So I posted a question regarding light leaks on a facebook page dedicated to die hard film lovers. It's safe to say I was surprised by the comments...
I asked if anyone knew any good safe tips for the technique as I really want to give it a go without ruining any other photo's or anything else. I was expecting tips , as I had asked however I was being encouraged to turn away from the idea completely. why? because people saw the technique as a fault.
Man , I was surprised! I wondered if they had read the post properly or if they thought I wanted to destroy my camera in the process but nope, simply just middle aged dude's telling me that it's a fault , it isn't something I should want to try or experiment with.
'As
light leaks are a sign of an equipment fault and are random at best.
Why ruin a perfectly good photograph ? It doesn't make sense'
You know what I say to that? AGHH.
Art doesn't have to make sense! and it is NOT a sign of equipment fault , not necaserily all the time anyway.
It's a CREATIVE technique.
I think possibly the most infuriating comment I read was :
'Then what your saying is the photograph isn't strong enough to stand on its own without the adornments of faults ?'
I had no idea that photographers could be so narrow minded, luckily I have yet to physically meet a narrow minded artist.
I love light leaks , I have seen so many pieces of art on Lomography.com where photographers have used light leaks purposely within their work along with dozens of other wonderfully eye opening experiments. I applaud those who encourage creativity and open mindedness.
Until today I actually thought that all artists surely had to be open minded and creatively encouraging to create their own pieces? I mean how can you create a piece of art without being creative? I don't know , that's just my perception and opinion. Maybe I'm the one being narrow minded and uncreative haha.
Both photographs there have accidental light leaks. (light being exposed to the film prior to processing causing random splashes of colour).
-Ella-
