So I Finally Got My Lomo Film Developed…
The funny thing about film photography is that after about using half a roll of film, you lose interest in it and go back to digital. Then, a year or more later you randomly feel the urge to play with film again. You take out your camera, notice it has 15 exposures left from who knows when, and then you frantically shoot anything that seems “film worthy” in your apartment within one hour just to finish off the roll because you seriously just want to go get it developed.
That, my friends, is exactly what happened to me a few nights ago. Except, I had a bigger challenge: to finish off not one, but TWO rolls of film – one in my Lomo, the other in my dad’s old Canon AE-1. That’s basically one full roll of film! And let me tell you – using the rest of that film was no easy task for a Monday evening.
When I had finally used up both rolls, I promptly headed to the local drug store to get them developed. To my dismay, I had forgotten that most places only do c-41 color film, so half of my work (the one black and white roll), will be sitting in my purse until I can find the time to take it somewhere else. But it’s all good – I got my Lomo prints done within a few hours and now I would like to share some with you:
Chloe in my bedroom. Taken with Lomography Fisheye 2, date unknown but approximately June-August 2010.
Double-exposure, "love" on a whiteboard and LED-tip decorative branches (white dots visible in the picture). Taken January 2, 2012 with Lomography Fisheye 2.
Brightly-lit fisheye photo of my world map. Taken January 2, 2012 with Lomography Fisheye 2.
Candid capture of Chloe licking Kyle's neck (gross). Taken January 2, 2012 with Lomography Fisheye 2.
Upon receiving the photos back, I have pretty much decided that I really dislike this toy camera. It can be fun for certain looks and styles, but overall, I don’t appreciate that I wasted over half a roll of film because the scenes were not bright enough. The few photos that I actually wanted to see didn’t turn out, to say the least (I largely shot on “Normal” mode without flash). I also noticed how, when using the one-sided built-in flash, a large shadow of the outward-protruding lens was cast, therefore blacking out the whole right-side of the photo (very apparent in the map photo above). As a result, the disappointment and irritation are enough to make me never want to use it again. But, that’s just my opinion – I never really took the time to learn the “art of Lomo,” so I would still encourage anyone who finds joy in it to continue using theirs.
There will be more photos to come in the coming days/weeks, so keep an eye out! In the meantime, if you have a Fisheye 2, or any other Lomo camera, post me a link to your photos – I’d love to see them!
P.S. My urge to shoot film wasn’t as “random” as I previously mentioned – I was inspired by a recent follower, Film Wins (shout out!), as well as by a plethora of others in the photo community who have taken a step back from technology to re-experiment with film.
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