Recently I caught up with some friends! It had been about 3 months since I’d seen them and I’m not going to lie, it felt so good to see them again. I found out that my friend Kara is pregnant which was super exciting – her and her husband are the Kids Pastors at our church and I know they will be amazing parents to their little one.

I was a little rusty with my camera and all of our energies weren’t in the best photoshoot mood, but we still managed to get a few cute photos.

Also sunny.designco on Instagram turned my photo of Kara into a new piece of art. So cool as that’s the first time that has happened with one of my photos! Please head over and give it a like.

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me @ target // inspo from @colourmekara

A post shared by Sunny Design Co (@sunny.designco) on Jul 10, 2020 at 7:36am PDT

Earlier this year my friend Amanda asked me to do a photoshoot with her! She’s a musician and was hoping to get some photos she could use for her album covers, flyers and marketing. Of course, I was happy to take photos of her!

Amanda brought a creative and confident energy to the photoshoot which I appreciated a lot. It was definitely a collaboration!

My favourite thing about shooting with Amanda was her modelling and her creativity. She was full of ideas and inspiration for the photoshoot and had several outfits prepared. Her friend Kate did her makeup and it was stunning in person.

Enjoy the photos!

Can’t wait to take more photos of Amanda in the future!

In 2019 I got back into photography!

Specifically, digital photography. I had a few disappointments with shooting film this year – mostly because a roll came off the spool, the battery died in the camera and I didn’t know, and one of the backs on the camera opened that exposed the film. Recently I sent off 6 rolls to be developed and am not hopeful that they will come back with great photos but I will share when they are back.

I started taking photos for my church and it really made me get better at shooting manual on my digital camera and getting better at asking people if I can take photos of them. Fortunately a lot of my social circle loves having their photo taken and everyone wants good Instagram content these days.

Kara, Brittany, Phoebe and I decided to have a photoshoot in late December and it went amazingly! We went to Home of the Arts and the Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens and there were such a variety of locations and places to shoot at those two places. We want to have photoshoots regularly and be more creative with them as time goes by.

Hope you enjoy, I know I did!

Photos taken with Canon 60D and 50mm f1.8 lens.

A couple of months ago my friends Kara, Phoebe & I went to the Sugar Republic pop up at Pacific Fair!

The experience was amazing and we absolutely loved it – the “sprinkles’ rainbow ball pit was our absolute favourite, who said adults don’t deserve to have a bit of fun?

We all serve in Kids Church at our local church and had a such a good time connecting with our own inner children throughout the Sugar Republic experience. I don’t know about you, but the last time I was in a ball pit was when I was about 7 years old but as a 27 year old I can confirm it is just as fun as it was back then. It’s actually a really relaxing sensation and almost like a mini massage. I need to find a way to incorporate more ball pits into my life because it’s way too fun to only be in one every 20 years.

The staff at Sugar Republic were super friendly and offered to take photos of our group which was lovely, the experience was well-paced and very enjoyable for everyone who attended. Highly recommend you visit Sugar Republic if you need some new insta content and want to let your inner child run free! They have a permanent location in Melbourne but otherwise keep an eye out for their pop ups near you!

Photos taken with iPhone XS and edited with Lightroom mobile using Chelsea Jean presets.

I thought it was about time I finally posted this. I’ve got to tell you, it’s taken a long time because I either kept adding to my collection or didn’t have sample images. I still wouldn’t say it’s 100% complete but keep checking back as I will add to it in the future.

Name: Polaroid 1000 Land Camera

Type: Instant SX-70 Polaroid Camera

How much I paid: $120 for the camera and Polatronic 1 Flash

Everyone wants a Polaroid camera. Even if you’ve tried other instant cameras, everyone knows of Polaroid and loves the classic look of their images. Polaroid has dissolved and been taken over by other companies now, so The Impossible Project stepped in to bring Polaroid back.

I’ve had varying results with The Impossible Project’s SX-70 Colour film and have had more consistent results with the Black and White. The first pack of colour film I tested produced the top three images below, and the second pack (Gen 2.0 film) produced the bottom middle image. That was the only image I liked from the second pack I used as the rest were far too green-toned for my liking. In future I may only use black and white film with this camera and colour on my Instax Wide, as unfortunately Fujifilm have not produced black and white film yet.

