April 2021

This month we have been discussing :

Pinhole Snowdrops by Ali Millar

Pinhole Day 2021 (Snowdrops by Ali Millar)

UV lamps for Cyanotypes and other alternative processes.

Possible dates for the next Collodion Club at Darkbox Images when restrictions permit.

Tilt Shift attachments for 35mm (just in case your View Camera isn’t handy!) and other lens adaptors.

Adapting modern film to 127 cameras.

Historical processes – Lithophane and Woodbury type – and modern practitioners.

Radioactive lenses.

How to get the most out of Hahnemuehle Platinum Rag.

Lunchtime talk Tokens of Affection online via the John Rylands Research Institute and Library.

And HOW MUCH?!?

Our next online meetings are Tuesday May 11th from 6:30pm and Wedneday May 26th from 10:30am. Send us an email or DM on Social Media to get added to our virtual world.

Pinhole Challenge 2021

Thanks to everyone who entered! The judges have picked the winner…

Congratulations to Graeme Lyall who will have a photo materials voucher winging it’s way to him very soon.

“Third Time Lucky”, Circular paper in DIY cylindrical biscuit box camera, D23 developer, by Graeme Lyall

“The street scene most captures the pinhole aesthetic and Scottish lockdown atmosphere.”

The Pentland Judging Committee

Honourable mention to Elaine Robson.

“Flower Fragments”, 35mm DIY pin sieve by Elaine Robson

” An insect eye view of spring.”

The Pentland Judging Committee

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day 2021

Our second pinhole day with Covid restrictions!

Members Competition 2021.
Entries by midnight 24th April. Anonymous independent judging, prize £50 photo materials voucher. Any pinhole process (sieve, zone plate, solargraph, camera obscura photo etc.) made between January 2021 and 24th April. Submit one entry per person by email. (Digital file 1800px max side preferred ). Winner announced on pinhole day. In the event that any of the organisers photos are selected – the prize will go to runner up.

On Sunday the 25th we will celebrate the simplicity of camera vision with a hybrid day of virtual chats and a socially distant photowalks. Join in online, outdoors or go your own way!

10am Coffee Chat – online.

11am Socially Safe Sakura Search – outdoor photowalk in the Meadows, Bruntsfield.

6pm Wrap Up – online. Competition winners will be announced.

Submit any pinhole photos taken on the 25th to the Edinburgh Lofi gallery group by June 30th 2021.

March 2021

This month we have been discussing :

The Hexham Photography Group have Doug Chinnery giving an online talk this month.

Stereo camera conversations continue – the Sputnik and two hacked Lubitels on trial. Reminiscing over old Stereo Realist cameras and Viewmaster reels.

Sputnik Stereo Camera

110 cameras with some lovely examples on Chris Osborne’s site https://cjo.info/classic-cameras/pentax-auto-110/

Some surreal moments on flash bulbs!

1890’s spy camera and early street photography article.

Cyanotyping on maps and speed formulas for in camera cyanotype processes.

How minature can collodion plates go?

Chromatography.

chemical hand photogram - Ali Miller
LoFi Members Resource Directory now set up

Our next online meetings are April 13th from 6:30pm, April 25th for pinhole day activities (10am virtual coffee, 11am socially distanced sakura photowalk and 6pm virtual wrap up and competition results) and April 28th from 10:30am. Send us an email or DM on Social Media to get added to our virtual world.

February 2021

This month we have been discussing :

Graham Vasey’s photography talk. https://hexhamphotographygroup.org.uk/graham-vasey-19th-february-2021

A Celebration of Stereoscopic 3D – Part the Second
20 – 21 FEBRUARY 2021
https://stereoscopy.blog/celebration-of-stereoscopic-3d/

Book – Photography Beyond Technique

Historic photo studios – preserved and recently discovered – https://eu.mpnnow.com/story/lifestyle/2021/02/01/rare-susan-b-anthony-portrait-historical-photos-found-geneva-ny-attic-during-renovation-project/6562923002/
https://www.petworthpenthouse.com/surviving-victorian-photographic-studios.html?fbclid=IwAR0ocPu50EUtvIo6DMIqw724zIvjiUHix34ZahUbMpobMo2NrcDCXw9nwaw

Firsts and fakes –
https://hyperallergic.com/83097/20-of-the-first-photographs-of-things-from-people-to-hoaxes-to-the-moon/

Gordon Parks – books and exhibitions – https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210203-gordon-parks-beautiful-photos-of-an-ugly-history

620 spools and respooling 120 –
https://filmphotographystore.com/search?type=product&q=620

Direct positive paper – how best to use and develop. https://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/harman-direct-positive-255-c.asp

Where to get digital negs done – at home printing tips and companies that produce them? – https://deadlydigital.com/services/#photographicprinting

Who has the right to your image? –
https://www.thecut.com/article/emily-ratajkowski-owning-my-image-essay.html

Extreme camera design – when the camera comunicates more than the images produced –
https://todayinart.com/untouchable-hiv-camera-by-wayne-martin-belger/

Pinhole cameras – new Stereo pinhole on Kickstarter – https://minutastereo.eu/

Our next online meetings are March 9th from 6:30pm and March 31st from 10:30am. Send us an email or DM on Social Media to get added to the call.

