The absence of limitations is the enemy of art.

— Orson Wells

Know that feeling of having a problem to solve, and there’s a thousand possible solutions, and you’re stuck in which solution to chose from? What if you have a boundary, a limitation that forces your hand and makes you opt for the only solution available to you?

When I’m out on the street, or travelling, my camera options are limited. I can’t afford, nor do I own, a vast array of lenses for every scenario possible. And if I did, as some seasoned photographers out there have, I couldn’t possibly travel with all of them – a quick peruse of the r/cameras subreddit would confirm this observation, as there’s plenty of threads that pose this very question “What gear should I bring with me to so and so…”.

So, in comes the limitations. The fixed lens cameras, or the SLR with just a single lens. That’s how I travel or shoot. The only option I have is the settings the camera has to offer and the film I load it with.

I think about these limitations often, specially when I’m travelling with one of my Olympus Pen EE-3 (yes, I own several). This nifty half frame point&shoot camera from the 70’s is the epitome of limitation. Want to zoom in on a subject? Can’t, fixed 28mm lens. Want to focus on a specific subject? Can’t do, it’s fixed focus from 1.5m to infity. Want to set your shutter speed? Fixed at 1/40 second. You can, however, chose your aperture via the aperture dial on the lens, and you can chose what film stock to load it with. That’s it. And it’s glorious.

Being a half frame camera, it doubles your available shots. What this translates to is a lightness, a liberating feeling that you can just shoot and shoot, and try weird things, and shoot again, no longer bound by the rapidly dwindling countdown of your available exposures.

The camera, itself, is basic to it’s core. The first one I’ve got came to me in pieces, out of a job lot of 3. The shutter blades were stuck in a semi-opened position, and the light seal was long gone, deteriorated as most of the light seals from the era of cameras are. But, since it’s a simple mechanical device, it only took a few screws, and a bit of patience to open it up, clean every debris, lubricate all the moving parts with some light dabs of oil, slap some new felt light seals where required and it was ready to shoot.

The photos from this camera are pretty sharp for a little camera – don’t expect them to be the absolute best quality, even if you consider that it’s only using half the frame for each shot, losing resolution in the process. It’s no pentax 17, the latest and greatest in half frame technology, but it was cheap and it’s super fun to take photos with.

The takeaway of all this yapping is that limitations are a great tool for any creative person. A blank canvas is always a daunting sight, and having set boundaries forces us to use those as guides for whatever outlet we’re pursuing.

Happy shooting!