Staying creatively engaged: Drawing your crazy dream camera

I’ve been trying to keep my local film photography community here in the Philippines creatively engaged as we’re 3 ½ weeks into our COVID-19 lockdown and have just been handed down an extension to April 30th by the government (I was starting to get used to it!)

It’s easy because let’s admit it, we Film Folks are always looking for any mundane excuse to take out a camera and shoot. I know many who people have a lot of time on their hands right now, so I decided to push something totally different to our community on social media.

I began our first week of COVID-19 lockdown asking people to take Quarantine Selfies and boy, did people deliver. It’s nice to see the community keeping in touch and getting through the ordeal with a bit of humour.

For the second week, we had to step it up so I challenged my audience to draw their crazy/wild/dream cameras no matter how out of this world they are. I’m here to share them with you but in the interests of full disclosure, I’ll start with mine.

Please note I’d already had two beers as I drew this…. so before you judge… draw your own first HAHAHA!

In my head, my so-called Dream Camera is a TLR that doubles as a radio and a projector. It will have an attachment that you fit on the bottom of the camera. Said device is actually a portable negative scanner and you can project your shots with a simple switch near the taking lens.

My FrankenKamera also has built in speakers so it plays music while I take photos and an alarm should I accidentally leave it behind.

I thought I was pretty dope. Then came the entries. And they BLEW ME AWAY. Check these out…

The is the “Photolet Eye Camera” by Marie Nicole.

“My concept is the human eye. I want to capture the object based on what I see with my own perspective. A camera where you can wear it like a bracelet anywhere you go and wherever you want to shoot. It’s a rechargeable film camera with an instax film. Equivalent to a human eye in megapixels, 576 based on my research. Lens gets bigger indoors and smaller outdoors… you can zoom it all you want, and by “all you want” means you can zoom it to outer space. You can capture the planets, stars, asteroids, and the universe. This is my dream camera! I hope you like it :)”

This is the “AC600” by Aldrin.

“Basically AC600 is powered by artificial intelligence programmed to be your buddy camera. It is a robot-ish camera with a very sensitive attitude, so you have to adjust its settings on the GUI at the back to match your personality. It can store two films at once so you can experiment with textures, filters, double exposures etc. It has a Graphical User Interface to adjust its settings, to print your photos instantly, to load film, and view your captured image. Sometimes the camera acts on its own.. so he’ll do what he wants to do…”

Next up was the Extreme Enhanced Lockdown Photowalk Film Camera by Teo Esguerra. Teo is one of the most active Film Folkers. I really appreciate that he takes part in all the activities we do. I love that he squeezed in an important statement to his design (hahaha!)

Here’s what @rosas35mmarchive had to say about her entry

This is my entry for the @filmfolk_ and @lomographyph contest. Since I love turning my captured photos into prints, I designed my dream camera this way. This compact 35mm camera has a detachable square printer where you can choose between thermal paper or instax film. The printer is located above the camera body. (Just like a flash!) This is handy especially if you want to print your captured photos instantly while still enjoying the classic and timeless 35mm film experience. This camera has five buttons: Wifi, Bluetooth, Thermal Paper, Instax and Film. If you want to post your photos that were shot using the instax or thermal paper mode, it can be sent directly through wifi or bluetooth feature. The film chamber is located at the back of the camera, just like the traditional analog camera. I retain the 35mm film feature as is because I love the excitement it gives me while waiting for the processing of the scans.–

MILKFISH26 came up with the “Instant Time Traveling camera:

Here’s my crazy-out-of-this-world dream camera! I hope I’m not too late. If you wonder how this works, it uses a special film that will take you to wherever and whenever you want to go. And if you still remember how Steve and Blue (Blue’s Clues) go to another place, that’s also what you’re going to do to make this possible. You can skip the “Skidooing” part and jump right into the photo you took! Happy shooting!

Finally is the LOMO LC-A+++++++++++ by Mindy Alberto. Mindy submitted a dream LC-A and a cute self portrait. I love his idea of being able to detach the original LCA lens and making it interchangeable lenses in Pen F or M-mmunt (17, 32, or 50mm) haha!! The auto frame change is genius too.

I ran this activity for 2 days and now I wish I had pushed it further. The Lockdown is really taking a people’s creativity to new levels and I think we all need to be part of any humorous mental exercise.

What about you? Can you draw your wild dream camera for me?

~ Aislinn