Apertures Photo: Tulsa, Oklahoma - Apertures

Lomography Love – The Future is Analog!

by PhotoGopher

As the plastic camera craze continues to sweep the nation and film begins to experience a long overdue comeback, many people are left to wonder what the driving force behind this movement is. 

The story of Lomography begins back in 1982 when a Russian government official challenged a comrade of his (who happened to own LOMO Russian Arms and Optical factory) to replicate a Cosina CX-1 that was manufactured in Japan. Later that year, the LOMO factory rolled out the LC-A, an improved version of the Japanese compact camera, and mass production began two years later in 1984.

International interest in the LC-A was sparked in 1991 when the camera was discovered by two Viennese students who stumbled upon the communist gem in an old camera shop in Prague. After returning to Vienna, friends, family, and passersby of the students fell in love with the images that had been created with the camera and interest in importing the cameras began.

If 1982 was the spark of Lomography, then 1992 was the big bang. Since interest in the little commie camera had grown so quickly (resulting in backpack raids in Russia to acquire more cameras) the Vienna City council took note and aided the movement by donating an empty house for Lomographic operations. Later, this house served as the location of the first Lomography exhibition, where 700 LC-A’s were sold, and the very first LomoWall (a defining feature of Lomography Gallery Stores) was constructed.

In the years since the first exhibition, Lomography has seen an astronomical rise in popularity largely due to their community-like structure. Since 1992 Lomography has: launched a website, created a Lomo Embassy in Berlin, and held simultaneous exhibitions in New York City and Moscow (1994), convinced Russian manufacturers to continue producing the LC-A (1996), hosted a Lomographic World Congress in Madrid (1997), begun opening Lomography stores (2001), and launched a line of fashion items (2003). Additionally, Lomo has been introducing innovative toy cameras to the market since 1998 and they unveiled their first in-house camera in 2000.

Before the advent of Facebook and Twitter, there was Lomography – the original social network.

Source: http://www.lomography.com/about/timeline

Lomography Names to Know (click on names to view more information and sample images)

Lomo LC-A/+: Faithful reproduction of the original

Lomo LC-Wide: Ultra-wide angle camera

Diana+/F+: Reproduction of the 1960’s Diana, uses 120 film and fun retro flash, many colors

La Sardina: Wide angle lens camera with a sardine can-like body, flash and cool patterns

Spinner 360: Pull the string and create a 360° photo

Sprocket Rocket: Creates wide images over the entire piece of film, sprockets and all

Fisheye One/No. 2: Circular fisheye lens camera (round image), underwater housing available

Actionsampler: Snaps a quad of 4 sequential images on one 35mm frame

SuperSampler: 4 sequential vertical images on a single 35mm frame

Pop 9: Produces 9 identical images on a single film frame

Oktomat: Shoots 8 sequential images onto a single frame in 2.5 seconds

Lubitel 166+: Soviet-era reproduction medium format, twin lens camera

Holga: Medium format (also available in 35mm) plastic camera, images have soft corners

*New* LomoKino: Shoots short, 144 frame films to 35mm film

http://usa.shop.lomography.com/

Check out the new Toy Camera Meet-Up Group in town!

http://www.meetup.com/The-Tulsa-Toy-Camera-Meetup-Group/

Why Printed Photos Matter

Printing photos for children to view as they grow up is critical to keeping mental memories intact, strengthening family ties, and fostering emotional well-being, according to Dr. Kenneth Condrell, PhD and clinical psychologist who specializes in counseling families, children and teens.

“While the advent of digital cameras has resulted in people taking more pictures, fewer families are actually printing them for inclusion in photo albums or to frame for display. By exchanging photos via email and storing them on disks or computers, parents are actually jeopardizing the emotional well-being of children who need to see pictures of themselves as they grow to promote self-esteem and security,” said Dr. Condrell.

"In addition, the candid images that truly capture personalities, family members, and moments in time are becoming casualties of the digital camera’s ‘delete’ button, so entire portions of a person’s history are being erased,” he added. Today only 13 percent of digital pictures taken ever end up being archived on paper.

http://photoimagenews.com/picturesmatter/

Umbrella Soft Boxes

By PhotoGopher

Umbrella soft boxes are the “universal”, portable, easy to use option for light diffusion. A drawstring closure on the back of the soft box allows easy use with electronic flash units (speedlights, studio strobes, or monolights) since no speed ring or adaptor ring is necessary. Opening and closing the unit is as easy as opening and closing an umbrella which adds to the product’s ease of use and allows for quick setup and tear down. Assembly does vary slightly depending on the application. Most strobes or monolights are already set up to accept an umbrella, so all that is required is sliding the umbrella tube through the appropriate hole on the head and tightening it into place (as you would a photo umbrella). For use with speedlights, a bracket and either a light stand or light stick are required. A bracket allows for the speed light to be attached, the umbrella softbox to be attached, and for the entire setup to be mounted on a light stand or light stick (also known as Voice Activated Lightstand – VAL).

One of the many advantages of an umbrella softbox over a standard square softbox is that the light is allowed to bleed slightly out of the sides of the umbrella whereas softboxes that are too small for a particular application tend to concentrate light to a specific area because of the black sides. Additionally, umbrella softboxes, when used with speedlights, create a beautiful quality of light similar to that of a studio light.

So if you are looking to upgrade your quality of light, create a portable studio, or just have the best speedlight modifier for your kit, an umbrella softbox might just be the perfect fit for you.