NYC Lomowalls

LC-A (Lomography X-Pro Chrome 100 film)

 Diana Mini (Kodak Portra 400 VC film)

 Fuji Instax 25 (Fuji Instax Mini film)

LC-A (Lomography 25-200 XR Redscale & X-Pro Chrome 100 films)

Sometimes a photograph by itself feels a little isolated, yet when you add more photographs it seems to strengthens the images. This is why I love making Lomowalls... sometimes you just want to display a spectrum of colour, a series of themes or you want to tell a story.

More Lomowall fun on Flickr.

x Mel

Megan & Daniel get Married!

Megan & Daniel get Married!

(LC-A with Rollei Crossbird Creative X-Pro 200 film)

 (Instax Mini 25 with Instax Mini film)

Before I jetted off to New York, I had the honour of being at one of my BFF's weddings in Brisbane. It was such a beautiful day that truly celebrated the immense love between two amazing people. Megan had asked me to bring along my Diana Mini camera (I also took my LC-A & Fuji Instax) to take casual photos of their special day. The Diana Mini film is still pending... but here are are few of my LC-A & Fuji Instax photographs.

There was rainbow layer cake, whoopee pies, many glasses of champagne, tears, joy, happiness & loads of love. Megan and Daniel, I again wish you the happiest of lifetimes together.

x Mel

P.S. On occasions like weddings I love instant film, I was able to bundle up all the Instax Mini photos I had taken at the end of the reception and give them to the bride & groom to take on their honeymoon.

Washington DC & Diana Mini

Washington DC

(Diana Mini with Lomography X-Pro 200)

Washington DC, I must say wasn't entirely like I imagined it to be. Like everywhere in America, everything is super-sized and hyper-American, but I also found Washington DC a little sterile and lacking of emotion. The war memorials were of course, beautifully designed, but they lacked spirit a little... their theme of being apolitical was taken too literally for my liking.

The Smithsonian Museums that I visited, were again, well designed... but a little disorganised... there were plenty of artefacts to peruse, but few descriptions about their relevance to American culture or history. I probably should have taken a guided tour, but sadly I didn't have the time.

I did however do a DC-by-foot walking tour, which was excellent. I highly recommend them.

From those Americans I did meet in DC, I felt like they didn't really take the capital seriously... or they took it incredibly seriously... there was no in-between.

Also, like any political capital there were those camped out and shouting out about the economy and the downtrodden.... including the guy outside the White House who tried to explain to me that the reason that the US is in so much debt is because the nation's money isn't being invested in nuclear power & the space programme.

It was again, a very hot day in Washington DC & I did manage to get slightly sunburnt, but also managed to get a couple of hours sleep in on the way back to New York.

I love how these Diana Mini shots turned out... I highly recommend the use of Lomography X-Pro 200 in the Diana Mini, especially with double exposures, the colour shifts are excellent.

You can see more of my Washington DC Diana Mini shots at my flickr - HERE.

x Mel

Brooklyn Bridge and LC-A

 

The Brooklyn Bridge

(LC-A with Lomography x-pro chrome film)

I fell very much in love with the Brooklyn Bridge, as you know & I fell even deeper in love after seeing the results of my LC-A shots... I am now convinced that my LC-A cannot take a bad photograph!

I still have so many films to process and scan... each one is such a lovely surprise! 

x Mel

Happy World Photography Day!

The Brooklyn Bridge on a HOT New York City day

(Diana Mini with Kodak Portra 400 VC)

When I first arrived in New York, one of my first impulses was to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. It wasn't until my last couple of days in the city that I had the time to walk across it's beautiful expanse. However, I didn't predict that it was going to be one of the hottest New York days in the last 10 years... lets just say that all those bagels, Shake Shack shakes & burgers were burnt off quite quickly!

To celebrate World Photography Day I am doing a spring clean of my cameras, film and negatives... what are you doing?

x Mel

Fuji Instax in NYC

My little Fuji Instax Mini 25 has become a fast favorite of mine & while in New York City I loved having it by my side... here are just a few of my first batch scanned. I love how it picks up colour & gives you bright little glimpses into the long hot New York days.

(It is lovely to have such memories of long hot days when you're back in a cold Melbourne winter.)

x Mel

Camera Review: La Sardina!

Carlton Gardens, La Sardina style with Kodak Portra 400 VC film.

Oh my! The reasons to love my new Lomography La Sardina camera are multiple... as in multiple exposures!

These are just a few examples from the first film I shot with the La Sardina & already I've in love... with it's wide lens, MX switch, bulb & normal mode... along with a super cute design... who wouldn't love it?

I've found it super easy to use & it's incredibly easy to wind film in after using my Diana Mini for sometime... I liken it to a plastic LC-A with a wide lens.

I can't wait to take the La Sardina out for some more shooting... has anyone else fallen in love with her?

x Mel

Painting the night in NYC

Sometimes you end up taking some of your personal favorite photos when you least expect it.

A few days into my time in New York City, I took a walk from my hotel up to the High Line
Park that runs down the side of the Meat Packing District. I had taken both my LC-A and Diana Mini with me, but due to the fading light of dusk I mostly had plans of taking photos just with my LC-A... fate had other plans. For the first time since I've owned my LC-A, she got a film stuck inside.

I was kind of devastated since the walk back to the hotel in the hot hot humid weather of a NYC heatwave to change films in a dark room didn't really appeal to me & also I would have lost any light that still remained on the horizon. So I pulled out my Diana Mini & attempted some long exposures in bulb mode... not really expecting them to even work out, but I thought I'd try anyway.

And BAM! Check out those light trails & the faint ghosting of white clouds in a blue sky! Oh Diana Mini, I love love love you for surprising me with these photographs. I can't quite remember what film I was using at the time, but it's highly likely that it was Kodak Portra 400vc and I left the shutter open for between 30 seconds and one minute.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I have... you can click on each photo for a full sized version.

x Mel