Classic Camera Revival – Episode 87 – Mystery Camera Challenge III

It’s always fun to riff off a camera after shooting with it for the first time while we’ve done this theme before we’re now on our third part of the challenge. But this time we’re adding another twist. This time the camera provider has also loaded the camera up with a specific film stock with…

Classic Camera Revival – Episode 87 – Mystery Camera Challenge III — Alex Luyckx | Blog

2sic2spurious: The Zine Of The Century

I made several mistakes taking this photo with my iPhone.

Have you ever returned from an amazing film photography excursion only to discover that you left your lens cap on? Or, maybe you developed a roll in the wrong chemicals or at the wrong speed? We have all been there. In my case, a few times. I was recently asked by Matt Parry of Matt Parry fame to contribute to a zine he made with David Allen celebrating film photography failures. The result is an elegant collection of photography failures called 2sic2spurious. I asked Matt a few questions about what inspired him to make a zine about failure.

GB: I love the idea of celebrating mistakes. I feel that social media encourages us to try and appear perfect when the most interesting aspects of photography for me is what I learn from mistakes. I noticed you left your lorem lipsum text on the cover. Is that to go with the theme of mistakes?

MP: That’s it. There is a lot all around us telling us everything must be perfect. And equally, personally, I am good at beating myself up if things go wrong. So I agree. We learn from our mistakes. Sometimes the mistakes are even better than the image would have been if it had turned out as planned. Yes, the Lorem text was Dave’s idea. The whole zine was meant to continue the theme of mistakes and errors. There are big chunks of the text, smaller bits as well as some real Latin now and again (thanks Google translate). Equally, the juxtaposition of the images and the general layout was fairly well thought out by us, but hopefully still keeps that feeling of error.

Going back to your previous point too, there is a quote from the Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky which nicely encapsulates it all: 

I am a man because I err! You never reach any truth without making fourteen mistakes and very likely one hundred and fourteen. And a fine thing, too, in its way; but we can’t even make mistakes on our own account! Talk nonsense, but talk your own nonsense, and I’ll kiss you for it. To go wrong in one’s own way is better than to go right in someone else’s.

GB: Did you find that the submissions had errors in common or do we all go wrong in different ways?

MP: There was quite a variety. Accidental, multiple exposures, developing problems like colour shifts, light leaks, exposure issues. People really did go wrong in their own way. This made it both a bit harder – though far more interesting – to try to pair the images up.

GB: I tend to leave lens caps on and from my days with a 15mm I sometimes forget to focus. What are your common mistakes?

MP: Yes with rangefinders, I do that too. I’ve had issues with winding, many issues with double/overlapping exposures. A few with developing too. I once developed a roll of film from a trip to Iceland in 1:1000 instead of 1:100. The images were very very faint. Sigh.

GB: I kind of like the idea of super faint images of Iceland. Were any of the images salvageable?

MP: Yeah. They just about scanned. Though they were super duper grainy. Looked almost invisible on the negative.

GB: What has making this zine taught you about other people’s mistakes?

MP: I did learn that a lot of people make substantially less mistakes than me. I don’t know if that’s good or bad or what. But also, that pretty much everyone makes mistakes. Often really silly ones. But I think that’s all good. Let’s make more silly mistakes.

GB: How can I get a copy of this robustly elegant zine?

MP: You can get in contact with me @mparry1234 and order a copy.

The Petrol Station Series 3: Crawling Around Croydon — Photographic Jannine

It was Saturday 22nd February, the fourth day of shooting the Petrol Station Series. That night I was in Croydon, however I would return back there twice the following week. Yes, there were so many petrol stations in Croydon that it was impossible to shoot them all in one night. My first stop was Jet […]The Petrol Station Series 3: Crawling Around Croydon — Photographic Jannine

I’m loving this series of gas stations at night. I find them extremely relaxing and evocative of a warm summer’s eve.

Photo Of The Week 6/19/20

Once again we dig deep into the glory of the brown. The Elder Gods love poured concrete and this tweet by Matt Evans provides an abundance of waterfront and concrete. The Elder Gods will rejoice in this.

Our photo of the week is drawn from the glory of #BelieveInFilm & #ShittyCameraChallenge photos posted on twitter. Tag your elegant film photography with #BelieveInFilm with a chance to be featured.

LomoChrome Metropolis – First Roll Fun — James Cockroft

When Lomography announced their new Metropolis film, I jumped on it. But when it arrived, I wasn’t feeling too into shooting much, so I stuck it all in the refrigerator. Then, when I finally built the piece of garbage known as the LomoMod no.1 and loaded some 120 Metropolis into it, I decided I should…

LomoChrome Metropolis – First Roll Fun — James Cockroft

Photo Of The Week 6/14/20

Do you hear a voice in the back of your head calling your name? Who is it you ask? It is the Elder Gods calling you to The Blood Dome to honor HFH Gigi and The Shitty Camera Challenge. Today, we dig deep in the brown and pull up a fecalrific #ShittyCameraChallenge tweet as our Photo Of The Week.

Have you ever eaten too many beets, watched too many episodes of Portlandia, and / or consumed an entire can of cherry pie filling? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you understand the beauty of this photo by Curtis Joe Walker. The Lomo Instant Wide is pushing it a little bit in terms of fecalness but I owned one and left it in my car trunk for 3 years so it definitely does qualify as shitty.

#BelieveInFilm is an internationally acclaimed collective of people who maintain high fiber diets and who work together to create a future for film photography. #ShittyCameraChallenge is a cult run by cats and is sponsored by the number 2.

Photo Of The Week 6/7/2020

This week we asked Matt P to brave the #BelieveInFilm waters and select just one example of extreme triumph to be our photo of the week.

I like how the three boards really stand out but are also completely dwarfed by the hill in the background.

Thanks Matt! You can find Matt on twitter, instagram, and his own website. He’s also working a really cool zine that you will hear much more about soon.