Photography is something I've always had fun doing. I figured if I was already going to be stereotyped as one of those Japanese 'toursits' who shoot pictures I might as well try to learn. But with that logic I should know Karate too but lets just say I'm lazy.
But seriously, photography is not only fun but its useful in general. You can record your life happenings, use it as reference for your art, and in my line of work use it as a starting reference for creating environments for video games.
So my soft spot for cameras led me to buy a Lomography Horizon Perfekt
more pics after the jump...
The Horizon Perfekt is a handmade Russian camera that is hand wound, takes no batteries, it uses regular 35mm film, just takes the picture on two frames worth. Its a true panoramic camera as its lens rotates in an arc. Its spontaneous, and as a Lomographer you are taught to be spontaneous and shoot from the hip.
The key is its hard to find places to develop these. You have to go to a place that you trust will listen to your instructions. You want them to develop your roll without having them cut the film. Then if they offer digital scanning services have them scan your film. Yes all this costs extra ...but we're talking old school analog film shooting. The fact that I'm calling it old school when film camera's were the norm when I was in high school is kind of depressing.
But here is an example of a pano which I stitched two shots in Photoshop.
Whats also great about shooting from the hip is it doesn't look like you're taking a picture. You can be more ballsy with your shots.
I liked how part of the old Japan is preserved here in this bridge.
Train platforms, the choice way for suicides in Japan.
I sometimes fear that while I am waiting for a train someone will decide to jump and leave me a horrible memory.
Not as interesting as the crosswalk at Shibuya I know.
More on Lomography on a later post...