Title:	THE USE OF A PLASTIC LENS TO REPLICATE THE AESTHETIC OF THE REMEMBERED IMAGE
Author(s):	Victoria Hill
ISBN:	978-972-8924-84-3
Editors:	Yingcai Xiao, Tomaz Amon and Piet Kommers
Year:	2009
Edition:	Single
Keywords:	Memory, photography, plastic lens, dreamscape
Type:	Short Paper
First Page:	319
Last Page:	323
Language:	English
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Paper Abstract:	This paper is concerned with the concepts of memory, dreamscape and the unconscious, including those put forward by Carl Jung and James Sully and seeks to ascertain whether it is possible to create a pictorial representation of these through the medium of plastic or ‘toy’ cameras. The term ‘toy’ camera in this sense is used to denote a camera with a plastic, rather than glass, lens, rather than one that is specifically marketed at children. That the ideas or memories held within the unconscious are submerged under the level of the consciousness or awareness of an individual suggests the notion of something that is elusive or incompletely visualised, a momentary recollection of a half remembered scene. These images often present themselves as isolated snapshots, lacking in precise detail, with the peripheral edges largely hazy and undefined. This paper seeks to examine whether the inherent optical flaws in the plastic lenses used in toy cameras, such as the Holga or the Diana, lend themselves to the production of images which reproduce this aesthetic through the incorporation of elements such as vignetting and focal drop off, allowing them to be viewed as being an external pictorial representation of these internal mental glimpses.
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