Time Zero = Time to Be Inspired

The Big Apple Show

Sorry I haven’t written in a while, I’m writing this post from my phone! I am away on the East Coast and had a great opening night of my photography show in New York City!

Big thanks to Lomography for the opportunity!! I will post more about the trip when I get to a computer!

-M

The 2014 Film Photography Revolution Begins in San Diego, CA!

Our first stop on the Film Photo Revolution Tour in 2014 is San Diego, CA May 30th-June 1st! A road trip from Arizona to California! We’re excited to kick things off and are already mapping out the rest of the journey including  an art show in New York City in July!

Big thanks to our first sponsor, Lomography, for supplying us with fresh and creative films to take along for the ride!

We can’t wait to capture the US and all of it’s amazing people on film, we can’t wait to hit the pavement and have photowalks with you! Stay tuned to the blog for all of our updates along the way! I hope we can meetup!

If you haven’t checked it out yet we also have a new Etsy Shop with goodies for film lovers, including zines, camera straps and more! Sales from the zines will help us host workshops and classes and travel to see you! More goodies to come!

Keep Shooting Film,
Mary

Diana Love

My discovery of Lomography came after I purchased a Holga 135 camera on ebay and realized that there was a large following and a big community of love surrounding toy cameras. I became engrossed in all that these other film photographers were doing in an age when supposedly film photography was ‘dead.’ The enormity of Lomography surprised me and I could not fathom how it had passed unseen for so long.

One of my favorite blogs, Gala Darling, included images of a few adorable cameras. One of which was neon pink and black. I spent hours delving on the internet to hunt down this pink picture taker and discovered it was a Mr. Pink Diana clone produced by Lomography. I had to have one. At the time Lomography was temporarily out of stock and so I took to eBay where I found one in mint condition for sale. I wanted it with my heart of hearts and after bidding and crossing my fingers, I won it!

The packaging was impressive, and the camera was certainly an attention getter. Pink with black accents and an insane flash. The Reservoir Dogs reference was an added bonus. It was my first experience using medium format film, but I caught on quickly and loved that I was embracing something new to me. I took my camera to my friend Rikki’s birthday party. My friends hardly recognized me, but everyone loved the camera. The photo at the start of this post is a shot of a lamp that was hanging above the bar at the party that I found really interesting. It is one of the few shots I really like from that first roll of film.

The Mr. Pink Diana camera not only came with frames, a flash, flash gels and an instruction booklet, but also a hard cover pocket history of the Diana. In which I learned about the history of the Diana camera, the various versions (or clones) that had been produced and that, despite never using it, Andy Warhol had owned one. I then searched around local camera shops to no avail to find a vintage Diana, an original. When I came up empty handed I went back to eBay and found a brand new–never used–still in it’s original box Diana camera circa 1964 (The strap still had the tape on it!!). I was in love. My hands shook when the camera arrived and I held it for the first time. I was about to put film in it for the first time. Since it had been molded and packaged in 1964 no one else had taken photos with it! The history of this camera! Where had it been all this time?!! How could this be! I shot 2 rolls of film with it and try to save it for special outings.

Shortly thereafter I discovered the instant back for Diana F+ cameras by Lomography. I saved up for one and started using Mr. Pink as my 365 project camera, exclusively shooting Fuji instax mini pictures everyday for all of 2013. You can learn a lot by shooting a camera for an entire year. At times the simplicity frustrated me, capturing a sunset seemed impossible, but soon all of that fell away. I kept trying, I used a lot of film, I learned to find beauty in “mistakes” and the timing became innate. Sunsets were a breeze, the layering of double exposures, flash gels, and subjects became an art form. The camera holds endless possibilities once ego is out of the way. It’s just you and the camera.

I found myself longing to use the Diana for every outing. Only having the one camera and using it for the 365 project made it impossible for me to shoot a roll of film and then shoot pack film again, too much to remove and put back in order to do so. I needed a second Diana.

My friend Natasha announced that she was moving from the desert to the East Coast and was selling all of her awesome stuff to get there. I messaged her to ask if there would be cameras, she obliged. She sold me her mint green confection, the Diana Dreamer. I fell in love instantly. The Dreamer came with me on day trips to Jerome, AZ, she came with me to parties, she went hiking with me, she came home to Rhode Island for Christmas with me and got to shoot snow for the first time. Everywhere I went I had 2 Dianas–Mr. Pink and The Dreamer.