This camera in particular has an issue with blurring – it’s very difficult to not get a blurred image as the shutter speed is very slow. You can of course get some great images as a result of that, but more often that not it’s blurry when you wanted it to be sharp. This is a super basic camera but you don’t get great results, so I wouldn’t recommend picking this one up. If you want a real Polaroid camera and are willing to put up with the obnoxious price of film, get an SX-70 – it’s what I plan on doing eventually.

Name: Pentax ME Super

Type: 35mm SLR

Lens specifications: It came with a Auto Zoom CPC CCT 28-80mm f3.5-4.5 lens but I bought the Pentax-M 50mm f/2 manual focus lens and have been using that ever since.

How much I paid: $89.95 USD plus shipping

This is my favourite 35mm film camera. It turns out that I’m a Pentax girl. I love the lens and the camera itself. I’ve been really happy with the shots I have gotten back from it – more than any other film camera. It’s smooth to use, lightweight (as far as SLRs go) and I just love it. The one problem I have with it at the moment is that the back won’t stay closed – for now I’ve just put some rubber bands around it so it looks very well-loved (and not at all tacky). I assume this would be an easy thing to fix but I’m not sure how to go about it at the moment.

Name: Fujifilm Instax Wide 300

Type: Instant film camera

Film Type: Fujifilm Instax Wide (I bulk buy the film in lots of 100 on eBay as it’s the cheapest.)

How much I paid: $179 at JB Hi-Fi

All of my photos in my 92 Day Instax Challenge were taken with this camera. I previously owned the Instax Wide 210 but I gave that one to my brother when I decided to purchase the 300. There honestly isn’t much difference between the Instax Wide 210 and the Instax Wide 300 except for the design and button location. I do prefer the 300 as it’s less tacky in appearance and the functions are more conveniently located. In the future I would like to switch to the Lomo’Instant Wide as it’s a bit more advanced and has many more features (you can even plug in a strobe light!) that I am dying to try out but I think the best feature is that you can get up to 10cm close to your subject.

The things I love about this camera is how sharp the images are, but something I hate is how easily the close up lens attachment breaks. On both my 210 and 300 the lens attachment only lasted about a month and ever since then I have been using blu-tack to attach it to the lens. What I find baffling is that they don’t sell the close up lens attachments as open stock – you can’t even get them on eBay, whereas you can for the Instax Mini cameras. Overall, I recommend this camera if you just want to simply point and shoot and not worry about any settings, but if you want something more advanced do some research on the Lomo’Instant Wide and see if that floats your boat.

Name: Zenit EM

Type: 35mm film camera

Lens Specifications: Helios-44m 58mm f/2

How much I paid: $30 + $17 shipping

The Zenit EM is definitely not my go-to camera. I’ve only put a couple of rolls through it and am rarely happy with the results, although you do get some really lovely ones. The viewfinder is really hard to look through and the body of the camera itself is very heavy, making it difficult to carry around. However, the lens is so lovely that I bought an adaptor so I can use it on my DSLR as well. I really should pick it up again and give it another go but it really is very heavy in comparison to other cameras like my Pentax ME Super which doesn’t make it easily portable.

Name: Canon FTb

Type: 35mm film camera

Lens Specifications: Canon FD 28mm f2.8

How much I paid: $155 USD

I’ve developed one roll from this camera and unfortunately lost the shots but I know remember I wasn’t very happy with them as I had used a zoom lens. I recently bought the 28mm lens and look forward to getting the shots back. I will definitely add them to this post once they’re developed.

Name: Canon AE-1 Program

Type: 35mm film camera

Lens Specifications: 50mm

How much I paid: Nothing – it was a gift.

Oh how I adore this camera. I was lusting after it for quite a long time and then a man we know offered one to me out of the blue once he saw my collection! I need to send it off to be repaired at the moment as the shutter would not fire just due to old age and lack of maintenance (it hadn’t been used for years), but fortunately this camera had a wide release back in the day and parts are quite easy to come by. I love how easy this camera is to use, particularly with this lens. It is so easy to focus, and I have a lot of fun with it knowing that the lens will save even the most terrible shots.

