As you may know from some previous reviews, I have a soft spot for anthropomorphizations - and I don't mean furry stuff, which I would gladly set on fire at any time of the day. I am referring to young girl versions of paintings, chairs... that kind of stuff. I just love the way the artist applies the qualities of an item to a fictional look and personality, keeping some design elements while discarding others.
The weirdly titled オールドレンズ擬人化少女 (literally Old Lens Antrophomorphization Girls, 2013), in this department, is as weird as it gets. The 'OldLens' circle, an alliance of dōjin-makers Garnet (illustrations) and Tetsu Sawamura (photographer) features a number of retro camera lenses... as young girls. Yup, that's right. Did you ever wonder what an Olympus Pen F Series would look like, was it a cute delicious loli? Did you, like me, have to search what an Olympus Pen F Series actually is? either way, you're up for a minor, yet entertaining visual treat.
The rather slim (30 pages) offering is full color, in a rather nice glossy paper. The layout is quite nifty, as it works out as a series of two-page spreads, one page featuring the lens girl, and the other a series of pictures taken with that very lens. I'm no expert on photography - though, to the untrained eye like mine, Sawamura sure seems to have the chops - so I'll comment only on the illustrations, which are excellent. Definitely a bunch of cuties, and one can actually see the parallels between each girl's design, and the lens they are meant to embody. My personal favorite is the Kodak Vest Pocket Auto-Graphic 80mm, mostly because I like steampunk-donning chicks, and because I'm one of those unfortunate souls who think 70s pastel soft focus is the height of human aesthetics.
Overall, a short but very good collection, which unfortunately seems to be the only common effort Garnet and Sawamura produced. Oh well...
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