Flash forward to February 13th, the day before Valentines Day. My boyfriend–who does not believe in and does not celebrate Valentine’s Day–came home with a box, for me. He smiled and said to me “Not for Valentine’s Day, but because I love you,” and handed me a Love Letters Diana F+ camera. It was love at first sight. All over again. The fabric inlay feels comfortable in my hands, the snappy red lens cover and flash compliment the xoxo’s motif. I’ve already loaded her up with Kodak Tri-X 400 black and white film and shot a romantic picture of the full moon last night through the branches of a tree. I can’t wait to see what adventures we’ll go on together.

Four cameras in and I think this means I’m becoming a Diana collector. In that time frame I’ve also gifted 2 friends with Diana cameras and have converted another as a Diana lover! If you have never shot with a Diana camera, I recommend you do!

Musicians. Are you one?

Musicians. Are you one? Do you own the rights to your music? Are you looking to expand your audience? Want to be on a compilation?

About the project:

The goal is to travel to California, Oregon, New Mexico, Texas, Illinios, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island in 2014, taking photos every step of the way and spreading the love of film photography. We want to meet you! Have photo meetups with photographers, shoot film with folks, interview photographers, interesting passersby and people we admire while experiencing the US and it’s many landscapes!

During each step of the journey we will share our stories, our images, our interviews, epiphanies, videos, the ups and downs, the ugly and the beautiful, the lessons and the sunsets via social media in the form of facebook posts, blog entries, instagram posts and videos and whatever else our hearts desire so you can be a part of the journey every step of the way.

Why we need musicians:
Film Photography Revolution is a journey, and like every good journey, it needs a soundtrack, road trip music! For our Kickstarter campaign we thought it would be awesome for one of the rewards to be a mix CD featuring some of our favorite indie musicians.

The guidelines for submission are:

• It must be an original song, i.e. you must own it (so I don’t get sued!), no covers
• Songs should be around 5 minutes or less, (we’re trying to fit a good amount of bands on here!), however, if you have a song that’s just over (ex. 5:30) we will still consider it.
• Please send band link info, website, facebook, etc. for me to include in the CD insert and posts so we can tell the world about your awesome music!
• *OPTIONAL* You can mail promotional items (stickers, pins, fliers, etc.) if you would like us to include them with the mix CD when we ship out the Kickstarter rewards.

Details:

1. The songs may also be sampled in our Kickstarter campaign video, and in the possible documentary to follow, full credit given if we do. If you only want your song to be featured on the mix CD please make sure to let us know when sending it our way.
2. Please have songs in by February 15th.
3. Songs can be e-mailed to: filmphotorevolution@gmail.com

Thank you for joining our revolution, we look forward to rocking out with you!

A Call To Arms!

In light of the recent Fujifilm announcement, I think it is time to uncover Film Photo Revolution. It’s time to take on the world, to connect all of our film communities, to unite under the purpose of photography and preserve, protect and promote film photography. Film Photo Revolution’s first order of business is a US Tour to promote film photography and build our collective through workshops, artshows, and meetups around the country. Bringing art to the community and creating new film users every step of the way. Join us. The first step is to create the Kickstarter campaign and video. We are looking for photos of you holding a sign that says “I Love Film,” “Save Film,” or something along those lines, take it with any type of camera you please and send your  images ASAP to: filmphotorevolution@gmail.com

Include your name and location in your e-mail!!

Arizona Film Photo Revolution Event!

Part of spreading the love of film is by hosting Film Photography Events to get the word out, to gather like minds, and create art on film.  Our next event is going to be held in Tempe, Arizona on October 11th, 2013 at Epiphany Studios in Tempe, Arizona. If you’re in the area, we would love to meet you! Feel free to spread the word, we want to meet your film-loving friends too (or that die-hard digital friend who you’re secretly trying to get into shooting film)!

The event requires pre-registration so we can manage the event size. Registration is just $30+tax per person and you can sign up by clicking the image! We plan on traveling the US in 2014 to host more events, so if you’re not in Arizona, stay tuned! We might be coming to your town!