Photography: My New 1960's Camera

Yesterday I was given my third 35mm camera by my boyfriend. It's a Zenit B from the USSR and takes the standard 35mm film that you can still buy in normal shops. I've always loved photography an, as part of the 'digital generation', made my way through several compact and DSLR cameras but have been fascinated by 35mm film cameras. The Zenit is my oldest of three I own, and took a while to work out all the functions (unfortunately nearly all of the first film I shot today was blurry because the shutter speed was set t 1/30s rather than the 1/250s I wanted it at!) but the pictures I got developed showed the beauty of traditional photography. The colour is vivid, the tones contrasted, and the whites are slightly 'off' to give this almost vintage feel to the prints.

I hope that todays trial run will result in some precise and unique photographs to come in the future. Using traditional photography will also be driving me to look at some more traditional techniques (if suitable) in the projects that come in the new year and not relying totally on the digital methods I know, maybe giving me some more unique and outstanding outcomes.

Here are a few from the film taken today at Westonbirt Arboretum:

And the camera itself:

And some interesting shots taken using my compact digital Canon Ixus through the viewfinder of the Zenit, I thought it really set off the colours you see through the viewfinder and the older feel of the camera and it's images. The large black outer 'frame' and mirror reflection of the image coming through the viewfinder are nice additions which shows the technology behind the old SLR cameras. These photos are entirely untouched by Photoshop: