Homemade Flash Diffuser

I cannot lay claim to this invention, i heard about it a while and took a few moments to work out the description.



Although i have owned a Holga mini flash and LSI colorsplash for sometime, i have never really got to grips with flash photography until i started viewing the digital images from the strobist blog.

I used the colorsplash at a recent ATP gig and was a little disapointed when the images were returned, with the LC-A in automatic aperture mode and the focus at 80cm, a lot of the faces were "blown out". Which made me think of stofen i have on my Vivitar 285HV and the film canister diffuser i had heard about somewhere.



So a film canister was pulled from the bag and away with the craft knife.



Here is the end result, setting the aperture to f.16 with a distance of around 80cm to 1m seems to achieve the correct result.

The film diffuser can be stored quite easily in the bag when attached to the colorsplash.

And The Winner Is ..

And The Winner Is ..
Originally uploaded by RCM273LDN

This shot came from a Halloween gig, All Tomorrows Party's Release The Bats @ The Forum in Kentish Town.

All images taken by photographers were requested to be uploaded to a Release The Bats flickr pool .. My image was selected as the WINNER!

What did i win .. Another parcel of LOMO Cameras and goodies, courtesy of LSI ..

Thanks to LSI who sponsored the fancy dress competition, Deborah @ ATP & the model .. Whoever she may be ..

I never have much luck with the shoot-from-the-hip rule, but in this event it seemed to work

You can see more images of the fancy dress entrants & some digital shots Here

To find out what ATP are all about visit the ATP website

New Camera !!!!

Imperial Savoy

I first spotted an Imperial a few months back in someones flickr photostream, and was immediatley attracted to the funky shape and 1950's colours .. a quick search on Camerapedia and a search on ebay produced this little beauty from 1961 for £4.00 .. the shipping from the states was twice the price of the camera.

The shutter needed a little attention but the plastic body is in mint condition, the camera is little more than a small box, holding two spools of 620 (120) format film and the shutter and arrangment of 2 moving plates, a few spring and a revolving cam.

The viewfinder is pretty much usless, but gives a funky tunnel effect which i guess bears no sembelance to the final image.

The camera was manufactured by the Herbert George Camera Co., Illinois between 1956 to 1965 by Imperial Camera Corp. of Chicago, Illinois under the name of Imperial. In 1961, the company changed it’s name to Imperial Camera Corp.

The Savoy was designed around the time of Americas ventures into space and gives me the impression of 1960's cartoons like the Jettisons, especially with its futuristic shape and the little planet on the aluminium front plate.

My Savoy came with a 4 page instruction manual which includes a guarantee, for $1 they would repair and return your camera should the unthinkable happen.

I currently have my eye on a Blue Mark VII which comes with removable flashgun and manual & hope to find a funky looking red model, maybe the superbly named official girl scouts model.

They have to be some of the cutest toy cameras ever made .. Watch this space!

Check the Imperial cameras group on flickr.

Edit : Since my first post, i have discovered other owners Capt Kodak & John Kratz which i thank for there information.

Demonoid Down Again!!

"The CRIA threatened the company renting the servers to us, and because of this it is not possible to keep the site online. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your understanding" .. From the demonoid site today ..

Downer, life sucks without demonoid ..

Diana+

Just got a couple of test rolls back from a LSI Diana+ .. I like it, it gives a faint whispy image, and a strange depth of field.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

ATP : Release The Bats

Greetings From Floyd Street

Petrified Forest Floyd

Another fun collection of images i stumbled upon one day was by Ellen Jo & Floyd, her 5lb Chihuahua. Floyd is the star of an ongoing series of travel photos, whereby the little guy is hoisted infront of various landmarks across the states with the ubiqutous hand of Ellen Jo.

Floyd is also the star of his own book "Greetings from Floyd Street"

"Arizona writer, artist and photographer, Ellen Jo Roberts documents Floyd's continuing travels by cleverly holding him aloft and taking his photo in front of various landmarks, pop-culture artifacts and roadside relics. This much anticipated & highly-collectable first volume in the ongoing series details Floyd's travels throughout California, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Georgia, Florida, and Floyd's own photogenic home state of Arizona. "Greetings from Floyd Street" is sure to bring good cheer to all."

Valdosta Georgia Floyd

Ellen Jo lives in the historic copper-mining company-town of Clarkdale, Arizona with her husband "Bike Daddy" Chad, a cat, named Clyde, a Boston Terrier named Ivan, and of course, Floyd. She has a with a fixation with cheap plastic cameras & vintage Volkswagens.

Ellen's artwork may be seen at the Jerome Artists Cooperative Galley, in Jerome Arizona, and her regular feature column "The Outs" may be read in the Northern Arizona creative arts & news monthly "The Noise".

Greetings from Floyd Street flickr set
Ellenjo @ flickr
ellenjo.com

Volume I : Greetings From Floyd Street is available at Blurb!
Postcard Fun-Paks available from Etsy!

Busy

Busy
Originally uploaded by RCM273LDN

I recently saw a small competition in the flickr pool, Two Feet Under set.
The title was specific, On the toilet bowl. In following with two feet under's rules all images were to be taken under two foot, self explanatory really.

I instantly thought of my Polaroid, but later found that i had missed the submission date by one day, when browsing the pool, there were a few similar to my Polaroid, and some other great and better submissions.

I will post the winning entry in time, but for the time being please view the submissions, and vote for a winner .. I think i like the idea of these little competitions, lets call them photographic brain twisters.

More London

More London
Originally uploaded by RCM273LDN

Alongside Tower Bridge on the South bank of the River Thames is More London & City Hall, home of Ken Livingstone's London Authority and many amazing glass buidings.


The area is one of my favourite places to shoot in town, the light is always good, the reflections great and i always see something new every time i visit. I look forward to the day when the area is completed so that my images wont be hindered by contruction hoardings and scaffolding.

This image was taken with a Lubitel 166B & Kodak Portra 160 VC, but i like to trial all my cameras and lenses with different films and processing methods on the development.

If you like this, please visit my More London set.

More London
Originally uploaded by RCM273LDN

To learn more about More London click Here

To learn more about City Hall / London Assembly click Here

Peter Thomsen : Holga Moment

Click to Play

I got sick and tierd of recomending this great instructional video and then loosing the link, i decided to dump this super video on to my site.

For all the Holga n00bs ..