I'm not sure about everyone else, but I feel like this has been a long week. How about something fun?

After reading an article about photographer Shawn Rocco's cell phone photography, I was inspired to break out my Focal Micro 110 for the first time in months. My recent relationship with the 110 – perhaps the first camera I owned – began when I found it at my parents' house last year with a partial roll of film left in it.

I put the Micro 110 away several months ago because I got a very disappointing roll back from the color lab. I know, I know. At some point, though, I decided the whole plastic camera thing just wasn't for me.

When I got that same roll out on Tuesday evening, I saw it with new eyes. Several shots had tons of potential, given a little post-processing. So I finished off the film cartridge that was in the camera, loaded another one, and studied my images to figure out what actually works with this device.

I can be a very meticulous photographer, and I love carefully composed photos. The Micro 110 throws this out the window. If I take too many careful shots on a roll, I am scolded with a batch of prints that don't exactly include what I photographed. An inaccurate viewfinder pushes me to spend a little less time framing the shot and a little more time thinking about the big picture, which I often miss when I've got a nice camera that can perform in any conditions.

What is my plastic camera not meant to do? Well, it's very hard to get good results with close subjects, distant subjects, oblique angles, depth of field, or low contrast. As I figure out what produces good shots – contrast, plenty of light, straightforward compositions, subjects not too far away but not less than four feet or so – I'm thinking about the time of day, quality of light, and subject. Sorting through my prints to decide on three to include in this post, I eliminated one of my favorites because it didn't mesh with the others well enough in terms of content and viewing angle.

A few years ago I didn't understand the value of the “toy camera” fad, but I'm looking forward to posting more from my 110 adventures as I rethink and evolve my process.