Russia Day" + Fuji Superia 1600
September/October 2011
As always, click on picture to see it on Flickr

Have a lovely day,
C.
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Lomo LC-A+ "Russia Day": Seaside Rush

Last September 21st Bene and I stopped at the supermarket, bought some beer and junk food, and left for a less-than-24-hour seaside rush. I've had my LC-A+ RL "Russia Day" for a month or so and still had to test it. I thought it would be the perfect companion. Well, Bene aside! We got on my car at around 8pm and arrived at about 10pm. We didn't go straight home: we decided to have dinner at one of my favorite place to eat meat. 'Cause eating seafood at the seaside is so cliché. Let's have kangaroo meat instead!


When I say kangaroo meat I actually mean it. And I know that sounds mean, but I wanted to have Bene taste it. It actually tastes much like game, it doesn't taste that weird. It tastes much like a donkey. Which we ate too, that same night. We shared gnocchetti all'asina [mare gnocchi] and ravioli di canguro [kangaroo ravioli]. Then I had some rostelle d'agnello [like bbw lamb, click through to see this mouth-watering delicacy], I can't remember what did Bene get as her second course, but I can tell you for sure that we could barely speak after so much food! We had some coffee and got back to my car. Man, were those 10kms to my seaside house hard to come by! I was so fed up it felt like years.
We got home around midnight, the weather was perfect, so we put two armchairs on the balcony and talked while enjoying some fine estonian lager with just the seaside and a huge red moon right in front of us. I honestly have no idea why I didn't take any pictures that night. Shame on me.


I tried to make Bene watch Clerks II, one of my all-time favorite movies, but she fell asleep well before the first quarter of it. I turned it off around 3am feeling more dizzy than tired, but surely happy.
I got up around 9, and while waiting for Bene to wake up I chilled out a bit on the balcony. It was so sunny that the light reflecting on the sea burnt all of the pictures I took out there that morning.


When Bene finally got up, I waited for her to get ready in our bedroom. Which isn't my bedroom but my mom's, but mine's much smaller and we were the only ones in the house anyway. I loved the light in the attic, so I just couldn't help it. Snap snap.


While I was going back downstairs, I stopped and asked Bene to pose like a pin-up. People tend to get either so uneasy or truly silly when a camera comes around. I'm glad to say we both belong to the second kind.


The kitchen bar with all the empty beer bottles felt like the best setting to a "we had fun while y'all guys were at work"-shot. We just couldn't blew this chance.


We got [un-]dressed and went out for breakfast. Ice-cream shakes, yum!


We hanged out a bit, it was hot as hell, elderly German tourists everywhere, a few families on belated summer vacation, and absolutely no one our age. Which much like Ligury any other day. 

I guess we toured the whole town twice or more, then we bought some focaccia and went back home to eat it. On the balcony, with some chilled beer and ice tea and other junk food from the previous day.
Focaccia + Beer + Sun + Sea = Man, did that feel good! 



It was idleness at its purest. We just had nothing better to do than take pictures of our feet. 
Specifically, her feet...


...And my feet.


I'm not a big fan of feet anyway, we just thought that would be the best way to remind us of how far better could any workday be if it just wasn't a real workday.
Right after a strong coffee, we went to the beach. We went to the town centre one last time. It felt rather like "California Girls" driving in a convertible with our flip-flops on, mini skirts and bikinis. Too bad we ain't blonde and tanned. And skinny. And rich as fuck. But I guess times like these are enough to feel grateful for.

So this was my first time with my Lomo LC-A+ "Russia Day" [from now on just LC-A+*; I'll use the asterisk 'cause I just can't bother to type LC-A+ RL "Russia Day" everytime], and I loved it. This obviously ain't a review, but in case you were wondering if it's time to save up for one, my answer is definitely yes. Vignetting, saturation, pocket size, wide lens, sexy red leather. Need I say more? I'm even quite pleased with the results. These pictures are quite good for a test roll, I think. Blame the heavy grain on a roll of 2009 expired Fuji Superia 1600. But grain is good, right?
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Pokoj LomoWall in Lodz: I've Been Featured!


A few days ago I received an email that totally made my day: one of my pictures was featured in a huge LomoWall in Lodz [Poland]! Here's a link to the list with all the participants, click here if you have no clue what I'm talking about, or head over to this article to take a look at the LomoWall itself [there's also a video off Vimeo featuring the different corners of the LomoRoom].
I couldn't find my photo amoung thousands of others, but I'm so excited if I think that one of my pictures is being exhibited in a land so far away. Too bad I'm not there to spot it in the real life.

Thanks Lomography for choosing one of my pictures, and congrats to all participants!

Holga 135BC/Fuji Velvia 100 xpro
Summer 2010, Italy
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