My first photo-exhibition :) Diana Baby / 110 film (16mm)

Theme of the exhibition was “LO-FI Photography” with 16mm film (so-called 110/pocket) and miniature cameras – this time entire work has been made with my beloved Diana Baby 110. :)

It was organized by Foundation of Disabled People’s Art, with support of the Lomography Society International.

This exhibition consists of 7 collections, created with help of the aforementioned Diana 110 camera and various kinds of ‘110/pocket’ films (200 ISO colour negative, 100 ISO black&white film and reversal 200 ISO film X-Pro Slide). These collections have been shot in various locations, mainly in the vicinity of the southern Poland, such as Kraków, Chabówka, Nysa, Głuchołazy, Rabka, Dobczyce, Nieciecza and Grabówki.

I had no idea how would it work out because I have never made such an event before. It started at 16:00 and actually there came indeed some people interested in the LO-FI phenomenon. :) We displayed not only the photos themselves, but also printed informations about low fidelity photography, as well as the ‘technical area’ with all the Diana models, with the Diana Baby 110 emphasized (obviously :) ).

Full photo-report from the even You can find here:
http://yerzmyey.i-demo.pl/yerzmyey_wystawa_fotografii_lo-fi_2014.zip
The report has been prepared by Pinokio – the guy we’re usually going for photo-trips: he takes his gigantic digital camera and I take my tiny analogue cameras (like Diana Baby, or Mini, or other machines) so we always look like guys from Laurel and Hardy movies, haha.

As You can see, there were people in various age – it was nice to see they all were interested in analogue photography. :)

The exhibition will be available for another 2 weeks, until the 24.10.2014.

As for the additional informations, for people who don’t actually know what the hell is that ;) – here they are:

Lo-fi photography (low-fidelity) is a trend in artistic photography, characterized by the use of unconventional techniques, chosen to achieve a particular aesthetic effect, giving the viewer an impression of a low-quality image reproduction.

A strive to achieve this effect is intentional, and the various phenomena considered unfavorable in traditional photography are appreciated and welcomed here – for example: light leaks, a high degree of photos’ graininess, deformations related to the use of lenses made of plastic (instead of glass), discolorations on film etc.

While the use of digital devices is permissible, the lo-fi photography is most often characterized by the use of classic analogue / film cameras, especially those considered low-end, ie. as technically simple as possible.
The most noteworthy aspect of the genre is the frequent appearance of techniques such as the use of miniature cameras (16 mm film, the so-called ‘110’ or ‘pocket’), toy cameras or pinhole photography (shooting technique using the ‘camera obscura’, or “pinhole camera”).

This result gives a very distinctive visual impact, since the image formed by these methods is different from the image obtained by high-end cameras (especially digital ones) because the lo-fi image is softer and more blurred; sometimes it gives the impression of phantom visions (“dreamy pictures”), there is also another type of color diffusion here. Additionally, in the case of the ‘pinhole’ technique, angular magnification is constant for objects in any distance from the camera, allowing for depth of field to extend from zero to infinity.

In addition to the above, special films are employed, to further enhance the distortion of the reality’s vision, specifically the color range. The most frequently used films include: Red Scale, Color Implosion, Purple, Tungsten, InfraRed etc. One may also include X-Pro Slide films, which can affect the coloring of the photographs, too.

It is believed that the phenomenon of lo-fi photography is a reaction to ubiquitous digital photography, characterized by an image quality so perfect that it becomes somewhat artificial and impersonal.

Presently, the entity that most fully supports this photography trend, in context of analog technology, is the Lomographic Society International from Austria, which provides access to new analogue lo-fi cameras, for example the ‘Diana’ series of cameras. In addition, it continues to support the production of photographic film; not only the small-format standard 35 mm, but also those which are most difficult to obtain: medium format film ‘120’ and 16 mm microfilm ‘110’, otherwise known as ‘pocket’, the production of which was discontinued worldwide in 2009 (by the FujiFilm company), and the Lomographic Society International resumed production of this format in 2011, supporting it also with new miniature cameras Diana 110 and FishEye 110 – especially for the lo-fi photographers.

written by yerzmyey on 2014-10-13