RayKo's Annual International Juried Plastic Camera Show

It’s that time of year again! RayKo’s plastic camera competition is open to artists working with plastic cameras with plastic lenses. The more obsolete, flawed, and lo-tech, the better. Images should be taken with cameras with limited controls, such as Diana, Holga, Lubitel, Lomo, Banner, and Ansco cameras. Beautiful prints from less-than-gorgeous cameras – that’s what we’re looking for! This is RayKo’s largest exhibition of the year with artists from all over the globe submitting work! Deadline for Submissions: January 7th, 2014 PRIZES: Best of Show - $400 cash prize and 4 Honorable mention juror awards Why does the plastic camera continue to be so popular? Is it because the toy camera is a backlash to this digital age of photography? It could be nostalgia for the soft, square pictures with vignetted edges. It could just be nostalgia for film and the latent image- you actually have to wait to see what you shot! Or it could be love of the creak of the cheap plastic dial as you wind it, wondering if it will break off. (Forget Instagram and the rest of them, this is the real deal). It could be too that we all missed the simple freedom of making pictures that aren’t perfect, that don’t have to be sharp or real or saturated or taken with a camera that costs thousands of dollars. All you need is $35 (or less) and a roll of film, and you’re in business.