My first roll through this camera really overexposed the shots, which I managed to fix in Photoshop, but after replacing the battery it’s been working fantastically. I’ve found I love shooting Kodak Portra 400 with this camera more than anything else. The combination is a winner with almost every frame.

Name: Mamiya Press Universal

Type: Medium Format Camera with Polaroid Instant Back

Film type: Instant peel-apart film camera – Fuji FP-100c (Colour) and Fuji FP-3000b (Black and White)

Lens specifications: Sekor 150mm f5.6 lens

How much I paid: $633.80 including shipping

Name: Lomography Fisheye One

Type: 35mm film camera

How much I paid: $54.99 USD

For years I’ve wanted to try out a fish eye lens and this was my way of testing it out. This camera was a decent price and has been fun to play with, however, I hardly ever reach for it. The quality of the photos aren’t great as the lens is pretty poor so I have only shot two full rolls with it since I purchased it in 2013 and donated it since then. It’s most definitely a toy camera – you can have fun with it but you won’t get stand out, incredible images.

Name: Sprocket Rocket SUPERPOP! Pink

Type: 35mm panoramic camera with optional sprocket holes

How much I paid: $62.30 USD

The thing I love about this camera is the sprocket holes. I love being able to see pictures touch the edge of the film; it adds so much to the experience for me. Something that has been difficult with this camera is focusing and getting the exposure right, even though you can’t really control it. You need to use at least 400 ISO film when using this camera. You can do unlimited exposures with this camera which is awesome and has been fun to play with.

My brother bought me the Diana F+ flash after I received my first roll back and seeing how dark a lot of the images turned out. I look forward to seeing how that changes the images.

Name: Olympus 35 RC

Type: 35mm rangefinder camera

Lens specifications: E. Zuiko 42mm f/2.8

How much I paid: I don’t remember but I believe it was less than $120

This camera is a great pocket-sized camera and feels great in your hands. Unfortunately this camera broke when on one of my walks and hasn’t been able to work since. The shutter is stuck and I’ve not come across any solutions as of yet and I’m pretty sure it’s not fixable judging by the research I’ve done online. I’ve considered buying another one as the photos you can take with it are stunning and I didn’t get to really test it out, but it’s not worth it in the end as I have so many other cameras.

Name: Polaroid Big Shot

Type: Instant peel-apart film camera

Film type: Fuji FP-100c (Colour) and Fuji FP-3000b (Black and White)

What else you need: MagicCubes

How much I paid: $120 + postage on Gumtree (it came with a pack of film and a magic cube)

Name: Pentax Spotmatic

Type: 35mm film camera

Lens Specifications: Pentax M42 SMC 35mm f3.5

How much I paid: $205

This camera arrived in perfect good condition which made me very excited to use it. It’s also my first 35mm lens which is great as even though I love 50mm lenses, sometimes it is too close to what I want to focus on. I love using this camera but haven’t got any shots back. I will update when I do.

Name: Polaroid Miniportrait 203 with Polaroid Back

Type: Instant film camera

Film Type: Fuji FP-100C, Fuji FP-3000B

How much I paid: $180.99 USD

One thing to be aware of with this camera is that there are a couple of different versions. My camera has two lenses, but there is another version with four. It’s a really fun setting to play around with and you can either choose to take two different photos, or have both sides the same. I’ve found focusing to be quite tricky with this camera but I think it comes with practice.

Name: Lomography Lomo’Instant

Type: Instant film camera

Film Type: Fujifilm Instax Mini Film

How much I paid: $119 USD on Kickstarter

I was so excited when Lomography announced the Kickstarter campaign for this camera! I was hoping they would do the same with the Instax Wide size and they have but unfortunately i haven’t gotten my hands on that one yet. Personally, I dislike the Instax Mini size and prefer the Instax Wide so this camera doesn’t get used very often – most of the sample photos were taken in 2014. I got the extra lenses and colour filters which I am very happy with – those are a great addition to the camera. I will probably give away this camera once I am in the financial position to purchase the Lomo’Instant so keep an eye out on my blog for that.

