The almost forgotten film that went across the world...

Hi, I'm Natalie - travel obsessed, coffee addict, amateur photographer, sometimes film-shooter, maker of scrapbooks & blogger over at scrapbooking + other adventures.

My commitment to film photography tends to come in waves. More often than not, I'll pack my Diana+ to take on a trip away, shoot a few frames and then once I'm back in London laziness sets in and I opt for digital photography and instant gratification most of the time.

A few months ago I (shock, horror) actually took my Diana+ on a walk around London with me and took a few last photos to finish up a roll. A roll that I knew had been in my camera for quite a while - I'm embarrassed to admit it was at least a year!

So, when I dropped it off to get developed, I was pretty intrigued to see where the heck I'd actually taken it. Turns out, that little film had been to the other side of the world and back! Thanks so much to Rhianne for letting me share a few of my favourite frames here...

I've had mixed luck with my Diana+ photos in the past and have often felt a bit discouraged. But seeing the results from this roll has given me renewed inspiration to keeping taking more photos with this camera - both around London and on my travels - and a load of motivation to definitely shoot with it more often.

Natalie

Guest post: Olympic experience: steel, flowers and smiles

Olympic experience: steel, flowers and smilesby Mrs M

Something strange descended on London at the start of August. The normally reserved city dwellers, scurrying to and from their daily business, morphed into chatty smiley neighbours. It was not unpleasant... far from it! However, it was intriguing, like a mass invasion of bodysnatchers.

{The Velodrome (aka Pringle) was beset by people, like ants congregating on an ant hill.}

{The Orbit}

But what if ‘aliens’, whether from outer space or the depths of a rainforest, had landed on this island? What would they have made of an eastern corner of this river city with its incongruous steal structures?

They might have looked forbidding, menacing even, were it not for the delightful meadow flowers, armies of jolly marshalls uniformed in purple and orange, and the cheerful revellers sporting every colour of the rainbow...

Photographer: Mrs M from The Double Life of Mrs M Camera: Diana F+ Film: Lomography Redscale 100, Color Negative 400 and X-Pro 200 Location: Olympic Park (Stratford, East London)

Guest Post: Caroline from Wandering Starrs

Wow, what an absolute pleasure to be on the pages of For the easily distracted...!

My name is Caroline from Wandering Starrs and although I use a digital camera more often than analogue, nothing excites me more than finishing a film and getting it developed.  I suppose the reason I don't take photos with film often is because I am so impatient and get my photos developed at one hour photo shops which is a pretty pricey option!  I've dug out some of my favourite photos I hope you enjoy them.

After digital became the norm I got back onto the analogue journey buying a Fisheye camera from Urban Outfitters and then straight away a Diana.

The Diana was an expensive option using medium format film so it didn't take long for me to buy a Diana Mini once that came out though to be honest I hardly use it as I'm totally rubbish at taking pictures with it. Probably 3 photos come out good in an entire film and even then they are aren't great, I just like some of the imperfections.

My love of film extended to a purchase of an SLR and more often I use that camera.

I don't have a favourite film, I love trying out all kinds but I'm much more comfortable with black and white.  I love looking at other people's black and white photos, it's all about the emotion in the pictures and although I enjoy taking pictures out in the countryside as walking in the great outdoors is a favourite pastime of mine, I would love to focus more on taking pictures of people and not ones where posing is concerned!!

Caroline

Guest post: Red by Esther

Hi all, I'm away on my holidays to Whitby this week, but don't worry, I have some amazing film loving people to take care of my little blog whilst I'm away, I'm sure you'll love them as much as I do. First up is Esther!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello! My name is Esther and I blog at Inside My Shell.

I loved when Rhianne compiled all her favourite yellow photos . Me, I have a thing for red. I thought it would be fun to go through my recent history of film photography and see where some red pops up. All of these photos were taken around Berlin, at places I pass by every week.

When I got my first digital camera, I said goodbye to film for good. Or so I thought. While I loved my digital camera (and still do), after a while something called me back to film photography. There is just something charming and basic that digital can't deliver. After a period of drooling over all the gorgeous polaroids on the web, I purchased a SX-70 on ebay - and I was hooked.

My first snap was this:

Followed soon after by this ...

.. and this ....

... and this:

Polaroid is still dear to my heart but film is a tad expensive, so my next step was a Diana Mini:

Last year, friends gave me a Holga 120N for my birthday. One of the best gifts ever and so far my favorite film camera. No surprise to see some red here, too:

The next camera in my growing collection was a Twin Lens I built from a kit:

And last but not least an Agfa Optima that was handed down to me from my dad. The first two images were taken at the Berlin Half Marathon this spring:

I have a feeling that this won't be the last film camera that makes its way into my hands. Right now I have my eyes set on a proper medium format camera.

Esther