Lomography

When I decided to enter the world of photography  I only had a compact pink camera that didn’t work. The focus was all over the place and the pictures were a mess. So, the first thing I had to do was buy a new camera. Of course digital was the only way to go as the course I was about to begin was called Digital 1… need to say more?

So, my first real approach to this world was with digital photography. However, analogue always had a place in a corner of my mind. I remember my dad’s old camera haunting me every time I walked through that aisle in front of my room, staring at me, daring me to try it. I don’t know exactly why, but I feared film.

However, that fear is long gone and now I only feel love and extreme excitement for analogue photography. Last year I came to Barcelona during my vacations and my brother took me to a Lomography store. I was completely amazed. There were sample pictures of how the photos turned out and it was a feast to my eyes. I had, just had to try this. So I bought my very own lomo cam. A perfect, beautiful Diana F+, and started shooting away.

And what better place to start than the beautiful city of Barcelona? Here are some of my first lomo pics.

Trying it one time was enough for me to love it. Shooting without exposure measures, without shutter speed calculations, just with my own knowledge and instincts is an amazing experience. Plus, the intrigue of not knowing how the photos turned out until the film is developed is extremely exiting. Besides, there is something very special about lomography cameras. The feel of the pictures, the colors the style, everything makes it very unique.

I love the double exposures and mixing flash colors!

My dad’s camera doesn’t hunt me anymore. I’m not longer afraid of film! I recommend everyone with love for photography to try it, and if you do, I hope you love as much as I do.

The beauty of a rainy day

Nothing like lighting a couple of candles, listen to some mellow jazz and sit down to write on a gray and rainy day in September. And, even if the flu attacks, for me, there ir nothing as relaxing as this.

And lately cloudy and rainy days have become a common landscape. Personally, this used to be a problem because I never felt in the mood to take pictures in wheather like this.

When I do a mental recap of my photos I realize there is a pattern. I always tend to take pictures of bright days, with intnse or soft light, but always cheerful and sunny. I realized that I have always felt unmotivated to photograph in cloud , rainy and gray enviroments.

This got to a level that, if it was necessary to go on out in this weather, I didn’t even take my camera with me, thinking I would have nothing to capture and,  that even if I did, I would be disappointed with the results. What a mistake I was making. Recently, I went out of my comfort zone and I’m so glad I did it.

I decided to take my camera for a walk with me to the park on a gray afternoon, when the clouds had kidnapped the sun and cool breeze presaged the coming of the rain. These are some of the pictures I took .

I like how these photos turned out, contrary to what I expected. They are far away from the regular kind of calm and sunny days pictures I take, and I love them. I feel there is something special in them. Soft colors, pale light, the deserted park; put together, it has a unique charm.

I liked to try a different style of photography. I got out of my commonplace and dared to do something I had never tried before  with my pictures, maybe just for fear that it wouldn’t turn out well. I’m definitely going to begin to practice more photography with this style.

Now I feel and see the beauty of a rainy day. And this is something else I’ve learned through photography, there is beauty in everything around us, maybe it will take us some time and effort to realize, but there is.

Invisible Cameras

Photography changes the way we see things. Everything shows details that weren’t there before, the features of a face become obvious to our eyes, objects have new angles and it even becomes possible to photograph a personality.

The light no longer looks the same either, now it has tones and meanings. It can be happy, sad, melancholic, anxious or peaceful… now the light has moods.

And now I take photos with my eyes. I walk down the street and imagine how would I photograph that girl with green eyes, freckles and red hair. The framing, the light, the contrast, the colors and the final picture in one blink.

That lady and her small yorkshire sitting in the park, pose to my invisible camera and I take their picture to demonstrate “how things resemble to their owner” as that old Disney movie reminds me.

Taking photographs with the eyes is a great exercise that eventually becomes inevitable. It comes with the package of being a photographer. It’s about feeling so passionate about something that you can’t go by a day without it. Just as the musicians playing invisible instruments, not having a camera doesn’t mean no pictures will happen.

And this is great because it helps to develop a vision, a personal style. And what better place to do that than in our minds? Viewing photographs everywhere trains our eyes, and, by doing so, the image processing occurs in our heads, opening infinite possibilities of editing that can then be applied to reality.

This practice will help to be more clear about what we want and where can our images go to.