When the courier came on Wednesday morning with a 5kg package from Vienna, I really was over the moon. I signed the papers with shaky hands, said thank you to the DHL man, and run back waving a cutter like I was in some freaky rapture-moment, like those crazy people from some rural Indian village.

I couldn't believe the ActionSampler was so lightweighted, the Fisheye had such a pretty packaging [the cutest ever], the Diana Mini was that mini, the Pop 9 Gold was that shiny, the LC-A+ Russia Day was that... wow. It just is too tiny, too red, too lightweighted, just too much.

Obviously, this one is the camera I'm most thrilled about. I can't wait to take it somewhere cool and see what it can do. I love the red leather it is wrapped in and the cyrillic logo. The cable release, being this short, might only be useful for the B mode, it doesn't seem that useful for selfportraits, but I can't tell yet.

I must admit I was quite worried about the lens: its description read that "it comes with the original Minitar lens", but I wasn't sure it what either the Russian lens or its Chinese copy [though this dubt is just due to my paranoid nature, as you would expect a Russian lens from a camera named "Russia Day"]. It actually was the Russian Lens, that's the first thing I checked once I opened this box!

All the other plastic cameras arrived are fun and colorful, and I'd love to spend some days at the seaside just to try the ActinSampler and the Fisheye out! If I could only find somewhere to store all my cameras and rolls now...

Latest news: Lomography just published another article of mine! I wrote it some time ago and almost forgot about it! Here's the link to my article, Animal Experimentation with the Diana F+ and Diana Instant Back, I wrote it just for fun but it would be great to have some feedback! Too bad Lomography.com published it with enlarged pictures, now you can't almost tell what's in them!

Last summer in July Marti and I packed up our stuff and went to the seaside. We spent there three weeks or so and had the greatest time. We always were at the bathouse, sunbathing, photo-snapping and joking with the guys. Nights were filled with friends, laughs and alcohol. A tablecloth-theft also occurred, and the same night we also accidentally stole a violet plant. But having no vase to put it in, we decided to plant it into a plastic cup. We didn't notice there was still some Negroni in it. We found the poor thing dead the morning after in our bedroom.

Going home was always quite adventurous, being wasted most of the time. We've spent whole nights chatting in the bedroom we shared in the attic, once safe and sound-ly at home. Dirty laundry and shoes on the floor, smeared make-up on our faces and sand all over the mattress. I've never seen a room that messy ever before.

Gine came for some days, John came for some days too, and we had lots of fun, met amazing people, and we both lost it all in the end. Everyone did loose a lot, and I guess we're all to blame. But time goes by, and I don't care anymore. 

I don't regret a thing, I never do, it was fun back then, now it's gone. Oh well.

All pictures taken by me on Holga 135BC on Fuji Velvia 100 cross-processed

[except photo #3 taken by Marti]

The second camera I bought is a Diana Mini, just the basic version as I already have one Diana F+ and a Mr Pink (and a Diana+ too), and I have three more flashes, so there was no point in buying the flash version. I didn't really need this one, but I didn't need any of these cameras anyway. I wanted a LC-Wide because of the super wide 17mm lens, obviously, but I also loved that it could be a half frame camera too, and that's the reason why I decided to get a Diana Mini. Also, I love my Dianas, but they're a bit too clumsy for everyday use.

I already own a Fisheye Lens for my Dianas, but it don't like its results on 35mm film [my lab doesn't process 120 film], and I have some ideas for some pictures, so next in my cart was a blue Fisheye One. I know, you cannot shoot double exposures on the Fisheye One, but whatever.

Finally a camera that actually was in my wishlist: the Lomography Pop 9. This golden baby takes 9 identical pictures, has a built-in flash, and seems to work fine in close-ups. Did I mention it is golden? ;-) I already own a SuperSampler, but never got to use it due to its weird cord-thing. 

My interest in multilensed cameras led me to get the first camera developed by Lomography: the ActionSampler. The clear edition seems to be one of the weirdest cameras ever produced, and my SuperSampler is chrome, so no way I'll ever buy another chromed plastic toy.

