Today, I invited my parents and siblings to accompany me at the camera store. And as it turned out, it was a Team Manila Shop. I went inside the shop and took a look at the pretty Lomography cameras. They included the brands Diana, Holga, LC-A, and La Sardina. They were all a bit pricey, but less expensive compared to DSLR's, digital cameras and Iphones which are the most widely used cameras nowadays.
My parents advised me not to take too much attention on those film cameras and they told me of their disadvantages. Though a bit disappointed, I tried to consider their points, among which included that films are rarely used nowadays, and it would cost and take a lot of effort to print and produce photos, analogue film cameras require a certain degree of expertise in handling the films and its hardware including the shutters, etc., and thus, film cameras are difficult in maintenance issues. These points were raised by my parents since they too have been using analogue cameras for many years, some of which included Polaroid and Yasica brands among others. They advised me to invest on a DSLR instead, since it would take least efforts on handling the hardware and sensitivity of the films, including the additional cost of buying the films and printing the photos.
But why do I still like to try Lomography film cameras? First, I need a camera for documentation purposes and daily creative outlets, and these cameras are the least expensive and readily available. Having spent some years on photographing with digital cameras, I observed that they weren't suited for my taste, so to speak. The photos have low resolutions and dull, the details, textures, colors, shadows and lighting are not faithfully reproduced and are lessened in visual impact and overall quality compared to the real subject which is being photographed. These problems can be resolved with an expensive DSLR which costs for around P30K, and I'm not willing to spend on that. That's why I'm trying to look for another alternative, the Lomography camera. Although Lomography features photographic distortions, such as vignettes and over-saturation, I would prefer these over low quality, and I don't want to process my photos over and over again on Photoshop because I want them to be genuine. Likewise, Lomography is an emerging art form and I would like to try and learn it. But in the meantime, I'd probably to rethink of my other choices. :)
