I once read a remark that the Golden Half is a high-concept camera. I don't remember who said it and where I read it but the comment stuck in my head.
I didn't quite understand what it meant though. I thought it would be a fun camera to do conceptualised shots with, but high-concept makes it sound so... difficult. Recently I got back two rolls of Golden Half shots and that got me thinking really hard about it again.
Taking nice photos with this camera is not easy. You have to think about compatibility of partner frames or hope for happy accidents. I also found out that snapping wildly at anything that catches my fancy is not the way, since that sort of thoughtless abandon rarely produces pictures. What I perceive through the viewfinder, how I use space and distance, what I aim to capture... everything seems to work a little differently with this cute little thing.
I only have six rolls taken by the Golden Half since I bought it in Tokyo, three of which were shot there. The fourth roll was shit and made me put the camera aside for a pretty long while. The last two were used recently in an effort to figure out how to take better stuff with it.
I could depend on chance but really, probability has not yielded good results. I have very few shots I truly like.
I didn't quite understand what it meant though. I thought it would be a fun camera to do conceptualised shots with, but high-concept makes it sound so... difficult. Recently I got back two rolls of Golden Half shots and that got me thinking really hard about it again.
Taking nice photos with this camera is not easy. You have to think about compatibility of partner frames or hope for happy accidents. I also found out that snapping wildly at anything that catches my fancy is not the way, since that sort of thoughtless abandon rarely produces pictures. What I perceive through the viewfinder, how I use space and distance, what I aim to capture... everything seems to work a little differently with this cute little thing.
I only have six rolls taken by the Golden Half since I bought it in Tokyo, three of which were shot there. The fourth roll was shit and made me put the camera aside for a pretty long while. The last two were used recently in an effort to figure out how to take better stuff with it.
I could depend on chance but really, probability has not yielded good results. I have very few shots I truly like.
I don't like multi-lens cameras - Actionsampler, Supersampler, Pop9, etc - but I like the idea of half and half. Which is why I want my pictures scanned that way. I know some labs scan each half as an individual photo, but I think that defeats the purpose of the Golden Half.
Still, I cropped some of the photos from the recent rolls to see how they would look without their companion.
Sometimes one half looks better without the burden of the other but often I find them more interesting as a pair, perhaps cos I've already seen them as a duo.
A couple of times I got shots like that - one half flanked by two quarters.
Cluttered.
Better cropped?
Throw in thick black borders?
I don't know. I can't decide on anything other than think more shoot more. I shall keep playing with the Golden Half until I get back a roll at least 75 percent of which I like.
3 comments:
Hi, where do you develop your photos for the Golden Half? (I live in Singapore too.) The shop I went to scanned my frames individually (!) and I was devastated.
ooh i can't stand individually scanned GH shots.
i go to triple d at burlington sq. it's near sim lim.
uncle mike there is very used to lomo/ toy camera stuff, so u pretty much don't have to tell him anything.
Thank you! :D Really appreciate your help!
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