Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Self Portrait Challenge - enclosed in a box.

a box camera, that is.



About a week ago I went for my daily dose of dooce and happened upon this post wherein she describes a new (to me) technique that involves a very old camera (the Kodak Duaflex II) and a very new camera, in my case a DSLR (Nikon D50). I followed her links for more info and was totally sold.

I then went straight to eBay and was rapidly outbid (I wouldn't spend more than $25) on four separate duaflex cameras within two days. But someone was smiling down upon me because with a little crafty digging, one seller had a 'buy now' button for, um, SIX DOLLARS!! And then, it came in the mail yesterday, and
I.
Am.
Obsessed.
People.

The quicky run down is, these Duaflex II have a large viewfinder on the top of the camera. You build a light blocking device (I used black construction paper and you can see some light seeping in above), tape to the old camera and shoot the image passing through it with the new camera. I left the image above uncropped because I liked the effect. Here is another image that shows how very excellent and grungy a toy this really is...


I am aware that you can get these types of effects with Photoshop but this is way more fun for me and the randomness of it all fills me with glee. I apologize in advance for the plethora of screwy duaflex/D50 pictures headed your way but please be kind. My obsessions don't tend to come around often enough.

13 Comments:

Blogger kristen said...

Right on! I love this photo and totally missed the post about the duaflex camera. I have a holga that gives some really interesting effects. I found it stuffed into our camera drawer the other day......I can't wait to see more photos with this camera. And way to go on the ebay score. I wonder how many of those cameras were sold on Ebay because of Dooce....hmmmm.

12:08 PM  
Blogger Teri M. said...

I saw those over at Dooce, too, and loved them. I'm looking forward to seeing more of yours!

1:01 PM  
Blogger Mrs. Spencer said...

Ohhh, very cool! I might just have to get on e-bay!

1:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

you are reaching creative heights everytime you post. There is a calling for you out there.. you need to find it and you will be happy....

3:06 PM  
Blogger Tammy Brierly said...

I'd love to see more :) Very cool!

Warriorwife

3:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

oooh! i must try this out! i have a couple of box cameras, one even works! excellent self-p thank you for sharing!j

4:42 PM  
Blogger angela said...

how fun! i can't wait to see where you go with this - i know it will be great :)

7:07 PM  
Blogger Vanessa/NessieNoodle said...

This is so cool.
I will not become tired of these.
looks like fun

7:24 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Love is in the air, thanks to you I've been listening to
Corinne Bailey Rae all morning (I was supposed to be working though, oh well...). Your music always speaks to me, thanks for opening that window. I'm moving Amelie to the top of my Netflix list.

10:56 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's a great trick! Thanks for the link and inspiration. I'm currently wishing for a holga...might be wishing till christmas, I hope. (fingers crossed)
*s

1:57 PM  
Blogger andrea said...

girl, I LOOOOOVE this... I have been reading about this technique, dying to try it out and now I MUST. truth be told, ward and I have been jointly collecting vintage cameras now for a while. he has staked his claim on most of them though and they now reside in his office. :) I think we own one of these but I've got to do some double checking... dying to play around... oh, I'm dying!

and what a lovely self portrait, my friend. so very lovely. xo

10:24 PM  
Blogger Intrepidflame said...

I'm not sure what the hell you are talking about, but I love this shot. Nice work.

12:28 AM  
Blogger Deb R said...

Very cool special effect with the vintage camera!

9:51 AM  

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