I have loved the concept of toy photography for years now, ever since I actually started shooting digital. I shot a little on 35mm as a kid, but I didn’t shoot whole rolls, didn’t load the camera myself, etc. I saw my parents shooting analogue, but soon my Dad bought his Leica & loads of other digital cameras followed. We rejoiced! Shooting on digital was oh-so-easy. Sure, the cameras were expensive, but the fact that we were free from photo-studios (for processing) & could easily upload stuff became so easy. I have my dslr for a year & a half now. In this time, I have learned a lot about photography (through trial & error, mostly. I hate photography classes & books. I read up online but only if I have to). I have taken over two thousand photos, something I would have never been able to do had digital not been around.
When I first heard of the Diana Camera four years ago I was instantaneously drawn to it. I have heard a lot of pro photographers criticize lomography but something about analogue photography with happy accidents, blurring & light leaks appealed to me. A lot.
Finally when I took up my first job last year I managed to but a SuperHeadz GoldenHalf. It’s not a lomography camera but it a nifty Japanese toy cam nonetheless. I loaded the film the night I got it. I sadly haven’t finished the first film yet.
I’m not sure what held me back, really. Lack of opportunities, the fact that I haven’t found a place that will process & scan my film & of course the cost too (I have no clue why that bothers me, considering the amount I spend. Maybe I can’t justify spending huge amounts of toy photography just yet).
Anyway, I decided it was time to take the plunge & ordered a Lomography Actionsampler on the 9th of April (my 19th birthday! ^_^)
It arrived two days ago. And the reason I haven’t blogged all this while is that I have been too damn excited. Delirious, almost.
Anyway, the ActionSampler is available in two versions- Chrome & Clear. Chrome has this shiny metal tin-like look. Clear has a transparent plastic casing where you can see some of the inner components. Guess which one I got?

Um, clear, yeah. How many of you guessed right?
So as I said, it arrived on Saturday. Safe, in a waterproof mailer, wrapped in layers of bubble wrap.
I was so excited! I never clicked a photo of it while it was in the super-fun pack.


The beautiful camera with half the viewfinder up.


The booklet that camera along with some sample images.

The USP of this camera? Similar to many other Sampler Analogue Cameras out there. You click the shutter button once, a quick spring is set in motion. The four plastic lenses whir in quick susccession. (with a gap of 0.22 seconds) & within a second all four lenses have clicked. And you will get photos like this:

Note: the three images above aren’t mine, they are taken from the lomography community website. Click them for image credit!

I am incredibly excited about this camera & I can’t wait to finish my first roll & get it processed. And I’m looking to buy another Lomo Camera too if I can meet some personal finance targets (read: save more!) soon.

love,