This April was miraculously capricious. Twice the rain prevented people from meeting at the flea market, and once we even had a snow! That’s why everyone could hardly wait for a warm, sunny day…

Our flea market is located on a hill, so it is not easy to find a high position from which you could see the whole area. You have to take my word for it – there has never been such a big crowd since I started visiting this place!

And if you still don’t believe me, I’ll consider buying a drone helicopter from this guy, and show you the flea market from the air, the way our @miroslavrc does.

Understandably, at the flea market, everyone is looking for things according to their interests…

So it should come as no surprise that this old camera caught my attention:

Once upon a time, in elementary school, we learned photography with Smena 8M, which could be bought at any kiosk, were dirt cheap, surprisingly durable, and had quite a decent multicoated lens. I took my first photos in the school photo lab using this model:

Smena 8M was produced in a huge number of copies during the seventies and eighties, and just before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Lomo factory decided is to modernize the design of this camera. The result is Smena 35 – it looks like a toy in the hands (and was sold as a toy), but it was realistically quite a usable device for people who wanted an occasional memento without much worry about storing and maintaining the contraption.

I will have to make a special text about this amazing piece of plastic. However, the owner of this Smena was even more interesting. It is a naive artist Marko Bošković, to whom belongs the cover painting of a roe deer, and here you can see a mini gallery with two more of his paintings.

Marko was born in Vienna, but the whole world is a house for a true artist. He invited me to come to him and make a photos of his works. I will gladly accept the invitation, so I hope you will soon be able to see a more extensive gallery of his works. He was kind enough to give me this old Smena 35 as a gift, so the review of these cameras won’t be just theoretical. Thanks Marko!

Today seems to have been a day for artists. Fifty meters further the line, we meet another artist! It’s our @gripsy, a phenomenal designer who walk to the flea market with his sweetheart.

By the way, when you take a loved one to a place like this, be very careful not to buy her such a fatally charming thing by mistake.

Look at her one more time. Does it remind you of certain a TV star?

See you very soon!

All the photos in this #makemesmile challenge are taken with the Fujifilm X-T20 and Fujinon XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS lens.

This post is made as a contribution to a photo challenge done in collaboration of two of our members: @tattoodjay hosts a competition called “Wednesday Walk” and @elizacheng’s contest called “Make me Smile”.