Hey hey hey! What a beautiful morning it is today. How are you my friends. I'm not too shabby thank you for asking, although the thought of having to return to school very soon makes me want to cocoon myself for eternity. Anyway, I think it's quite clear by now that I am very much into my photography and when I started getting more into it I wanted to collect some vintage cameras for a special shelf in my future home. To quench my thirst for these beautiful old cameras before I eventually begun a collection I made a pinterest board [x] just full of different types of old cameras.



However, last week me and my dad went to visit his cousin and her family in Coventry for the afternoon and they took us to a "vintage village" called Fargo. It's modern made to look hipster, with shops in colourful storage containers and sheds and so aesthetically pleasing I loved it. I knew I'd be likely to come across these old vintage cameras I love so much but I didn't see any when I peeked around everywhere. Until my dad said they were in the back of one of the storage containers.

We went in and I started looking at the cameras, which there was an abundance of. I even picked one up that I particularly liked and looked through the viewfinder. The shop owner was very friendly and striked up conversation about how he often babysat his nephew with an old pentax around his neck, and said nephew came to be a successful band photographer [Steve Gullick] and showed us some books of his.

Looking though one camera at the other. I think this is really cool mostly because of the way the large viewfinder works on this camera. You have to look down the top of it while holding it at your waist, and what you're looking at is flipped because of the mirror inbetween each window.

Dad haggled the camera I picked up for £10 - only £5 less than labelled, before he spotted an older beauty that he wanted himself for £5. The second camera was so cheap because it was damaged so wouldn't work, but he only wanted it for it's beauty rather than to use. Neither of us could help ourselves so he bought both and let me keep both on my shelf to start off my collection.

Early in 1939, Ensign Ltd introduced the Vintage Ensign Ful-Vue Film Camera. Fondly remembered by many photographers as their first camera, often bought for them by their parents while they were still children. An improved model was introduced in 1950, dubbed the Ful-Vue II. It had an all plastic front panel housing a new shutter assembly which for the first time provided the camera with a flash synch terminal. The design immediately captured the publics interest, an interest that has lasted even until today as this is still camera that is widely collected, regarded by many as a design classic.

This is the camera my dad loved, as you can see the front of it is quite cracked but I feel like that adds to the whole "vintage" look and creates a little story for the camera. I have no idea how this camera would work if it could, which only adds to that little air of mystery about it, but like my dad I love it because of how different and unique it is.



The Trip 35 is a 35mm compact camera, manufactured by Olympus. It was introduced in 1967 and discontinued, after a lengthy production run, in 1984. The Trip name was a reference to its intended market – people who wanted a compact, functional camera for holidays. During the 1970s it was the subject of an advertising campaign that featured popular British photographer David Bailey. Over ten million units were sold.

 This is the camera that attracted my attention first because it's one of the first images that come to mind when I think of vintage cameras, and still a classic design for cameras today. With a film this camera will work fully so I'm very excited to put a film in there and try it out. The shop keeper said he sold films for £2 but unfortunately we didn't indulge, much to our regret.


And this is where I keep my new treasures, on my middle book shelf. I had to make some space but it still feels like they're not quite at home, possibly because I always imagined a long row of them sitting on a long bookshelf. I'm still very content with them though and they really complement each other.

Do let me know which style you like most or if there's a different style of vintage camera that you adore. Hopefully I manage to get quite a diverse collection over time.

I adore the colouring of these two urban street shots. The warm tones makes it look like a sunny autumnal day, one of my most favourite kind of atmospheres as everything is just so orange and crisp but still a little warm.

This is my favourite from the set on the steps. While taking it I even thought "this looks like its from a fashion magazine or something" and I still think so. Everything about it just looks perfect, the lighting, colours and positioning. I think it's pretty amazing if I do say so myself.

This is another of my favourites, although I hate the glare through the window, I LOVE the pose - which is something I recommended myself ooh get me all professional. But yes I thought the skirt was beautiful and really brought out the vintage look and the pout really is the cherry on top.

In much of these colour photos I focused on the beautiful colour of Elle's hair, lips and eyes to make the image pop with bright, warm tones.

Again, hello great editing skills and goodbye unnecessary blue sticker on the window over her shoulder ;)

I love these vintage looks, so casual and chic.

I love the warm lighting too, despite having cold hands all day.

Here I love the contrast of the black jacket and Elle's lovely hair colour against the white interior, making her really stand out, as well as the framing and texture of the wall.

In these shots I focused on making her hair, eyes and lips pop. The black and white ones from this set look amazing and timeless but I just adore colours in photography and decided not to neglect the small essences of colour in this set, trying something different and enticing to draw in attention.

I made her lips a lot brighter and redder in this one as her gorgeous blue eyes are striking.

I adore how simple and natural this one looks I can barely describe.

I love how full of emotion this character shot is, Again I focused on making her hair and the blue of this dress really vivid under the spotlight of the flashgun.

This shot isn't as bright, I decided to tone it down a bit more so that it was the emotion and story that shone through in this image. Let me know what sort of stories you would make up to go along with these photos I'd love to hear some ideas!

This one caught Steve's eye because of how the lighting lined up perfectly. I also love how you can just about make out the floral wallpaper behind Elle, which was lit up with a blue tint. I liked not having to edit these dark character photos as much because it was about the stark contrast and spotlight.

