Former Yorkshire Brewery, Collingwood.

LC-Wide (Kodak Ektar)

I managed to catch one of the last sunny warm weekends to spend on a photo walk around Collingwood with a few of my fellow film shooters. One of our main destinations was the former Yorkshire Brewery in Collingwood, that is now derelict & awaiting council sign off before being turned into a multi-storey apartment building.

However, currently it is a mix of bright graffiti & urban flotsam... with nature slowly taking over. Sometimes its nice to get out and shoot in places you've not been before & if you can find some friends who have local insider knowledge of what is out there, then that's even better!

How that winter is slowly setting in, there will be fewer warm sunny days... so it looks like I'll have stick to Portra 400 film & try to overlook the clouds & rain that are on their way.

x
Mel

Spotty Melbourne

LC-Wide (Kodak BW400CN) (colour spots added in Photoshop)

I'm a big believer in being authentic in analogue film photography, especially when portraying the end result truthfully. I'm not big at editing my film shots, I pretty much just remove dust & straighten the occasional photo. However since doing Blogshop in Sydney back in December, I've been inspired to add a little something to a few of my film photos. I don't think this will become a regular occurrence but it was fun &interesting to play around with a few effects & such in Photoshop.

These photos are from a selection from I took in Melbourne back at the end of last year... & these three just seemed to work well together to me.

How do you feel about post-processing / digitally editing your film photos?

x
Mel

Melbourne in a season of change

 

Lomography SuperSampler (Lomography 400CN film)

Apologies for my blog absenteeism of late. Life has been busy with family & friends visiting Melbourne; the shortening days of early winter; spreading the Lomography love in Melbourne; falling in love with my LC-Wide; watching leaves fall & trees turning into empty branches reaching for the sky.

One thing I can say Melbourne, is that there are exciting times coming for the Lomography community! *wink wink*

"Everybody says that time heals everything all in the end

What of the wretched hollow, the endless in between?

Are we just going to wait it out?" 

Wait It Out - Imogen Heap 

x Mel

The Lovely, Chanelle Davis

LC-A & LC-Wide (Kodak BW400CN, Kodak Ektar 100 & Lomography Slide 200)

The excellent & amazing Olivia invited me along to shoot with the beautifully talented Chanelle Davis a couple of weeks back. Liv shot DSLR & skirted around her with my LC-A & LC-Wide. It was my first real shoot & I have already learned many lessons from the results I got... but it was a super fun day & I can't wait to hang out with these awesome Kiwis again soon.

x

Mel

Melbourne Streets - Autumn 2012

LC-A (Lomography Redscale XR 50-200 - shot at ISO 50)

It seems fitting to use redscale film now that all the leaves in Melbourne are turning to the warm glow of orange, red & yellow...  Lomography Redscale XR 50-200 has been a favourite of mine, but you can also easily make redscale film at home!

Here are a few make your own redscale film tutorials:
- Redscle Technique - The Principle of Light Penetrability.
- DIY Redscale Film
- How to Make Redscale Film

Have you tried redscale film before?

x
Mel

Diana F+ Pinhole Adventures

Diana F+ Pinhole (Lomography 400CN)

This year was my first World Pinhole Day, so I went out with my Diana +, put it on pinhole setting, removed the lens & hoped that a couple of exposures would turn out... thanks to my handy iPhone light meter & a ISO chart, my luck was on the sunny side, considering the cloudy Melbourne weather.

I can't wait to try it out more with different film & maybe even some night time shots!

Have you ever tried pinhole photography?

x

Mel

One for the weekend

LC-Wide (Fuji Superia 200 film)

Oh, it's the weekend!

While late autumn is settling in with cool temperatures here in Melbourne, I can see & read about all my northern hemisphere friends welcoming in the days of spring... I'm trying not be be jealous & embrace jackets & tights. I've been enjoying the last couple of warm days in Melbourne at friend's birthday picnics in the park & slowly loading higher & higher ISO film into my cameras.

Tomorrow is World Pinhole Day... so this weekend I'm going out to shoot my very first pinhole photographs with my Diana F+ (in pinhole mode of course!). I'm throwing up between using black & white film, 400 or 100 colour negative... hmmm.

Are you shooting pinhole this weekend? What are your plans for the weekend?

x Mel

Reaching Out

LC-A (Agfa Precisa 100 shot at 50 ISO x-pro )

Sometimes you need to know when to reach out. You need to know when enough is enough. You need to let your mind focus on what makes you happy. You need to find your little happy place amongst all of the rush of daily life.

Sometimes it's the little pleasures. A good cup of coffee. A new pair of shoes. A phone call from a friend.

Other times it's just knowing that others are close by when you need them. Distance can often not only be a physical power, but an emotional one. So today, let someone know you like them, buy a friend a cup of coffee or tell them how pretty they look, offer a hug to a colleague, tell your boss how much you appreciate them or call your Mum & tell her you miss her. It's those little things that make the big things in life even more special & powerful.

We need to remember, everyday, that sometimes you just may need to ask someone - "Are you ok?".

xx Mel

Oh, LC-Wide!

LC-Wide (Kodak BW400CN)

Forgive me Visa, Forgive me MasterCard - for I have sinned! I promised myself that I wouldn't buy any new cameras this year & I did very well at this, until a couple of weeks ago, when I caved & purchased the Lomography LC-Wide. (Trust me, now there will be no new cameras for a very... long... time!)

I always have a few nervous rolls of film when I start with a new camera, it can take a couple of rolls to really feel the camera's mojo & by the time I shot my 2nd roll of film in my new LC-Wide... I can confirm that it's love!

I love my LC-A, but I must say that the LC-W is doing it's best to win a place in my heart. The wide lens is... W I D E & I was a little scared off in the beginning about having to get so very close to my subjects when shooting, but to be honest I am really liking some of these 'people from a distance" shots... something about the wide lens works so very well with the little lane ways of Melbourne.

Getting used to only 2 distance settings after using a LC-A for such a long time has been interesting & even though I've not used the square frame, half frame or MX options yet, I can't wait to really see what this camera can do.

In other Lomography news, the Australia/NZ Lomography crew are setting up a Lomography stall at the Melbourne Finders Keepers Markets on April 20th & 21st, so if you're in the fair city of Melbourne next weekend come along & have a look & play with all the cool Lomography cameras & gear. (You may even see me hanging around, so come say Hi!)

x Mel

Friends in Black & White

LC-A (Kodak BW400CN)

I often forget how much I love using black & white film in my LC-A... a wander around the streets of Melbourne & a couple quiet drinks with some work friends easily changed that.

The season is slowly changing here, the nights are getting cooler, the mornings have a slight chill, jackets & cardigans are slowly emerging from closets. Soon the light will become scarce & I will be pushing 400 & 800 ISO film through my cameras & watching the leaves fall.

x Mel