I’m still catching up from an extended weekend trip to London for the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (SWPP) Convention. It is a big do: Trade Fair; hours and hours of seminars and classes; even a black tie awards night. 1000’s of photographers from across Europe attended.
Careful choice and self-control allowed me to get some really useful stuff without being totally overwhelmed. When my head did start to get full I headed to Hammersmith tube to re-acquaint myself with London.
It’s hard to believe that it has been over 10 years since I did anything more than travel through London. A lot has changed for me (and London) since then and I took the opportunity to get away from talk of cameras, lighting and endless wedding albums to actually see some inspirational pictures.
On the list were: the National Portrait Gallery (including two temporary exhibitions of photographic portraits), a Norman Parkinson exhibition at Somerset House, the Courtauld Gallery and the Photographer’s Gallery. Some great pictures there – lots to think about.
Now the Photographer’s Gallery was an old favourite when we lived near London (although it has moved since). Often the exhibitions were far too Arty for me and again this was the case. It always had a good coffee shop and a great book shop and that hasn’t changed either.
It was there I found the Mini Diana. I have been aware of the whole Lomography / Holga cult thing for a while. Basically it seems to be a reaction to the uber-technical side of photography: the multi-mega-pixel, lens envying hell that it can be at times. Take a cheap, crappy, 95% plastic camera and have some fun. Be creative. Take some photographs.
My original interest was in the 120, Medium Format versions – an easy way to start using big negs. But it seems hard to get 120 processed and impossible to get it scanned these days so I settled for the Mini: a square or half frame image on 35mm film; two settings; crude manual focus; plastic 24mm lens.
Maybe in my small part I was reacting to being in High-Tech Heaven for four days. I do like the technical aspect of photography but I guess the engineer in me always seeks an application for good technology. Too much technology without any discussion about what it can do for me gets on my nerves.
So I bought the Mini Diana, a roll of film and set off on a beautiful winter’s afternoon to walk from Oxford Street to Embankment (via Picadilly and St James Park) to give it a spin.
I had so much fun. And after I found it was originally set in ‘Night’ mode I even got some usable pictures out of it.
So lots to think about from the SWPP: Marketing Plans write, technique to hone and gadgets to play with. But I also need to buy another film for the Mini Diana.
