Six Flags Under Katrina, a Fauxto-journalistic Study
Documenting the remains of the Six Flags park in New Orleans with a “toy” camera seems only appropriate. Since the amusement park’s ruination by Hurricane Katrina, the site has remained a static “rest” in the tragic symphony of the 9th Ward. With its rides and architecture decomposing over time, and unsecured, it has been a mecca for graffiti taggers.
With the brilliant sun revealing the park’s grim artifice, remnants of rides and colossus-size mannequins strewn about by an apparently angry god, photographing the site with a quirky camera that delivers unworldly results is, to my mind, a fitting tool.
Toy Cameras
My camera, the Japanese-designed Diana F+, together with its counterpart, the Holga, have become the darlings of photographers seeking alternative methods of capturing and producing images. With minimal settings, plastic lenses, and body parts breaking off at will, these makeshift film cameras leave much to the serendipidity.
Light leaks, odd colorations, and multiple exposures (caused by forgetting to advance the film) all contribute to a sense of freedom, letting go of the controls, and the happy accident.
Sharon Shero