Plastic Cameras: Lo-fi Photography in the Digital Age by Chris Gatcum
This title includes hot tips and tricks on loading, advancing and unloading film. It suggests ways of capturing movement, producing multiple exposures and more. Decidedly low-tech and highly idiosyncratic plastic, or 'toy' cameras such as the original 1984 Lomo Kompakt Automat (which spawned the term 'Lomography'), the Diana and the Holga, and the recently introduced Blackbird, Fly enable them to create images that - while not technically perfect - display a quirky sense of fun, spontaneity, and creative artiness. These unassuming cameras first emerged as toys created in Hong Kong in the 1980s but were adopted by US photography and art schools: because of their simplicity they could actually teach the user the basics of composition, perspective, exposure and so on. Now their appeal has spread and enterprising manufacturers continue to produce these lo-fidelity analog gizmos - with some exciting deviations that increase the fun element of pointing and shooting.