Flickr pool of photos taken through viewfinders of old cameras
Cpt. Tim reports on this fun Flickr pool called Through the Viewfinder.
You basically make cool retro or vintage looking pictures by taking a picture through the viewfinder of an old top-down viewfinder camera, like a Duaflex.The Flickr group with wonderful submissions and instructions on how to do it is here, and here is what I've been able to do after ordering an old camera on eBay.
the latest
latest episodes
Really cool, thanks for the post mate!
I love it...
Regards
A few that I took TTV a while back:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jabella/1233946886/
and
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jabella/1244567424/
These were both a Canon SD800IS taken through a Kodak Duaflex.
I love doing this! I took some from vintage View-Finder reels of San Francisco too! Though mine are more distant than close-up:
http://flickr.com/photos/bonniegrrl/2193572029/
are you the same bonnie girl from IO9?
oh man. through the viewmaster! super rad!
Yay TtV, I picked up a old Duaflex at a flea market for $5, and took a few myself.
http://flickr.com/photos/26112392@N02/2452708927/
A few more from my friend Deana:
TTV (Kodak Duaflex)
TTP - Through the Peephole
TTV (Argus 75)
Cpt. Tim, you are everywhere.
The internet is so small.
now if the east coast were next to the west coast we could hang out.
peeka,
Your blog link goes on your profile page.
#4 Cpt. Tim: Yup, I'm the same bonniegrrl! ;-)
#10: awesome. i added you as a flickr contact. I plan on making it to one of the san francisco flickr meetups one of these days now that i have a nicer camera.
That's a lot of group rules! Sounded like a fun project to try but no way I'm stressing over all those details.
Or, you could load some film into that camera and actually use it to take pictures. Seems like a lot less work, a lot more fun, and you'll get even more interesting results.
#12, the only one that confuses me is them not wanting your picture in more than 8 groups. Don't really know what thats about.
the rest of the rules combined are simply, don't fake it, actually take the picture through the viewfinder of a camera.
Photojojo has a good tutorial on this:
http://www.newsletterarchive.org/2008/03/31/356349-Photojojo:+Digitize+Your+Vintage+Camera
@#13,
A lot of the top down cameras use 120mm film which was hard to get developed 10 years ago. Unless you know of a good pro shop you might not be able to develop it at all. Assuming you can find it.
Besides, part of the appeal of this is the artifacts you're getting and the juxtuposition of the old-school camera with digital prints.
I'll have to try this with my old Mamiyaflex.
Been having TTV fun for awhile now. Here's a few of my favorites that I've managed to get posted to flickr, shot through a Kodak DuaFlex/2:
http://flickr.com/photos/diggum/sets/72157607374932032/
Short video profile of (amazing) TtV photographer Russ Morris & his process:
http://www.kqed.org/quest/television/your-photos-on-quest--russ-morris
@13: I shoot TtV. I use a Kodak Brownie Reflex Synchro, and though you can find film for it, it's very expensive to buy and develop, and the results are different. With TtV, the images oftentimes end up with an ethereal look to them, something you might get through the film, but in a different manner. Because the lens in the viewfinder is convexed, the edges are slightly out of focus and there is a distortion, but not quite as drastic as with a fisheye lens. Also, a lot of the old cameras are fixed focused, whereas with TtV one may adjust the focus for lots of fun effects. Finally, it's digital; I can shoot 10 shots and pick the best of the bunch and post it on Flickr.
I'm not knocking using the camera for it's intended purpose; in fact, I'd love to put film in it and see what happens. TtV has its own aesthetic quality, though, that is different and that's why it attracts some people.