I think this last set is one of my favourites because of how H&M/casual it looks, with the bright red shirt centring all the attention. I particularly love the light flare on this one, I feel it really polishes off the casual candid-like tone of these images.

I also adore this one because of the walls that frame Elle on the windowsill, and the slight industrial feel to the walls that heighten the casual urban style. I sneakily took this one from the side while Steve was getting his shot [x], which I also adore. There's just something amazing about watching a professional at work and how similar the method and results can be.

I really really love this shot. The messy hair really emphasises the "casualness" of it all and focuses the eye more towards the shirt. I feel like this would be classic sort of fashion shot, more about the clothes than the beautiful person wearing them.

I love the simplicity of this shot. The contrast between the door and Elle really make her shirt, hair and striking blue eyes stand out.

And there you have it. I'm not sure I can choose my favourite between black and white or colour, I love each shot for different reasons. I'm not even sure which set is my favourite anymore after talking about each one carefully. It is strange to look at photography and admire it then thinking, "that's mine, I took that." But that's what I've done after this shoot and I'm very pleased with it. Please let me know your favourites, I always love a bit of feedback.

I have been on another shoot with Tip Top since this one, a lingerie shoot - ooh! I shall be sharing those but do bear in mind, (not to insult your intelligence) lingerie means underwear. I'll talk all about the new experience and my thoughts on it soon but I shall give you a break from photography for next week before a shoot of something new.

I loved this little shoot so much it sort of feels like I was the only person there. I'm going to split up my abundance of photos into two blog posts - this black and white one, and some coloured ones next week. I do hope you enjoy and as always please let me know your favourites and even show me some of your photos if you've ever done anything similar. :)

This is a sneaky shot from the first - I have no idea what to call it, a segment? - first segment of the whole shoot which was outside on the metal steps. Another photographer was shooting at this moment but while waiting I took a few cheeky shots.

 

Here is my black and white image from this very urban look, I LOVED the setting of this "segment" and I'm sure I'll find something similar if I did a shoot like this again in the future. To be honest I much prefer two of the colour ones but you'll have to follow to see that next week! Oh what a tease I am.

A couple more cheeky shots from the next set - SET! That's the word! This was a sweet vintage look and I think it's one of my favourites as we did it in two different areas, the first of full length shots and the next using a bit of wall for some closer up images. I loved having so many photos from this look to admire and edit.

I loved this outfit, so simple and vintage-esque. Elle was saying how a friend of hers made the skirt for her, which looks very pretty, you can see the lovely colourful pattern of it next week with the coloured photography post ;) I'd also like to take the delight in pointing out my marvellous editing skills as the corner of the light was just poking out behind the pillar - "what light?" you say, exactly!!

I like this one because I feel like it has a bit of character and story to it, the black and white removes the distraction of colour and focuses on the emotion and many different stories that could possibly go with this photo.

When the ever lovely Debbie (hi Deb) flicked through my photos on my camera afterwards I distinctly remember her saying "I love moody and sultry but you just can't beat a smile" - which I hadn't really considered before but I totally agree, I think this picture looks so sweet and pure, the smile topping it all off!

I think it was a general agreement that black and white would go beautifully with this set because of the contrast with the black outfit against the white wall.

I loved how the model - Elle - would change pose every time she heard the camera click, and with the contrast of this set, I really like how her beautiful figure really stands out and makes the image.

I'm fond of shots that look down walls, I just think it adds something a bit more interesting and as my mom often advised to me: "look at things from a different angle rather than taking a picture of things just as they are, it makes it more interesting to look at."

It's pretty amazing what just one long light can bring to an image.

Another bit of contrast were these dramatic "character shots" as Steve aptly called them, getting us to concentrate on some concept photography was new for me and all the more interesting, as well as watching Elle do some much more different poses and facial expressions than I'd seen before.

Steve told me to say in this blog post how clever, organised and brilliant he is, but I do agree with that as I think he's a great photographer and teacher, and I learnt a lot about lighting/reflectors and where to place it from this shoot. It was quite something to see how two simple yet well placed flash guns totally changed the pictures from what it looked like in real life. I'm also going to be a tease again and tell you that the coloured images form this set look very cool too.

This last set is up there with my favourites, I loved how casual the model dressed and styled herself as well as where the little location was - I think it's very H&M, which I love a lot so that probably contributes to why I love these pictures so much. (And yes it greatly annoys me how I missed the focus from her face and onto her legs but I still love this shot and I won't let it defer me from sharing it although I will double check where my focus is in the future.)

Such door very lean.

I like how casual this scene looks too, with chipped paint and the dusty windowsill, I feel like it really adds to the casual ambience. I'm still in awe at her cheekbones look at those bad boys!

 I decided to split up my photos across two posts as I didn't want to bombard you with so many pictures all at once. I wanted to split up the colour from the black and white not only to entice you in for next week's blog post but also so you could enjoy the beauty of black and white photography all by itself. A lovely quote I always remember when thinking about black and white photography is from Ted Grant: "When you photograph people in colour, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!”

And on that note I shall love and leave you. Oh and a quick thank you to my friends who I constantly asked if colour or black and white looked better for some images when I just couldn't choose! A happy Saturday to you all !