Low-Tech Photography

2011 in review

Dinidh O'Brien — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 01:19:53 +0000

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,300 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 38 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

What the heck???

Dinidh O'Brien — Mon, 16 May 2011 15:03:47 +0000

So the last time I posted was in 2009, since then I made a transatlantic move, started my own photography business, and totally lost my love of old cameras. Well that last part isn’t true, but I definitely haven’t been spending the time I should!! Seeing as I still get over 50 views a day without updating, I figured I should probably start updating once again.

So forthcoming is another couple of camera reviews, including the Lomo Lubitel and the Voigtlander Vito CLR! Keep watching!

Dinidh O'Brien — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:15:52 +0000

For the first time ever, I shot, developed and scanned a roll of film. Up to this point I had brought my film to a store, had them develop and scan it, but a few days ago I experienced the magic of doing it alone. I am not a pro at this, I am sure I have only ever developed about 15 rolls of film since I started a year ago, and I have not yet had the opportunity to wonder at printing and enlarging…yet.

But for those who have not yet developped their own roll of film, go out and buy some (pretty cheap) chemicals and get to work! It is the most rewarding photographic experience I have yet had. Here are some of the results – they are not the best, but totally worth it!

City Image

Self-portrait

Black and White Love.

Dinidh O'Brien — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:06:43 +0000

I have realised that I am in love with black and white photography. I really am. Color is great, don’t get me wrong, but I feel as though color is best left to wildlife shots during autumn, or maybe when going to far away lands to photograph market places. But if we are talking portraits, or cityscapes, I choose B/W every time.

Strangely enough (and maybe even hypocritically enough), my favorite film is not even a true black and white film, but a C41 process film – Kodak BW400CN. Developped in color chemicals, I have never experienced beautiful contrast like I have with this film. It is perfect for portraits, city shots and general every day use. Take the following photos for example:

I love the dramatic contrast on the above building, but when taking portraits it still is very kind to skin! I feel as though this film draws the viewer in just a little bit more than other films…

If you don’t shoot black and whitevery often, swing down to your local photo store/the internet and pick up a couple of rolls. Take some friends, jump in the car and head to the city and see what magic happens!

What’s this all about?

Dinidh O'Brien — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 05:28:19 +0000

After having spent a few years running around with expensive digital cameras, charging batteries, copying and deleting memory cards and using photoshop constantly, I stumbled upon this little plastic cheap crappy camera called a Holga. (www.lomography.com/holga) My love affair with film had begun, and alongside it a long-standing relationship with DIY hobbies. I no longer wanted my pictures right then and there. I wanted to experiment and fail, to wait and hope. I didn’t want wal-mart to quality-control the tones, grain and contrast of my personal works of art. Low-fi photography is about taking back control of your own photos, and yet at the same time relinquishing it all. Enjoy.