For today’s photo, we’re going to start with a little history lesson. In December of 2011, Hipstamatic introduced a free camera app called Disposable, or D-Series. There were about three camera bodies that came with the app. Each camera had its own lens. I believe four films also came with the app. However, additional films and cameras were only available as in-app purchases. The films and lenses in Disposable were exclusive to Disposable. You couldn’t get them in the regular Hipstamatic app. Not only that, but some of the films were limited, I don’t remember the specific amounts, but it was something like you get ten rolls of a film for $1. The more you bought, the lower the price per roll was. People did not like having to constantly rebuy rolls of film.
Setting that aside, the app was a social app, but in a completely different way from Instagram or other photo sharing apps. Send your friends on Facebook a link, and everyone who had the app could shoot on the same roll of film together. So say you and a few of your Disposable using friends go to a music festival together. You all shoot separately, but all the shots go on the same roll of film. No one could see the photos until the full roll of 24 exposures were shot. When ready, everyone could see what everyone had shot on that roll of film. Hipstamatic had big plans for it. According to a contemporary article in Wired, “In the future the company plans to gamify their disposable cameras. Perhaps you'll find and unlock a particular camera based on a location you visit, or maybe you'll get one that's available for a certain fixed period of time (like a 12-hour festival, for instance).”
None of that happened. By September of 2012, less than a year after it was introduced, it was quietly removed from the App Store. The additional films were unavailable to repurchase. The app was still useable, but once the films you had purchased ran out, that was it. Only the basic unlimited films that came with the app would still be available. With Apple’s iOS constantly being updated, it wasn’t long before the app became outdated, unstable, and unusable. I had it on my iPhone 4S That was running iOS 6 at the time. The app was a little crash but still mostly useable. I resisted updating to 7 because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to use the app anymore. I was right. iOS 7 killed Disposable and I was forced to delete it, despite having nearly 100 rolls of film I had purchased still in the app.
Even though I never used the app in its intended way (I don’t have a Facebook account), I enjoyed the app. I liked having to shoot the entire roll before I could see the results. I could just stay in the moment and compose and shoot shot after shot, instead of stopping to see (and possibly post) the results. I also loved the look of the app. The cameras looked a bit like a vintage Bell and Howell Electric Eye 127 film camera.
In April 2015, Hipstamatic brought it back as the DSPO app, but with two major changes. First, they got rid of the requirement to keep buying films you already bought. Second, instead of everyone waiting for 24 photos to be shot on the communal film roll, it was on a timer instead. One hour, two, twelve, twenty-four, whatever. When the timer was up, everyone got to see the photos. DSPO didn’t last long, either, although you can still see it on the Hipstamatic webpage.
Hipstamatic - Hipstamatic DSPO
In conjunction with the release of DSPO, Hipstamatic released the D-Series RetroPak. It had three lenses; Mark, Dee, and Gregory, and three films; BlacKeys 44, Dreamy, and Lite, all from the original Disposable app. I was especially happy to get BlacKeys 44 back, as it was one of my favorite b/w films from Hipstamatic.
All of the above is just a long-winded preamble to today‘s partner for Susie, Lite film. Hipstamatic says “Inspired by the D-Lite camera in Hipstamatic Disposable, this film adds light leaks and unexpected zip.” It seems to accentuate Susie’s charms rather than being steamrolled by her. This is a photo from a night of local folk music at Left Bank Books in Seattle‘s Pike Place Market back in 2017.
Photo 90: Lite
Folk Singer
