Purchased at Kiddyland in Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan in 2009.
Basic but stylish 35mm TLR (Twin-Lens Reflex) camera. Good for sunny outdoor situations. Exposes the sprockets of the film, allowing for some interesting sprocket photography without needing to engineer 35mm film into a medium-format camera.
Taken at our local Starbucks, using the bulb (long exposure) setting on my Blackbird Fly TLR.
It took me forever to adjust this in Photoshop (I’m still not quite satisfied), and I didn’t realize what was throwing me off until I was almost done. Look closely, and you can just barely see the person who walked in front of the counter during the three-second exposure, then paused at the right side of the frame. (Easier to see at a larger size — look especially at the legs of the left-most chair.)
Taken at Levis Commons with the blackbird,fly twin lens reflex camera I bought in Japan. The Blackbird takes 35mm film, but has a removable mask specifically to allow sprocket photography.
The double-exposure at the top and bottom of the frame was completely unintentional, but adds to the charm, in my opinion.
I purchased a new toy camera at Kiddyland in Harajuku while I was on vacation. I hadn’t expected to find any such thing there; we had other cuteness on our agenda. But when I saw that camera on display, I couldn’t say no.
I had planned to take a test roll in Tokyo and Nikko, but I forgot the Blackbird Fly in Aaron’s backpack at the inn, and once I realized what I’d done, wasn’t about to walk all the way back to the edge of town to get it. So I finished the roll at the Old West End Festival on Saturday, instead.
Overall impression: I like it. It makes distinctive photos, which is a big plus; also, it’s just manual enough to keep me on my toes, while being forgiving enough that my slip-ups don’t ruin everything.
More photographic geekery follows — and more pictures, too.
Continue reading