In the early 90’s plastic “toy” cameras (lIke the Holga and the Diana) started being produced by a company called Lomography. These cameras were remakes of original cameras from the 60’s and 70’s. and are still still prized for the funky effects they create, like over saturated color, off kilter exposure, blurring and light leaks. The fun and creativity was in never knowing exactly what you were going to get, and the magic came in the “happy accidents”

This year iphone came out with a new photo app called the Hipstamatic. This app is designed to create the same effects without the guesswork or the waiting. Their tag line is; “digital photography never looked so analog” and they go on to say; “With a swipe of the finger, change your lens, flash, or film.” 

Digital photography has pretty much replaced film. I can’t think of one commercial photographer who uses film, and there are fewer and fewer using film photography as a pure art form. Maybe I’m a purest or just nostalgic, or perhaps I just simply find the “hipster” name annoying, but I’m a little sad about the hipstamatic. I want to hold on to the unpredictable, and the serendipity that comes out of it. There is a charm in the random and uneven, that i’m not convinced can be achieved with a medium based on order and precision. If everything analog does fade to nothing what happens to the magic of “happy accident” when nothing is left to chance?

I need your opinion, I mixed together lomography and hipsamatic in the above slideshow. Which is which? Can you tell the difference?

I still know people who live in manhattan who won’t take the subway over a bridge or through a tunnel. PS1 in LIC Queens is just another example of how very much they are missing. In a city so rich in museums, this is by far, one of the more interesting. This beautiful old school house was saved from being torn down in 1976 and is now part of MOMA. It is one of the largest and oldest institutions in the united States dedicated solely to contemporary art. If you have been to MOMA, Guggenheim or even the New Museum you get the expected large open airy institution with perfectly lit art on pristine walls. PS1 isn’t at all like that. It is in some ways the anti-museum. From the time your feet hit the sand covered courtyard, smell the bbqed burgers taste the beer, hear the band, and see the aerialist hanging upside-down on 30-foot-tall glass fiber poles, you are aware you are in for a full sensory experience. This is the very first exhibit you walk through. The winner of the young architects program, an interactive environment called “Pole Dance”  is also the perfect backdrop for the 2010 Warm Up music series which are going on until Sept 6th. 
 To find your way to the front doors, just pass the parents dancing with their kids, and hipster couples sharing hammocks and beers. Once inside you may feel that the old school house is indeed haunted. There are several experimental videos in each of the small classrooms each with their own weird echos of odd music, screams and conversations. Some art in hung and some just leans on the uneven painted brick walls. Extra splatters are added to one of the walls creating an unusual but successful tying of the paintings. Most of the work inside is instillation pieces. One used the faded planks of the floor as part of his art. One room’s floor was completely covered in baseball bats. I think my favorite instillation was a room totally enveloped in various kinds of stripes. The only downside to my visit is that I was so drawn in to the overall experience that I didn’t stop long enough to record the artists names or sit through all the films. Who’s coming with me next time? I’ll pay for the subway ride out of Manhattan.