oh lomo.
Today is the first day of installation at DCAC (District of Columbia Arts Center) for the annual 1460 Wallmountables show. I participated in this exhibition last year and wanted to do it again this year, but it’s not coming to pass. My original idea was to take beautiful [paparazzi] shots of people and food while in Europe, but alas, that didn’t work out since my Nikon D80 was stolen on the last leg of my metro journey from Barajas Airport to my hostel in the center of Madrid. Yeah, that was a devastating experience and it took me almost a week to get over what had happened. My back-up plan was to display some of the pictures I took in Spain this summer with my lomo fisheye camera (I brought that one and a Canon point-and-shoot, so it was better than nothing) using these cool Photoclips, but Urban Outfitters no longer carries them and it was too late to order online. That’s what I get for slacking off and waiting till the last minute to put some potential ideas together. A friend and I were supposed to do this show together, but she had a family emergency and I just… ummm, lost my mojo. My latest excuse is that I’m either too busy or the economy sucks so there’s no way I can sell anything, so what’s the point? Plus, I just haven’t really been focused lately with showing my work since I got into shooting events for people. Hmmm… since when did my art become a commodity?
I have to say that not having my Nikon D80 with me in Spain forced me to be more creative with my lomo fisheye film camera and the dinky little point-and-shoot, so I’m actually pretty happy with the results. The advancements in digital photography amazes me, especially the auto-focus features on professional DSLR cameras (I am now a proud owner of the Nikon D5000), yet also makes me lazy to do things the old fashioned way. But let me assure you that happy accidents do happen, and congratulate my little fisheye (aka. TOY CAMERA) for performing a photographic miracle! (see below: one of my favorite pictures taken with the fisheye, at Plaza Mayor in Madrid, Spain).
Most people, upon hearing about my camera getting stolen, assume that I was unable to document ANY portion of my time in the land of siesta y fiesta. Little did they know that I brought 2 back-up cameras and took over 1500 images during the 2 weeks I was there. *wink*
So the lesson I learned (yes, there is ALWAYS a lesson) is to simply realize that sometimes, circumstances (yes, even unfortunate ones) are out of your control, but if you improvise and have a back-up plan, the results might surprise you. It never hurts to experiment outside of your comfort zone, even when you are on vacation!
lauretta08
viva-SENZA-paura 