Light Leaks Magazine, Issue 19, Secrets
Light Leaks, Issue #19, arrived in my mailbox yesterday. It was a bittersweet moment, because I knew one of my images was being featured in the gallery, but I also knew it was the last issue ever. Yet another one of my favourite magazines is no longer being printed. Here is what Mike Barnes and his wife, Rachel, had to say about their decision, in an email sent out about 2.5 months ago:
"As you know, we have struggled to keep Light Leaks in print over the
past year. We had an excellent plan—with the addition of the Light Leaks
Shop and Holgapalooza we felt the financial difficulties could be
resolved. Unfortunately those additions required more of our own time.
With a growing young family, free time has quickly become our most
precious commodity.
While we enjoyed working on Light Leaks over the years, we have come to a
point where we must focus on our own careers to support our family. My
own interest in toy camera photography has always been a hobby, not a
profession. Unfortunately as much as I loved putting together Light
Leaks I spent most of my time putting together a magazine about toy
cameras, but not actually being able to use those toy cameras myself!
Contributing to each issue of Light Leaks magazine was (I think) an
excellent use of my time, and I think all those who contributed will
feel the same way. It was always a labour of love for an end product
that never lacked in quality. For all of you that have been scoffed at
for wielding your beloved low-fi cameras, Light Leaks represented you
and why you love what you do.
For current subscribers, you believed in us, and we thank you for that.
We would be honoured to have you consider your unfulfilled subscription a
donation into helping us pay our final printing payments. We can offer
you some of the remaining back issues that we have left, or some of the
digital versions we have created (which also includes The Toycam
Handbook), however supplies are limited. In addition to creating some
revenue from the digital issues, we have had to sell off our entire
store inventory to help get this last issue to you.
We will be closing the Light Leaks shop, but keeping www.lightleaks.org open along with links to the digital versions.
We want to thank you all for supporting our humble magazine, and
especially to those who contributed over the years, particularly Gary
Moyer, Steph Parke, and of course my wife, Rachel who did a lot of the
work behind the scenes. Best to you all in your future low-fi
photographic adventures!
Mike Barnes (toycamera@rogers.com)"
My little one...
...hamming it up
My image, Talking Walls, is a Holgaroid double exposure, made using a Holga CNF 120 with a Polaroid back. The original image is on chocolate Type 80 film from impossible project, which has shades of brown and pink, but it was printed in black and white for the magazine.
Goodbye, Light Leaks. You were a stellar Canadian publication that toy camera lovers around the world will always remember fondly. Thanks so much!
