Flowers ...

... straight out of camera.

Thanks to Professor John Hedgecoe for all the books and inspiration (RIP)! I do recommend reading especially The Photographer’s Handbook and learn what could be done with "good old analogue methods". At that time photography was much more focused on things that one can do before pressing the shutter (optical filters, props, manual lenses, lights etc.).

An amateur photographer like me may had had money to spend on camera, lenses, props, and special effect filters, but had no money, skills or space for a proper lab, especially not for a color lab. So, one had to rely on professional photo labs. A popular hobby was to shoot especially on reversal film (diafilm), and then spend some "quality time" with family and friends to watch the slides on a projector screen (yawn!).

I recently sold all my old film cameras. So, here you see my old Four Thirds Olympus E450, which is no longer worth of anything. And that is because Four Thirds system turned out only as a short sidestep before Micro Four Thirds. The positive side of it is that I decided to give up on (D)SLR cameras completely, and end up using more practical pocket cameras. Although, long time ago I successfully used also pocket film cameras like Olympus XA4 and Canon IXUS (APS).

John Hedgecoe obituary: www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/jun/29/john-hedgecoe-obituary

Some technical yada: The arrangement was set on windowsill, using old baking tray as a background. Because of overall dark tones, I had to underexpose image with -5/3 EV. I also had to use digital zoom to get the background fit into frame.The phone camera I use, comes with over 20 MP sensor, which is why digital zooming up to 2 times still gives rather good resolution.