Diana World Tour Australia & NZ

Diana World Tour Australia & NZ

The Diana World Tour has finally found it's way down to Australia & New Zealand!

Amongst all this excitement, the tour opened tonight here in Melbourne at the No Vacancy Gallery 34 - 40 Jane Bell Lane (enter via Russell St), Melbourne, and will continue until 11 March 2011, Tues - Sat: 11am - 5pm & 
Sun: 12pm - 5pm.

There were free copies of Frankie Magazine, beer, wine & most excitingly a Lomography pop-up shop with cameras, film & accessories galore! 

The tour includes The Dietrich Collection, a collection of vintage Diana Camera clones dating back to the 1960's & 1970's, along with The Customised Clones Exhibition, a collection of Diana Camera creations made by Australian creatives, accompanied by The Diana World Tour Global Vignettes Collection of Diana photos from all corners of the globe.

The Dietrich Collection

Customised Clones

Diana World Tour Global Vignettes

Diana World Tour workshops are also being held in Melbourne in February and March, see links to Lomography Australia & New Zealand for details.

All photos & links courtesy of Lomography.com.au.

Home sweet, adoptive home.

Back when I had only just moved back to Australia after living in London, I went through a strange type of homesickness for my adoptive home. In this process I used google maps to document each of the flats I lived in London. It's interesting that photographs induce a different type of memory than reminiscing alone.

1. Dynham Road - this was the smallest flat in the history of flathood kind... but we had a garden... a very small garden... but it was lovely. I was excited that it was a 10 minute walk from Abbey Road Studios! Bad heating, moody flatmates & a guy who lived upstairs who was a more than a little strange.

2. Willesden Lane - this was a nightmare! A huge flat, but old, moldy & kind of dodgy! Almost as dodgy as the Irish guy I shared it with. It was, however very close to a huge Sainsburys... & this was where I experienced my first London snow!

3. Maygrove Road - the nicest flat of all of them, with the loveliest flatmates, really close to two separate tube stations & half-way between West Hampstead & Kilburn high streets. The best central heating ever.

Have you ever lived away from your home country? How was that experience for you?

♥

Mel

Film labeling & torn sprockets.

I've had my Diana Mini for about a year and a half now, and I only recently realised that it would be a good idea to try & remember what film I had in her. Since I have a big love for high speed films I thought it would be handy to know what kind of light to be looking for when out & about.

So I give you the very technical Sharpie & Washi Tape Film Discovery Solution! (I do realise that it's kinda unlikely that I'm the first one to think of this.)

I've love it so much that I also use it on my LC-A... not only is it informative... but it's even a tiny bit pretty. (photos taken on instagram... my username is milkandmiel if you would like to follow me!)

On another note, my poor Diana Mini & my new Wendy the White Diana have been struck with a couple of bad cases of tearing sprockets... which the camera is known for, but until now I've not had a huge issue with. With 3 films now that no photo lab will scan without charging me a fortune to hand scan each frame, I think I am well and truly in the market for a negative scanner.

Any suggestions would be welcome!

I hope everyone had a lovely Valentines day yesterday!

♥

When bad things happen to good film.

As the opposition leader of the Australian Government said recently, "Shit happens!". Yes, sometimes it does. Although I like to think that something good can come out of something that has gone a little shitty.

I give you the "creatively" over-processed film that I picked up from the photo lab yesterday. The film was a Rollei Crossbird 200 ISO slide film to be developed in C-41 colour negative chemicals… clearly something went wrong because instead of beautiful deep colours like this:

I got back washed out black & white photographs like this:

Now… the best thing to come out of this is that thanks to the genius that is my LC-A the photos are still lovely on the most part. My favourite is this one, which despite the black & white shade still glows with the beauty of a summers day.

You can see more photos from this film here.

I'm not the only one who has had trouble with photo labs of late, the amazing Elle from dianaminilove.com just last week had a lab ruin three films from her trip to Scotland (Elle's Scotland photos are here… they are lovely!).

So yes, shit happens, but thankfully it doesn't happen too often & when it does, sometimes something beautiful results.

♥

Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens, Melbourne.

Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens, Melbourne

"When I first moved to Melbourne a little over a year ago, I was out taking a long walk around the city, discovering new places in my new home when I stumbled across Carlton Gardens and the ever so gracious Royal Exhibition Building. Ever since it has been one of my favorite places for photography, and also every time I shoot here I include one or two photos of it with both my Diana Mini and Lomo LC-A, I can't see myself falling out of love with it anytime soon."

"The Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens were completed in 1880 for Melbourne’s first international exhibition, a product of the optimism, enthusiasm and energy of the people of Melbourne in the late-19th century. Melbourne was a prosperous city, basking in the wealth from the richest gold rush in the world. How better to publicise the achievements and opportunities in the colony of Victoria than by hosting an international exhibition?

Today, the Royal Exhibition Building flourishes as one of the world’s oldest exhibition pavilions, symbolising the great 19th-century international exhibition movement.

The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens were inscribed on the World Heritage list on 1 July 2004, becoming the first building in Australia to achieve World Heritage listing. Today, the Royal Exhibition Building is a campus of Museum Victoria and the gardens are managed by the City of Melbourne."

"Joseph Reed, of the firm Reed and Barnes, was the architect. Reed’s was a grand design, influenced by Rundbogenstil, a round-arched architectural style combining elements from Byzantine, Romanesque, Lombardic and Italian Renaissance buildings. The dome’s design was influenced by Brunelleschi’s 15th-century cathedral in Florence.

The aesthetic significance of the Carlton Gardens lies in its embodiment of the 19th-century Gardenesque style. This includes parterre (formal or symmetrically-placed) garden beds, significant avenues such as the southern carriage drive and Grand Allée, the path system, specimen and clusters of trees, two small lakes and three fountains."

http://museumvictoria.com.au/reb

This location review was originally published on lomography.com & can be found here. I encourage those who are members of lomography.com to please 'like' &/or comment on this review on the website.

♥

Say 'Hello' to Wendy, my new Diana Mini White.

Wendy, the Diana Mini White has just joined the family. I am going to use her mostly for B&W photographs & keep Diana Mini herself for colour & x-pro. 

Also, not only did I get Wendy her own little white leather case, but I also brought Diana Mini her own little brown leather case, to keep her safe & sound.

I'm off to load Wendy up with a little Ilford XP2 400. ♥