Krappy Kameras
December 6th, 2008
This is the time of year when there seem to be a lot of juried shows looking for entries. So I’ve been busy getting entries ready. Several have already been sent off and several more are in various stages of preparation. I’ve gotten so that I’ll only enter these things if it is easy to do the entries on line and the entry fees are very reasonable. I think a lot of them are just fund raising affairs intended to get as much money as possible from the entry fees with few of the entries actually accepted for exhibit and little or no benefit even if your photos are accepted.
So I’ve gotten pretty particular. Some, like the Kinsey Institute’s annual show, are put on by institutions that I’m more than happy to support with my entry fee. Others are just fun. One that falls into that category is the Krappy Kamera show put together by the Soho Photo Gallery in NYC. The basic requirement is that the photos must have been taken with a “Krappy Kamera” such as a Holga or Diana F or anything else that has a really crappy lens, including pinhole cameras.
I’ve enjoyed playing with crappy lenses over the years, so I’m enjoying getting this entry ready. I am not a big fan of the Holga and Diana F, having been forced to work for a year with the Diana F back in photo school and hating every minute of it. I like the effects of old soft-focus lenses for some subject matter. I just don’t like the random bad things that tend to happen with those plastic cameras. So I’ve found a variety of other ways to get the soft effect.
I’ve had a single-element soft focus lens made for a Nikon mount for many years. Recently I bought an actual Holga lens attached to a Nikon mount. I also have a variety of store-bought and homemade pinholes that can be mounted on my Nikons. So I have a bunch of photos made with those crappy lenses and my digital cameras.
But, even more fun is the “camera system” I used for the photo of Nemesis in this post. I call it my “Speed Holga.” I duct taped a $3 magnifying glass to an empty lens board for my Speed Graphic and used the rear shutter and a Polaroid back to make this photo and a bunch of others that are in the running for the Krappy Kamera show.
Photography, at least for me, is about having fun. And doing things like this sure are fun. And maybe now and then they are art too.
Sorry posts have been so few and far between lately. I expect it to be like this for the next few weeks. I’m just simply very busy, mostly with things other than photography and the blogging. But I’ll be back here posting when I get time and I’ll hope to be back to doing that more frequently after the holidays.
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