January 2021

Happy New Year!

Here is a quick summary of some of January’s discussions:

Nancy Breslin Pinhole Photography
A wonderful opportunity to see Washington DC artist, Nancy Breslin, talk about her work and to hear her review some of the Hexam Photography groups pinhole portfolios (16th of January).

Cliché-verre with sand.

BRNO Dry Caps and other ways to alleiviate the horrors of lens mould!

Bellows, brass, black paint! DIY view cameras.

Women Photojournalist’s (Library of Congress)

Pictorilist – F. Holland Day

Atget – 100 Years Later

The Calotype Society and the other The Calotype Society

The calendar everyone has been waiting for! LoFi 2021!
A5 duplex (PDF ~120MB) and A4 (PDF ~120MB)

Our February meetings are Tuesday the 9th from 6:30pm and Wednesday the 24th from 10:30am – DM on social media or drop us an email if you would like to join in – all welcome.

A Fish Eye’s View

John Beaver

Department of Physics and Astronomy, UWO Fox Cities.

UW Oshkosh Dean’s Symposium 8 October 2020.

A presentation exploring the physics and art of seeing the world with a fish eye’s view.

Recording of the presentation https://us-lti.bbcollab.com/recording/9353a56c85bb48858f06db6c9b249c84

Download a copy of the slides (PDF 149Mb) https://www.dropbox.com/s/gfhm3rufu2www8a/fisheye.pdf

And that album cover

Dark Box Studio Visit

LoFi was invited to the studios of Dark Box Photography to make some wet plate collodion images.

The “Dark Box” in this instance is their travelling darkroom in the shape of a well known police box – just the right size to pour the collodion plates , sensitise them in the silver bath and develop after exposure.

Dark Box’s director (and LoFi member) Gregg McNeill generously showed us round his studio and lighting set up before letting us loose on his beautiful victorian cameras.

A very enjoyable day even with all the covid secure measures! A collodion club when possible would be wonderful.

Plate in final water bath.

Our guided efforts turned out very well but please look at the Dark Box portfolio to see just how beautiful the unique plates can be.

Dark Box is available for portrait sessions in the studio and on location – full details can be found on their website.

Join in with the Dark Box photographic explorations on www.patreon.com/darkboximages including the new film about John Mawson and his petzval lenses.

Let There Be Light – Part 2

Traditional, alternative and lomographic photography 2020 group show.

Planning the exhibition in 2019 we based the work around the ideas of enlightenment and our gratitude to being able to access the public library network. As events unfolded in 2020 and the physical exhibition was postponed we began to consider the effect the pandemic has had upon our photographic practices and how it is important to question and appreciate that which we took for granted.

G Lyall

Part 1 – April 2020

https://edinburghlofi.com/exhibitions/2020/lettherebelight/part1/

Part 1 – THE GALLERY IS OPEN (Click to enter)

As our April exhibition was postponed we decided to celebrate pinhole photography online by showing a selection of photographs taken before lockdown began. (Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day occurs each year on the last Sunday in April http://pinholeday.org/ )

From cardboard boxes with actual “pin holes” to expertly jointed wooden craft pieces with precision drilled plates the variety which can be acheived with the simplest of cameras always inspires us to see the world around us in a new light as we slowly wait for an exposure to be made.

J Rowan

Part 2 – August 2020

https://edinburghlofi.com/exhibitions/2020/lettherebelight/part2/

A selection of images, both newly made and from our unexhibited archives, exploring life as it is now in this “new normal” and the life that we miss in these novel times.

Members projects will go up daily and a catalogue will be available for download on August 31st.

Part 2 – THE GALLERY IS OPEN (Click to enter)

Hacked

Few things are as satisfying for the LoFi photographer as producing a compelling image using a cardboard box and some leftover instant coffee!

This months online exhibition celebrates hacked cameras, processes and prints.

Coronadol processed negatives, laid on white screen of tablet for makeshift light table inverted on iPhone. Brittonie Fletcher, 2020

Click through to the gallery – more work will continue to go up over the month of July.

Hacked Gallery (Click to enter)

Join us in August for Let There Be Light – Part 2.

Featured Image: Through the Dishwasher, Mandy Kerr.