Focal Press has announced the publication of the second edition of Plastic Cameras: Toying with Creativity by Michelle Bates. This volume brings together the world of toy camera photography, including the history of their use, exhaustive instructions, tips and tricks for getting the most out of Holgas and other choice cameras, advanced camera modifications, darkroom and presentation information, and resources for continued research and sharing. The new edition includes the latest toy cameras including the Pinhole Wide Holga, the Stereo Holga, and the all-new Blackbird, Fly. The 288-page paperback is available for $29.95.

Press Release

New Book on the

Plastic Camera Craze

Focal Press Publishes a Primer on the Retro-Popular Plastic Camera by the “queen of Holgas” Michelle Bates

(BOSTON, MA – November 4, 2010) Focal Press, a division of Elsevier, is pleased to announce the publication of Plastic Cameras: Toying with Creativity, 2nd edition by Michelle Bates.

What are toy cameras?We are not talking about your grandparents’ “Brownies” or your parents’ disposable Kodaks. Toy cameras are cheap, plastic, medium format cameras that are known to do all the things a good camera should NOT: leak light, shoot out-of- focus, double expose film, and distort pictures. Creative photographers love this. Toy cameras challenge the photographer to lose control and think about the image versus the technology. The pictures have a dreamlike, whimsical quality and can be developed at most photo labs, or in a home darkroom.

Plastic Cameras: Toying with Creativity is the first comprehensive and inspirational resource for toy camera photographers of all levels. This volume brings together the world of toy camera photography, including the history of their use, exhaustive instructions, tips and tricks for getting the most out of Holgas and other choice cameras, advanced camera modifications, darkroom and presentation information, and resources for continued research and sharing. The book is chock full of four-color and black-and-white images.

  * Now including the latest and greatest cameras, from the Pinhole Wide Holga, the Stereo Holga, and the all-new Blackbird, Fly
  * This edition expands on its fabulous lineup of artists by including well-known photographers Christopher James and Michael Kenna
  * Still the most informative, colorful,  and inspiring Plastic Camera guide in existence

In this second edition of the first popular book on plastic cameras, readers will take a tour of the burgeoning world of plastic cameras and low-tech photography. Bates has created a fun and funky guide to creating the most artistic pictures of your life. Both experienced enthusiasts and toy camera neophytes, will find this guide full of tantalizing tips, fun facts, and absolutely striking photographs taken with the lowest tech tools around.

Readers will learn how to prep a plastic camera, their advantages and quirks, and what film to feed it. They will also explore what makes a good subject, vignetting, multiple exposures, panoramas, close-ups, night photography, color, flash, problems and solutions, and so much more. Michelle Bates also takes readers from a negative to either prints or pixels so that they can show off their photos and jump on take part in a growing underground art form.

About the Author:

Michelle Bates has been playing with Holgas since 1991. Since then, she has used these plastic cameras for everything from fine-art to editorial to commercial photography. Her work has won several awards and been published on numerous web magazines, included in toy cameras exhibitions worldwide, and printed in many magazines. She has had solo shows in the Pacific Northwest, Los Angeles and Israel. Bates has been teaching toy camera workshops since 1998, and currently teaches at the Photographic Center Northwest, the Julia Dean Workshops in Los Angeles, and at the International Center of Photography in New York. She also guest lectures nationwide, and was a featured speaker at the Society for Photographic Education’s NW regional conference in 2005. Currently, Michelle Bates is a member of the Advisory Board of Photographic Professionals of Freestyle Photographic Supply. With her history of creating toy camera imagery and activity in the national and international toy camera communities for well over a decade, Michelle Bates is a well-known and respected name in the field.

Plastic Cameras: Toying with Creativity, 2nd edition

By Michelle Bates

Imprint: Focal Press / ISBN: 9780240814216 / Trim: 8.2 x 7.2; paperback; 288 / Price: $29.95

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