Plastic
Cameras: Lo-Fi Photography in the Digital Age by Chris Gatcum
Published
by Ammonite Press. 2012. ISBN: 978-1-90770-840-4
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Chris
Gatcum is an award-winning photographer who has contributed articles
on photographic technique to a number of publications. He has served
as technical editor for What Digital Camera? magazine and was a technical
writer for Amateur Photographer magazine. In addition, he is the author
of the books 'Creative Digital Photography: 52 Weekend Projects' and
'Light & Shoot: 50 Fashion Photos'. His latest book, 'Plastic
Cameras - Lo-fi Photography in the Digital Age' opens with
a short introduction that details how the advance of the digital camera,
with their clean, 'flawless' instant images, has resulted in an appreciation,
by many photographers, especially students and 'fine art' photographers,
for the lo-fi aesthetics provided by some film cameras and, in particular,
the cheap, plastic 'toy' camera. Gatcum looks at the 'plastic pedigree'
of many of today's most popular 'toy' cameras, starting with original
Diana, made by the Great Wall Plastics factory in 60's Hong Kong,
and its 21st Century 'upgrade' by the Lomography company. Of course,
no book on the topic of 'Plastic Cameras' would be complete without
discussing the 'toy' camera that many of us first used, the Holga.
Gatcum discusses the various models of the Holga that are available,
detailing the pros and cons of each variation on the theme, including
the Holga 120 TLR, the Holgaroid, the Holga 120 3D, Holga WPC pinhole
camera and the various 35mm Holga cameras that are on offer.
The
author moves on to discuss what is meant by the 'Lo-Fi aesthetic'
and explains why the severe vignetting, extreme aberrations, uneven
sharpness, strange colours and light leaks, that are the 'signature'
of a 'plastic camera', should be embraced. The book offers a practical
guide to shooting with 'toy' cameras - with tips and advice on loading,
advancing and unloading the film. Gatcum also discusses how to best
use the, often very basic, viewfinders found on plastic cameras along
with suggestions as to what modifications you can make to your camera
to get the 'best' out of it. Of course the Holga and the Diana are
not the only 'plastic cameras' available and Gatcum looks at what
cameras, such as Blackbird, Recesky TLR, Halina Panorama, Action Samplers,
Oktomat, Pop 9, Twinkle 2, Split-Cam, Robot 3, Action 4, Agat 18k,
Ikinimo 110, Sprocket Rocket etc, have to offer. Each camera gets
a section, including examples of images made using them, and their
various quirks and charms are discussed. The final section looks at
how your digital camera can be turned into a lo-fi plastic wonder
via the use of a Lensbaby or Holga nd Diana lens attachments. There
is also a small section on how to 'recreate' the plastic look in software.
'Plastic Cameras - Lo-fi Photography in the
Digital Age' is, at 0.5 x 7 x 7 inches, a small, soft cover
book but that doesn't stop its 192 lavishly illustrated pages from
being joy to peruse. If you are new to the world of the 'plastic camera'
then this is a good place to start. Those of use who are already smitten
will still find much to hold our attention.
Review
by Christopher John Ball
****
Rating
I have long favoured the use of 'Toy Cameras' in my own working practice
and examples can be found
here.
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