WordHurdle

The eclipsed Earth

This is what Earth looks like in the middle of a solar eclipse. The moon actually casts a shadow on the Earth, and the shadow moves across the Earth's face at 2000 kilometers per hour. Only the observers watching from the center of the dark circle will see a total eclipse. This picture was taken on August 11, 1999 from the Mir space station before it was decommissioned.  The two spots in the upper left of the photo are most likely Jupiter and Saturn.

Lomo is on the way!

If I haven't mentioned it, I bought a Lomo LC-A camera on Ebay for $62, which is dirt cheap!  It's hard to find a Lomo that's shipping from the US.  This one is coming from Slovakia!  (Honestly, I'm not exactly sure where Slovakia is, but I'm pretty sure it's in the European Union).

Yesterday, I got notice that the camera has shipped.  Woo-hoo!

It's always a little scary when you get a great deal on Ebay.  I'd been comparing prices for weeks and watching auctions.  I finally found the one I bid on, and the price was about $10-$20 lower than other similar cameras with no apparent difference.  I finally "sniped" (made a last second bid to win that gives competing bidders only a few seconds to outbid me) on this camera and won.  So, now, I'm hoping I didn't miss something that is a flaw that makes it worth the lower price I paid. I personally think the lower price is because the seller listed it as a "Lomo LCA" instead of a "Lomo LC-A" and people searching for ann "LC-A" missed this camera. The only way I found it was to do a generic search for "Lomo" and then sort them by price. Worked well for me!

Woca, woca, Holga Woca! 1st day

Last night I loaded up my Holga/Woca 120 with a roll of 400 color film. Today, just to see how it all turns out, I decided to take a quick roll. I walked around downtown Springfield and took some shots of anything and everything. Then, I ran down to Lawrence Photo to get it processed. It won't be ready until Tuesday.

I must admit -- this 120 film scene is interesting. The idea of a big negative intrigues me, but it's kinda clunky to work with. Last night, AFTER I loaded the camera, I read an online PDF manual on tips and tricks of working with the Holga/Woca 120s and learned a few things I wish I'd known before I loaded the camera. I'm wrestling with whether I should go through the steps to make it more light-sealed or whether to leave it unadulterated in its virgin state of light leakage. I will probably have a good idea of where to go with it once I review this 1st roll of prints (if I didn't accidentally expose the whole roll). Lawrence only develops 120 rolls on Tuesday and Thursday, which is kinda annoying, too, but I'll survive. The anticipation will kill me, though.

Woca, woca, woca!

Woo-hoo! My Holga/Woca 120GF is here! In an age of digital autofocus, these guys (like the Russian Lomo cameras) are the epitomy of roughing it. This camera has only 4 options when focusing: close, kinda close, not so close, and way off. You pick one, look through the viewfinder and take a shot. You can double-expose if you're not careful (or if you want to) and there are constant reminders in the owner manual to make sure you remove the lens cap (because you can't see it through the viewfinder). For those who want to take pictures that are more surreal and not necessarily in focus, this and the Lomo are the plan. Oh, and by the way, the camera is completely plastic. The 120GF is distinctive because it has a glass lens (instead of plastic, giving it sharper photos) and it has a flash. And while the Lomos use 35mm film, the 120GF uses 120 film which uses a bigger negative. I would love a Lomo, but they run anywhere from $100-200 instead of the $30 I spent on mine. This thing came from Hong Kong, leading my staff to think that the brown paper package from China might include illegal drugs or something. But, instead, it's a cool camera! I'll try to post some pictures once I get rolling. Now, I've got to figure out how much it's going to cost to pick up some 120 film. Ouch!