Name: Lomography Lomokino Super 35mm Movie Maker

Type: 35mm film camera

How much I paid: I can’t find the exact price but it was around $100. I got it in a “Directors Bundle” which comes with the LomoKinoscope, Smartphone Scanner, and 2 x Lady Grey B&W 400 ISO 35mm film.

This is quite an interest camera – it’s a ‘shoot from the hip’ type camera and you wind the wheel every time you want to take a frame so it can be as fast or slow as you’d like. I highly suggest looking it up if you’re interested in Super 8 film at all. I look forward to getting my first roll back.

Name: Lubitel 166 Universal

Type: 120 film camera

How much I paid: Around $67 on eBay

The results with this camera are so varied but I have found I am getting better results over time. I love experimenting with the different medium format film stocks and the high resolution files you can get. It provides an entirely different shooting experience than a 35mm SLR which is very valuable to me at this point in my photography journey. I love the square format of the photos and have been impressed at how the photos have improved so much over time.

Name: Hanimex Power Zoom

Type: 35mm film camera

How much I paid: It was free from a lady at work who was moving house and wanted to get rid of a bunch of stuff. The film was pre-loaded and I haven’t finished the roll yet. It’s a fun mystery to unpack once I do!

Name: Hanimex Standard 120 Box Camera

Type: 120 film camera

How much I paid: Nothing.

This camera belonged to my family back in the day. Last year I went through a box of old stuff of my dad’s and found this buried at the bottom of it. I was so excited to find it and was hoping there was some film in there but unfortunately there was none. As you can tell in the picture the lens is so fogged up that it would be absolutely impossible to sue these days, but I still treasure it anyway.

CANON AUTOZOOM 518 SV, POLAROID SPIRIT 600 CL, POLAROID ONESTEP 2, LOMO’INSTANT WIDE, OLYMPUS MJU II + HOLGA 120 GN COMING SOON!

I hope this post was somewhat helpful and interesting! It took me awhile to finish but I finally got there. I’d love you to leave a comment with the cameras you own, or are lusting after. I didn’t include digital cameras as I only have a couple of them, but I do have a lot of lenses & accessories so if you’d like to see those please let me know and I’ll work on it.

The other weekend I went up to Rocks at Seventeen Mile Rocks to celebrate a one year old’s birthday and I decided to take out my new Petzval lens for the first time. I’ve only played with it at home so far so it was a bit of a challenge to work with, but I think I got some beautiful shots.

As you can see, focusing can be difficult with this lens. It requires patience and a lot of trial & error to get it right. I can’t wait to play with this lens more as you really can get some beautiful results. I’d love to take it to the beach next time I go with my friends.

* All photos were taken with Lomography’s Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Art Lens.

Over the last couple of months I feel like I’ve abandoned this little blog. There’s no excuse but I will give you the reason why. I honestly believe it’s because I’ve stopped seeing value in my day to day life and don’t feel like it’s worth sharing with anyone. I’ve been struggling with the idea of mediocrity and have recently found out that I’m just like everybody else and I’m not special or different like I used to think I was. Most people already know that about themselves, but it’s really shocked me and made me reevaluate everything. You could call it a quarter life crisis. All of that said, I’m going to try to update this blog more and maybe by doing that I’ll see the value in each and every day again.

Today I wanted to share with my little getaway from this past weekend. I went with my two friends Janice & Sarah to Yamba – a little town just for a quick weekend trip. We all felt like we needed to get away – they had both finished Uni for the year and I have been feeling pretty stressed about my job & figuring out when is the best time for me to move next year.

Photos were taken on my Canon 60D with the 50mm f1.8 lens.

I spent the day with my two high school friends Sarah & Janice and Sarah’s brother Lincoln. Photos were taken by both me & Janice. I also used my new Fisheye Lomography camera to take pictures but I have to wait a week or two for the film to be developed, if any of them turn out well I’ll post them here.

It was such an awesome day despite the crappy weather. I’m very lucky to have them in my life.