Elysa/diycamera

DIY CAMERA

For this thematic project I decided that I wanted to make a camera/lens with a spherical aberration effect. You can see an example of that effect on the photo below.

I thought this type of effect would suit my practice and the type of projects that I've made so far. I especially had my project "Dicht bij mij vandaan" in the back of my head while choosing to make this camera. It's a project about vulnerability, emotional and physical closeness, and a whole lot of other feelings. There are some photos in this project that don't have a clearly visible subject in them; it's all a bit vague, but it feels really soft and "warm". I wanted to see what the spherical aberration effect would have on those type of photos (example, see below).

So the files below are the result! I'm actually really happy with it, even though it turned out to be way more abstract than initially intended. I really love the colours and the soft light. I tried a few different things with the shutter speed, but it mostly depended on how fast I could get the shutter back into the camera. Now that I'm really happy with the results I definitely want to shoot again with this camera. I think I'm going to try shooting in a setting that's more like my Dicht bij mij vandaan project.