I was lucky enough to be featured in a lovely photography book called "Toy Cameras". As the name suggests, the book is a guide to using toy and some old film cameras to achieve interesting visual results.
I used to spend ages in the darkroom labouring over images and printing techniques, which I eventually had to give up as the world went digital and I felt I couldn't compete. Now there is a real return to old film cameras and an affection for the fogging, light leaks, colour casts and scratches that pre-digital, we were all trying to perfect. There is definitely something liberating about using such a basic camera that you have little control over, knowing that any "mistakes" are part of the fun. With the warmer weather approaching, I am looking forward to packing up my Box Brownie again and just seeing what happens.
Although I only have one tiny image included (it took me ages to find it!) I'm happy to be a part of such a delightful book. Especially considering the photos I took were nothing more than an experiment. I found two Box Brownies in my parents loft last year which had been in their cases for about 30 years. I loaded one with a roll of 120 film left over from my darkroom days and took it to Holkham, Norfolk the next day, just to see what came out. Once processed, I put these images onto Flickr, which resulted in the publishers contacting me to ask if they could be used in the book.
I used to spend ages in the darkroom labouring over images and printing techniques, which I eventually had to give up as the world went digital and I felt I couldn't compete. Now there is a real return to old film cameras and an affection for the fogging, light leaks, colour casts and scratches that pre-digital, we were all trying to perfect. There is definitely something liberating about using such a basic camera that you have little control over, knowing that any "mistakes" are part of the fun. With the warmer weather approaching, I am looking forward to packing up my Box Brownie again and just seeing what happens.
I used to spend ages in the darkroom labouring over images and printing techniques, which I eventually had to give up as the world went digital and I felt I couldn't compete. Now there is a real return to old film cameras and an affection for the fogging, light leaks, colour casts and scratches that pre-digital, we were all trying to perfect. There is definitely something liberating about using such a basic camera that you have little control over, knowing that any "mistakes" are part of the fun. With the warmer weather approaching, I am looking forward to packing up my Box Brownie again and just seeing what happens.
"Toy Cameras" is by Kevin Meredith, published by Rotovision and can be bought here on Amazon.
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