Bait and Switch courtesy of Credit Scoring

Hi everyone... sorry about the static and the low hum for a few months but it's been kinda hectic at work. (I wonder how many times I've said that in this blog... I bet its lots. Or maybe I'm just getting deja vu. Or maybe I should just up my dosage...)

It's funny how when I'm driving to work I can think of endless things to talk about on the blog but so few when I actually sit down to write. Maybe that's why I've not posted much lately.

I tell you something I'm really bummed today. For months, years probably since my camera kit was stolen a few years back, I've felt this void in my life. It was photography. Not snapshots, because I take those on my phone. Photographs, images, pictures good enough for a wall or a book... those are the pix I crave. I want to take pictures. I drive past really lovely landscapes every day to and from work, especially in the morning. I want to capture that. I've been feeling wistful and sometimes a bit angry.

And I've had nothing really for the last two years to take proper pictures on... apart from a Minox 35mm compact which I can't find a replacement battery for (my fault for being a disorganised dope), my new Diana+ (see below), my 3.0 megapixel camera phone, the loan of a compact digital camera from school which has a fixed zoom lens, and is not much more than a glass bead... I think I have a 30 year old Nikkormat SLR somewhere, but can't find it and ANYWAY I don't really want to shoot film anymore. It's expensive and difficult to get it processed and into the computer. What a searing indictment of poor old film... But it's true. I'm a digital artist. I need to shoot digital, especially if I want to compete as a professional.

So I thought RIGHT, I need a camera kit. Now the Canon 400D comes as a special kit for £700, not too bad as these things go, I reasoned, with 10 megapixels, a wide to medium 18-55mm lens, a medium to telephoto 55-200mm lens, and a camera battery/grip. Perfect professional starter kit. A bargain as the second lens alone is worth about £300. And Jessops have a buy now pay in 12 months deal, more than enough time I thought to earn the money back taking pictures.... it was all too good to be true. Oh ok. So I was getting all excited about finally scratching that itch. They let me handle the kit as they were ringing it up... then the credit reply came back from Scotland. Declined. You could have knocked me over with an Indian headdress. Dreams dashed. Major jones to make pictures thwarted. Gutted like a fish. Shame because that was my freelance work strategy for the New Year. Might as well have bet on the Lottery.

So yeah, due to the stupid credit scoring system I'm not getting my camera. And most gallingly not because of my atrocious credit history either, which has been cleaned up, but probably because of:

a) an outstanding credit card which is still marked in error as still overdue rather than payment agreed,

b) not being on the electoral roll (my fault I only just changed it) but most annoyingly...

c) get this: too many inquiries on my credit history. WHAT??? I mean damn I did at least two of those searches myself to check what was going on, I hope they don't count those.

I was very upset in the shop. I tried to smile and act all casual and fair enoughish, but I was really upset. The guy was very polite but his manner changed from jokey-matey to very businesslike real quick, as if I was being nice to him as a con... I hate my life. I am a photographer who doesn't own a professional quality camera. The urge to make pictures BURNS in my blood and I can't sate it in quite the way I thought I would be able to. Rats!

Yeah, ok I made the mistake of pumping myself up about this a bit... I was looking at the landscape on the way into work again this morning. I was ticking off places I was going to go and take pictures this coming weekend. What a SAP. Setting myself up for a fall and breaking one of my own rules, Don't Get Your Hopes Up. After all the misery I've been through over the last few years I thought we'd entered a new era of luck and prosperity. The latter is yet to be proven and the former inspires a hollow laugh. But I set myself up. Won't that mistake again in a hurry.

Okay so, at least I got my Diana+ through the post from Lomography.com. It's not a work-a-day camera but an art camera. CLICK HERE for more details. Plus I wont be taking too many pix on it because film and processing is expensive. But I'm looking forward to the results. I'll post some here or on Facebook.

I really like the kinds of result you can get... I remember these things from the first time around. I bought one in our local toy shop, Taylor and McKenna, back in the late '60s. Cost about £3 I think, which was a load of money in those days.

More recently I got an ANNY clone of the Diana camera, and it was a super thrill when I found it again and added it to my camera bag that day I went to work. At last, I had a camera kit all in one bag so I can go anywhere and take all kinds of pictures... yeah the bag got stolen from my office. This was before I started locking my office all the time and before we had those CCD cameras installed covering all the doors. I lost my ANNY, but that was the least of it, a Canon IX7 SLR, my favourite camera of all time, plus a Hanimex pro flashgun, and a couple of little compact cameras... I can't tell you what a hole that left in my gut. Urgh. Bad times.

But getting the new Diana+ was a joy, and in a very small way made up a little for what I've lost, camerawise. Making up for what I've lost in other ways will take more than a reborn plastic lensed camera toy. :D

So I'm all about the photography now. My camera phone is hardly going to leave my eye. The Diana+ will be full of 12-shot 120 roll film. My Minox will have a new battery. I'm ALL ABOUT the image now. I'll do without my camera. But when nobody's looking I'll be biting my knuckle.