A Little Red Bag

Over the weekend I spent some time playing with the iPhone app Lo-Mob. Quite different from Hipstamatic, it allows one to apply filters simulating different types of films, or contact prints made with 30s glass masters etc. I happened to be in the city on Sunday morning, and I snapped some photos to experiment with. The results reminded me of this photo out of my own family’s albums.

My parents, aunt and three older sisters are walking along Swanston St Bridge in Melbourne, on a bright morning in the very early 70s. My sister Star is prancing ahead of everyone else, jauntily swinging her bag. I remember her telling me how she liked to be off in the front, and how she particularly loved that little red bag.

What is it about red accessories? I remember having a red bag when I was little too. Perhaps that is why I still love red bags and shoes to this day – they fill me with such nostalgia. For my birthday this year a friend gave me a red patent vintage bag, and today I created my own nostalgic moment with it.

My oldest sister – whose birthday is close to mine – visited me today for a combined birthday lunch, over which we exchanged gifts, and then took a stroll around the Botanic Gardens.

I asked her to take a photo of my bag with my Hipstamatic. Afterwards I took the photo into Lo-Mob to give it a classic wide border. Serendipitously, I had forgotten to warn her to keep her fingers away from the lens – the result lends the photo even more authenticity!

That’s what I love about these retro camera apps: hardly anyone uses real film anymore, and often mistakes and unflattering photos are deleted. But sometimes it is the mistakes that are the real delights.