I went into the studio with my 'brand-new' qv-10a camera (after going all the way to a camera shop in central to be told they can't do anything to help me - and to fix the corroded battery cartridge would probably cost around two hundred pounds) and looked at all the things I do have - the camera body, the packaging, the owners manual, etc. I just started to photograph and read what I can, eager to extract as much as possible through this 'unknown history' and this camera without a 'function'. I know there is a lot of things that could be said about the irony in 'the camera that cannot record' and documenting this camera that is supposed to be doing the documenting. I started to photograph it with my early 2000s digital camera, really basic one with flash. there's something violent about flash. real capture. I liked how there is a sense of fetishisation with flash images especially looking at all the thumbnails at once (could be an idea...) (archive as medium..) I also am drawn to the low quality image (need to reread hito steyerl in defense of the poor image of course) there is something refreshingly nostalgic (dangerous) about the almost-old (almost fake? treading an in-between). anyway, I was especially drawing to the strangely attracting graphic at the front, took a picture of myself holding it and got to photoshopping, tried out a few images, (from my online screenshot archive that is relevant to viewing nature through screens and ikebana/ flower arranging) etc. but I settled for my favourite image which is a photograph Martin parr took of Japan's seagaia ocean dome, a giant artificial beach I referenced in my dissertaion (I could find more footage online of that too - the tourist / amateur video) there's something about it that just referenced holiday, nature, souvenir, all at once, its brilliant, and the bright colours... just wonderful. I also, later, drew the camera really quickly on different layers on procreate and collapsed some together and started 'painting'.. still unsure how legitimate digital drawing feels. I love it, but there is something inevitably plasticy about looking at your painting through a screen. printed out, it feels entirely different (maybe I should try this more)
