Geek Hardware: The Toy Cameras

If any of my college professors are reading this post, please return to my webpage and enjoy the pretty pictures...you will not like what you are about to see.

Everyone ready?

Here goes...

I like blur...

There, I said it. I can't take it back now..it's out there. Everyone knows. Even though it flies in the face of everything I learned as an undergrad...that everything must be razor sharp, so sharp in fact that to run your hand down the front of the print would cause it to bleed. It's true...I have developed a love affair with blur. I feel better now.

Of course you can create blur with Photoshop or any other decent post processing software when it comes to your digital files. But I have found that blur looks the best when it comes from film...just like everything else in life. *coughGOFILMcoughcough*

With that in mind there are a whole slew of cameras out there whose lives are built around the blur...many of which are coupled with my other love...the vignette. The darkening of edges to create a dark and ominous mood....mmm...vignette. These cameras are generally plastic in nature and tend to leak light like a sieve. The time tested favorite of these cameras is the wonderfully dynamic Holga.

Holgas are easy to find and super easy to use. The cameras can be found online at Amazon.com and B&H Photovideo. Many local stores also carry them as they have become a big part of what I would like to think is a film revival. I know that digital has become the way of the photographic world,  but I think that there are a large group of photographers that still enjoy the look and feel of film and will be hard pressed to give it up for some applications.

They take 120 film which can be purchased at any decent photography shop. They also generally require copious amounts of taping with duct tape to cover all the loose seams and light leaks.

Focusing the Holga (as well as many of it's sister and simlar cameras..the Diana, the Woca, etc.) is notoriously simple and requires some guess work. They are also a fixed f/8 ('ish) aperture. So that gives you a good amount of sharpness with a good fall off to the blur.

Everyone, go out and get a Holga, a Woca, a Diana Camera, or any sort of cheap 20.00 plastic camera and get out shooting. The results are awesome and everyone will KNOW that you're cool when they see you shoot one of these monsters.

Annie Leibovitz does Hansel and Gretel....the right way.

Even hard financial troubles can't keep Annie L. from working. The brilliant mind that brought us a nude Whoopi Goldberg in a tub full of Milk is at it again.

With Lady Gaga as the witch in the woods, Leibovitz has recreated Hansel and Gretel with a Tim Burton sort of vibe. It's amazing. Everyone needs to go check it out.

http://origin.www.vogue.com/feature/2009_December_Hansel_And_Gretel/

It sort of reminds me of a project that's been clanking around the back of my head for a few months now....more on that later.

Acrylic Transfer!

Finally, I have completed the first of what I hope will be a series of acrylic transfers. This process, while fun, turned out to be a bit more time consuming that I originally thought. Nonetheless, I really love the results! Take a look!!

Some detail shots:

  

For those unfamiliar with the whole procedure, it's actually fairly simple. I'll outline it below along with what I learned along the way in my little experiment.


1. Print out your image on some good quality inket paper. 
What I learned: Photo Paper (Like the Epson super premium glossy photo paper) does NOT work for this process at all...it's too water proof. Also, you might consider printing your image out slightly bigger than you want your final piece to be. There will be a little shrinkage. A quarter of an inch should do the trick.


2. Let your prints dry overnight.


3. Apply four coats of Glossy Gel Acrylic Medium to the front of your print. Make sure to do change directions on each coat to ensure coverage and strength. Let this dry AT LEAST overnight. 


4. Once dry, and I mean DRY, submerge your coated prints in a bath of warm water. I used a photo tray to do this so as not to make a HUGE mess. Let it soak for a few minutes. Remove the back of the print by scraping off the paper. Be gentle, but firm. The gel medium is actually fairly strong stuff. But it is prone to tearing so be careful!


5. When you have removed the paper backing, lay your transfer out onto a piece of wax paper and weight down overnight to flatten. You will squeeze water out during this first night, so replace the wax paper the next morning. 
What I learned: Don't let this stuff sit out to terribly long, it will be come STUCK to the wax paper eventually and it becomes SUPER difficult to remove. Also the longer it sits out, the more brittle the  transfer will become. 


6. Finally, figure out what you want to tack your masterpiece onto. Apply a coat of gel medium to the surface you want your transfer to stick to, then simply slap the transfer on, remove bubbles (if you want!)   and let dry. You can pull and stretch the transfer to a certain extent, but again, it's fairly brittle so be careful. 
What I learned: Don't stress out about the bubbles and wrinkles...they actually look pretty bad ass!

7. Apply a couple of coats of Gel Medium to the top of your transfer once you have it on your new surface. This will seal it up and make it stand up better against the elements. I also layed on a couple layers of UV Gloss Varnish just to get a nice shine on my final piece.


So, now that you know how to do it (and if my instructions aren't clear, you might just google Acrylic Transfer Process and there are videos out there) I would love to see what you all come up with! Leave me comments with links to your work!