Long time lurker, old Toy Camera forum member, just posted for the first time yesterday. This was shot with my SX-70 by a co-worker of mine at lunch at an Apfelweinwirtschaft in Frankfurt while on a business trip back in 2009. All my co-workers in Frankfurt were fascinated by the camera.
I used to shoot a lot when I was a kid, but got away from it when I hit my 20s. I returned to it after a 20 year break about ten years ago with my first DSLR, but I found that my shots were getting worse instead of better the more I shot. My turning point was on a trip to Florida when we visited the Kennedy Space Center. I brought my DSLR and a Diana that I had found in a thrift shop for a dollar (toy camera holy grail!). The battery on the DSLR was on its last legs and died after three photos. So I shot the entire day on my Diana. When I got the photos developed, it was like magic. I spent a few years shooting largely with toys (Diana, Holga, Clack, Fujipet, etc.), then moved on to ex-Soviet cameras (Kiev 88cm, Kiev II, Kiev 4am, Fed 5c). Lately, I've been shooting largely with a Rolleiflex MX-EVS that my wife insisted we buy after seeing the Vivian Maier documentary, and with a Calumet CC-401 4x5 camera, as well as a variety of Polaroid cameras (I particularly love my SX-70s and Land 250s). I've also dabbled in pinhole cameras, spent a year shooting only Kodachrome after its demise was foretold, and mucked around a little with digital toys like the Cyclops Camera Rihanna. My work was focused for many years on subverting nostalgia, but I don't do that any more; I've been casting around since that ended for another defining principle, and just messing around until I figure it out.
