150 Photographic Projects

A book for the wishlist; '150 Photographic Projects for Art Students' by John Easterby. Have a look on Amazon to have a look through the book.

Review

'This inspiring book is packed with practical ideas to help you become a better photographer. The advice is clear and helpful throughout.'

  --Black & White Photography, September 2010

Experiments with Disposable Cameras

Some great ideas for playing around with your disposable camera from this article :)

● Double Exposure

I'd recently found and used up an old black&white disposable I found in a box not too long ago, and it reignited my interest in using something other than digital. So when my boyfriend and I were browsing through Gizmodo and saw the weekly contest about disposable cameras, we instantly wanted to get out of our comfort zone and try our hand at it. We bought a two pack of Fujifilm Quick Snap Flash 35mms and set out looking for ideas. I knew right off that I wanted to attempt multiple exposures. It took a few frames to finally figure it out but we got there eventually. After taking photos of random things (hoping they'd be layered), I decided I wanted more of a method to the chaos. I convinced my boyfriend to be my muse and shot different aspects of him (his hands, shoulders, arms, face, feet, and hair) against a muted backdrop so the color of his skin would be a meshed focal point. And I'm pretty happy with how it came out.


-Mai S

● Pinwheel

I used a DiFox color plus premium edition "happy click" with a 400ASA. When the bright yellow poorly fitted cardboard outside was peeled back, it revealed a disposable with Spanish printed on it, taped together with gaffer's tape at the corner. Deluxe!

My boyfriend came home with a two pack and the rules of this contest on Friday. I had a killer sinus infection, but there was a kick ass sunset in progress, so I ran around the terrace in my slippers, mostly taking photos of that. When I decided that I needed a little something extra in there, I popped this pinwheel flower that a guy I work with gave me when boyfriend and I got engaged two weeks ago. I think the soft focus in the foreground and the puffy white sunset clouds in the background make for something kind of magical. Most of my other shots were crap, but I really liked the whole "I have no idea what I just shot" aspect of shooting with this little box. I've kind of forgotten what that was like.


-Bree Bolger

● Windshield Filter

This shot was unplanned but worked out the best. It was taken through the windshield while riding in a friend's car. The blue-tinted strip of glass at the top provided a great faux cross-processed sky. Taken
with Fujifilm disposable (400 speed film), developed at Costco while I impulse-bought bulk items I didn't need, and resized in Photoshop.


-Nick Sprankle

Ishani (volume.10)

Ishani, who goes by volume.10 on Flickr, soaked a disposable camera in a mixture of red wine, fairy liquid, water and lemon juice to get these wonderful images.

Expired Film.

You can get some great results by using expired film. These photos were all taken on my Olympus Trip 35, using a variety of films expired between 2009-10. If you can get your hands on older films you can get more distorted photos, but they're difficult to find for a reasonable price. I've bought all of mine from ebay.

Check out some more on my Flickr :)

Tokyo Dreamer Strap.

We want this strap! The Tokyo Dreamer Strap is Japanese and unfortunately (for us Brits at least) it only ships to the USA, but we still love the colour scheme and little pocket for a spare film :)

This National Geographic equivalent comes with 2 pockets, which is a bonus, especially for more lengthy shoots where you might need to carry spare batteries, or an extra memory card if you're shooting digital.

    

Forest

Some photographs from my 'Forest' series (check out the full set on my Flickr) using a variety of disposable camera techniques.

Hot Shots - Kevin Meredith

Another book for the wishlist! We originally found this book in Urban Outfitters, but it's much cheaper to buy from Amazon!

You can also click through for a look inside the book :)

   

Mike Foisey.

These stunning photos are by Mike Foisey on Flickr.

Mike soaked theFuji Superia 800 film he used in mouthwash to achieve this effect.

SarahM616

This great set is by SarahM616 on Flickr.

Sarah boiled the film, we think post-shooting. This seems like a great technique to ensure you can still tell what the photo was supposed to be of, but also getting some fun and colourful photographs. Maybe we can persuade Hannah to try this one out!

Zach Fudge

These amazing photographs are by Zach Fudge on flickr.

Zach says of his technique; "I shot the roll like normal, then I dropped the roll into pepsi and left it there for about 5 minutes. I took it out, washed it out with water and let it dry in the sun. Then I just took it to the labs like normal". (although the last one was in lemonade!)

As much as we love these, we don't think we'll be trying them just yet - Hannah's very reluctant to try anymore "wet experiments" just yet!

Lemon Juice Experiments

I got my film back today that I'd soaked in lemon juice. I think it's safe to say, it was a failure. I'd soaked the film, in it's canister, in lemon juice (from one of those lemon shaped bottles, I think it might have worked better in fresh lemon juice :S) for 3 hours (I meant to leave it for only 2 but I forgot about it) then rinsed it and put it in the airing cupboard for 3 days. The outer plastic had melted a little bit when I took it out so that can't have helped much either :s it then sat in room temperature for another day before I took it in to be developed.

Here's the annoying part - I also took in a disposable camera at the same time. I'd messed around with the lens and flash on this, but the film stayed completely dry. Or so I thought. I will admit to putting the camera and the film in a plastic bag together to carry them to the shop, but they weren't in there for long. Apparently it was long enough though, because from the 54 photos I should have got back, I only got 14 :( I also got a roll of negatives with nothing on them, so I don't know how the disposable messed up so much that nothing came out (unless the photos I did get back were from the disposable, which they may have been, I'm not entirely sure. Although now as I try to remember what was on each film it makes more sense for the ones that came back to have been from the disposable)

So here's what I did get back:

It just annoys me to think of the things I'd taken photos of that didn't come out; a trip to Cambridge, the most amazing christmas shop in Sudbury (too far to go back for) and the bridal flower section of a garden centre. I guess that's what you have to deal with when you experiment with film like this though! If I do try again at some point, I think I'll stick to generic shots!

Flickr set - Disposable

Homely

Olympus Trip 35

Film expired 2010

Flickr

Hannah Curson Blog

Analogue Sunrise Photo of the Day 11/11/11

Analogue Sunrise

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Jelly Lens.

My jelly lens came today :)

I bought the starburst one (although I bought it from this seller on ebay, so it's actually green)

I haven't really used it much yet but I'll tell you what I think so far. I'm not overly impressed. Yes it fits well on the back of my blackberry (although I not with a case on because it sticks a little too well), but the back cover doesn't stay attached very well so it's going to quickly lose it's stickiness. You can't use the zoom while it's attached.

I haven't really taken many photos yet so I don't know how well it performs, but the photo below is a quick example. It does blur the edge slightly in a quite nice effect, but it's not really very noticeable. I think I need to try it in better lighting, with something actually in the background so you can see the effect it has.

However, it was ridiculously cheap. So even though I can't actually attach it to my phone because I don't have the two little holes (I'm sure they have an actual name) that the lanyard loops through, it's kinda fun and because it's cheap you can play around with a few different ones. I like the way they all look together, so I might be persuaded to buy some more in the future!

[I'll update this when I've taken some proper photos!)