Glen Echo Park Sign, Night

Nice! It's a keeper.

Scott,

This works well as a Palladium print from what I can see on my screen, particularly like the 'Glen Echo Park' reflection. I've been impressed with your recent 'Lomo' work - "toy" cameras make me nervous...

Tom

Very nice!

@Tom Kershaw There's something to be said for the simplicity of "toy" cameras. The Lomo LCA may be a lightweight plastic camera with minimal controls, but it's still actually a pretty serious machine. The lens is a Russian-made glass lens. The exposure meter for the fully automatic exposure control is an "additive" meter in that it keeps the shutter open until it gets enough light, rather than pre-determining how much to give and then operating the shutter. So it's actually really good for long/night exposures. And for the price, I couldn't ask for more... to get "better" optically, I'd have to spring for a used Hasselblad Superwide, which used, beaten and battered is still going to run me 3-4x what a new LCA costs. And then it will weigh 4x as much too. I'm really enjoying the simplicity of the Lomo cameras - the LCA and my Belair (with the accessory Russian glass lenses), with their semi- to fully-automatic exposure systems. To get the most out of them, you do need to know something about photography, but when you do, you can really push them to deliver more than they are expected to do.

On a related side note - the more I've used the Lomo cameras with their Russian glass lenses, the more I'm impressed by what they can do. Well-made Russian glass is on a par, IMHO, with Zeiss glass. Maybe not the multi-coatings, especially on vintage lenses, but certainly the glass itself. I have a shot I took on the Belair with one of the Russian lenses (the 114mm, IIRC) that has the sun in the frame, filtering through the branches of a tree. A recipe for lens flare if there ever was one. But no flare. I don't think I could have taken that same shot with my former Hasselblad without flare.

Love this one!