when did the camera become a toy?
2010. The second decade of the new millennium. By now we’re supposed to be flying in cars, have robots doing our cooking and be able to control our entire homes with one remote control. Granted, we’ve come along way towards some of those goals, but with each leap in technology a certain part of us yearns for the simpler times of the 1900’s.
March 28th, 2010 |
stumbled on this…very well written thank you. I’m so happy I discovered the “toy camera ” movement…though I have fun with my Canon 50D and plan on upgrading to a 5D,
I can’t help but get more excited about my holga, the superheadz wide angle 35 mm I just ordered from Ebay and the rolleicord I’m bidding on. I plan on getting more like a pinhole and some other japanese toy cameras I saw online.
January 21st, 2010 |
very well written nic. agree what you said about seeing past the technology and having fun. i’m all for the enjoyable experience of taking quality pictures using minimal resources instead of dwelling with the complications of more advanced equipment. photographs make the man, not the camera. right?
January 19th, 2010 |
I am a follower and I love toy cameras if anyone is interested I wrote an essay on the history of toy cameras – it was for class, but I did get an A. The most fun I’ve had researching a paper.
http://www.midionodera.com/wordpress/?p=142
January 14th, 2010 |
Well said! You go with your BBF. I love that part of your essay. I went to a wedding at the beginning of the year and felt the same way. All I brought was the Holga because I didn’t want to lug around my big-ass Nikon DSLR. Hooray for toy cameras.
January 11th, 2010 |
Gary- totally agree with you, and also thanks for some info on GAK for those who may not know about their origin. What I want to hear about from folks is ‘when’ a camera became a toy for them… when they first picked up a camera and said, ‘this, this camera is a toy…” (and be sure to check out Gary’s blog as well!)
January 11th, 2010 |
Cameras have for years been marketed as toys. Go back to the early 50’s and look at the Roy Rogers camera, the 60’s had the Yogi Bear camera along with many other Hanna Barbara characters. The Micky Mouse head shaped camera was my very first model as a child in the 60’s. These were truly “toy” cameras by strict definition. They were sold in toy stores for children. The Diana movement from the late 60’s started out in a college photography class. They were cheap and given to all the students to use to explore their creativity and not worry about technical aspects of shooting. I think to find the definition in todays terms, when did shooting with cheap cameras become “toy camera” photography? In Pop Photo magazine fall 1977 there is a big write up about using the marvelous “plastic” camera called the Diana- No mention of the word toy that I could find. I think at least for me, the definition of toy camera is constantly changing from what I remember back in the days of the GAK toy camera forums.( now currently http://www.toycamera.com) I think the internet can be also take credit for helping to spread the toy camera movement. It allowed many of us to find each other and get involved. From my research, I am convinced that the college use of the Diana was the true start of the toy camera movement, they just didnt know it then. The early pioneers Nancy Rexroth, Mark Sink, etc. kept the ball rolling and brought real recognition to this type of photography. In todays world of toy camera photography, we are lucky that some manufacturers are listening and making new “toys” for us to enjoy. The definition and history continues to be written
January 11th, 2010 |
Well said, i just finished reading the whole thing, Clap* clap* I collect cameras because they look nice, and you can see history in them. sometimes you can even smell them.. (dust) choke~* I totally agree with you, Its the shooter not the camera.