We do not know which act of providence brought you here. But we can safely assume that you do not know what you’re in for.
I got the DianaF+ “more true tales & short stories” as a Christmas present and I’ve been browsing its pages ever since.
I also got the little blue plastic camera with 3 rolls all ready to go.
It’s so incredibly light that not only does it feel like a toy, it sure acts like one.
You never really know what’s going to come out of it, so the best you can do is keep shooting.
Plastic shutter sound? Yes. Please.
This book served on many times as an inspiration to keep shooting with my beloved Diana and the more you browse through its pages, the more confident you get about going outside, shooting, and hopefully capturing something worth saving.
But there lays the beauty of this camera.
It’s always worth it. It has a voice of its own.
The feeling I got from this camera was that it was the urban kid of cameras, somehow connected with street portraits and urban skylines. Didn’t really fit in with the big crowd or nature settings. It was raw, straight to the point but magical.
I was correct about the magical but dead wrong on the urban kid.
Although yes, most pictures featured on this book are urban, I did find some beautiful nature shots and the fact that you can play with double exposure makes it incredibly perfect for dreamy nature photography.
I know I want to explore autumn with this camera by my side.
The squared format, with its magical and vintage feeling, certainly asks for some serious diptych action.
Inside you will find interviews with those called the “Diana Experts”; Mark Sink, Allan Detrich, Tony Lim and Cat Ong and while some say “shoot with plenty of light” the others suggest “stay away from bright sunny days”, which to me, is perfect. I do adore when great minds share their different opinions.
There are tips for new shooters and embarrassing moments, all wrapped up in a big book of friendly conversation.
You can browse through the incredible, diverse and mouth-watering (they wrote it, I agree) “Detrich Collection”, an assemblage of Diana cameras and clones gathered throughout the years by Allan Detrich and purchased by the Lomographic Society in 2007.
But I have to say, in all the goodness of this book, the short stories stood out the most.
This is photography to me, telling stories through images, capturing random moments that sparkle the imagination and boost creativity… or is it the other way around?
Were we in school and this would be my project to you. To go out, take four to six pictures and write a story from it. Not what happened, not what you saw, but what your heart imagined, had you found them forgotten at the bottom of a trunk.
Because if there is one thing we can agree on, the Diana images lend themselves to this kind of magic.
Now go outside and shoot. Specially if you own a Diana.
Van
Oooh, this makes me totally Diana-nostalgic; the Diana was my first and remains my favourite toy camera. Time to stock up on medium format film again!
The Diana is one of my favorite travel cameras. I also love its dreamy nature which is perfect for storytelling!
I don’t have a Diana, but I suspect this book would encourage me to get one. I love the feel of magic I got as I read this post. Thank you.
looks like another book and another camera to add to my wish list 😉
Makes me want to put a roll in my Diana right now and get out there!
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