I also bought two Agfa Le Box disposable cameras for outdoor use [no flash], one for my freak experiments and one for my sister: I've been trying to get her into photography for years but she never get hooked. Maybe this time, with a cheap disposable in her hands, she might finally get caught.

As I filled my cart with 7 cameras, I couldn't stock up on film as much as I would. I mentioned in my previos wishlist that I wanted to buy tons of black and white film, but I can't seem to find a decent photolab, so I merely bought a single roll of black and white film [Foma Action 400], and focused on slide film instead. 

I was curious about Lomography's own slide film, so I got one pack of XPro Chrome 100 and one of Xpro 200 [each pack = three rolls]. I wanted to try films I've never used before, so I picked 1 roll of AgfaPhoto Ct Precisa and 1 of Kodak Elitechrome ED 200, but then, as I only have one more roll of  Sensia 200 in stock, I bought one of them too.

I have plenty of negative rolls, but was curious about the Fuji Superia Reala and the old Agfa Vista 400, so I decided to give both of them a chance [also because they were expired, i.e. a little cheaper].

Last item in my cart was the black L-Case, which I didn't mean to buy at first as it prevented me from buying more slide film, but then I realized it was definitely better to have some case to safely carry my LC-A around.

Looking at this huge lot of stuff you might think I'm either super rich or helplessly broke. The whole thing costed €609, which is a crazy price I would never pay for such toys [and even if I would, I couldn't]. Luckily, I've been translating microsites for Lomography Italia for some time now, and adding all the articles I've written and translated, the piggies-giveaways and everything else, I had so many piggies that I only payed €64 for all these things! :D

I have four more microsites to translate, then I guess I'll just start writing an article every now and then, though the new rules on piggies-spending are a bit of a pain in the backside, so I guess it won't be soon before I'll buy anything from their shop, but I'll keep saving up for the LC-Wide... I can't wait to receive all these items! 

This is Lomography's big hit for the year 2011. Most of the people over at the Lomography community gave up on this camera for its price [€349], which is quite expensive, but let's face it: how would much your average Canon FD ultra-wide angle lens cost? Check ebay, that's right about €350. Also, wouldn't it feel much better to have your 17mm lens always in your pocket? I think it definitely would. And this minigon lens is made of glass, not plastic. And it seems to yeld even more contrast than the LC-A+!

If I didn't have so many piggies, I would totally save up for this one anyway. I do not own a LC-A+, but I guess I'd rather spend a hundred euros more to get my end on its 17mm version that on a chinese rip-off of a soviet camera [I wouldn't mind an original πomo, though, but I'm quite the snob one!].

Last year, I made my biggest Lomographic mistake. I bought a Supersampler. Loaded a 400ISO colour negative to it, and never got through those 36 exposures. What I hate the most about it is that I still don't know if I hold it upside down or if the subject even get in the frame. But I love multilensed cameras. Four lenses just don't seem quite enough, though, so the ActionSampler is out of the question. The Oktomat looks cute, but the sparkling gold of the Pop 9 just got me. I want it. I need it. And I have some more piggies to overcome these €39.

I currently have about 50 rolls of 35mm film [both colour negative&slide] sitting in a box in my bedroom waiting to be used and some other slide rolls in the fridge [you would hate me if you only knew how many rolls of Velvia 100 I have at 4°C]. I also have a dozen b&w 120 rolls I do not use as I already have other 120 rolls exposed that I cannot get developed [my city photolabs are embarassing, they're totally digi-idiots], some redscale 35mm and I even have two special emulsions I did very bad things to which I'm sure will result in some wicked pictures. Unfortunately, I only have one single roll of Ilford Delta 400, and that's all I currently own for my old school b&w needs on 135 format.

But things are gonna change as I'll grab a dozen Kodak Tri-x 400 Tx, some more Ilford films and some Fomapan. And if it only wasn't out of stock, I'd definitely get some Rollei too!

That's pretty much all of it. Well, that's a lie, I actually have billions of other analogue stuff I'd love to buy, but it's already 2:30am and no one cares about my Lomographic wishlist.

xo Sidsel