110 cameras are small pocket size, generally point and shoot style cameras (although there is a couple of options with full manual control such as the Minolta 110 SLR zoom), that take a specific small film type, that is still made today by a few film manufacturers, including Lomography.

Many years ago (well over 10 years) on a whim I bought four rolls of 110 black and white Lomography film that was on sale at a book store in St Kilda, even though I didn't own a camera that it could be used in. It then proceeded to sit in my fridge for the next decade or so, before the first roll was finally loaded into a camera.

Half way through testing the film (in late 2019), the camera, having been placed on a kitchen bench, was accidentally knocked to the floor. The camera broke and the film canister fell out. Luckily the film canister itself was undamaged, and because of the design of 110 film having a light-tight section at both the start and end of the roll, only three photographs were ruined. Six months later I loaded the same roll of film into a different 110 camera, and finally completed it. Due to lockdown there wasn't anywhere open to develop the film at that time, so another 5 months passed before I could get it developed.

I don't have the details of what the first camera was, but the second camera I have some photos of below. Neither camera did a great job of rendering sharp images, with the second camera having a slightly sharper centre than perimeter in the shots. The high contrast is likely due to the age of the film, and it not always having been consistently refrigerated.

The second camera that I loaded the film into was a Kodak Brownie II from 1980. I own this camera along with it's original box (very retro) and flash cubes. The camera has a cover that folds open when you are ready to take a photo, and closes back up over the top and sides of the camera to protect it when you are done. There are two settings, one for sunny and one for cloudy.

CAMERA 1

CAMERA 2

About Madeline Bowser

I've been photographing with film for what seems like forever ... well since the late 90's. I shoot both film and digital, but film is where my heart is and I get the most ongoing enjoyment from and what I enjoy sharing and teaching to others. I also travel the world hunting down old cameras and unique locations to photograph in, and exhibit and sell my travel photographs.

When out shooting film, I often get asked the questions 'can you still buy film?', 'I thought film stopped being made 10 years ago' and 'why would you want to shoot film when you can shoot digital'.

My answers are, 'yes', 'no, it didn't', and 'I also shoot digital, both have their place in my mind'.

Visit haeliophoto.com or follow me on Instagram @haeliophoto to see more of my work.

Visit photo-tours.com.au to sign up to a film photography workshop in Melbourne.

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All images remain the property of Madeline Bowser and may not be used without permission.