I bought a new camera this morning.
Not exactly a D300, I’ll admit. So does this mean I’ve given up on digital SLRs (and possibly my senses as well)? Not exactly.
Yesterday my sister criticised me for not having enough links on my blog roll, and the two I did have weren’t even blogs. So today I spent some time looking for interesting photography blogs to add to it. While doing it I found an interesting post by an Incurable Hippie about Lomography
Lomo PLC are a Russian camera company who make cheap film camera’s. They were discovered by an Austrian company, Lomographische AG, who came up with (and trade marked, natch) the word lomography.
It seems to be based the round the idea of spontaneity. Of just snapping away, rather than spending ages fiddling with exposure and white balance. In fact the motto is, “Don’t think, just shoot.” It’s a photographic philosophy that places experimentation and speed over careful planning and precision.
As I read Philippa’s blog the idea of going back to a less formal style of photography appealed to me. So much so that even though it was a Sunday, and I had planned to spend the day writing, I immediately left to go and buy a couple of disposable cameras.
Now I’m not going to give up on my precious Nikon, my focus will still be carefully planned pictures with time spent on getting the settings right, but I’m also going to start taking some less formal, more fun, shots at the same time, and seeing if anything comes from it.
Another advantage of a cheap disposable camera is I can take it to work without having to worry about it being stolen. I used to take a compact digital to work, in case I spotted a photo opportunity. However after having my locker broken into last year (Fortunately I was on holiday so nothing was taken) I’ve stopped doing that. A six pound disposable seems to be the obvious solution to that.
Posted by msparshatt 
