Time For A Tea Break With UK Community LomoAmigo Grindhousegirl

Fay is a Lomography super fan! She’s a friend of the team here in the UK, and even helped us out in our pop-up shop last summer. She has a great gallery of photos, inspired by her Lomography community friends all over the world. Have a butchers here….

Vital statistics
Name: Fay Pinder
LomoHome: grindhousegirl
Where I Live: Hampstead, London
Age: 29 Years Old
Dayjob: Fashion & Beauty Promotion & Styling

How long have you been a Lomographer?
A dedicated Lomographer …….. Just over a year!

What’s in your kit bag?
Anyone who knows me knows I don’t travel light! People often mistakenly assume my 3ft make-up traincase is for styling work … it’s not! My kit bag is no different! Last weekend I ventured out with a fellow Lomographer at 6AM with 13 cameras! On a daily basis, however, I carry an LCA, LC-W, a Diana F+ and plenty of slide film! There is just enough space left for an LCA Japan edition, which I missed out on, and have my heart set on acquiring new or second hand!

In my own words….
During a regular visit to stock up on journals and notebooks for my obsessive list making I saw the beautiful mint green Diana F+ Dreamer. I took it home with no intention of ever using it and there it sat on my bookshelf displayed proudly next to my Fall ’03 McQueen platforms. And so it stayed.
I had collected vintage cameras for years. I would break them apart and make the body elaborate book covers with concertinaed bellow-form pages spilling from them like innards. At the time bookbinding was my passion and vintage analogue cameras were used merely as an aesthetic shell to my thoughts and illustrations. Looking back on my handy work I feel like the Doctor Gore of Lomography. If anyone could see the pristine models I mutilated I would be banished to analogue hell!
I became active in the analogue community when the LomoKino launched. I wanted to make a short, stop motion fashion film with animation and illustration in a grimy, highly saturated style. Essentially I hoped to emulate the 50s B movies and modern day equivalents like ‘House of 1000 Corpses’ and ‘Hobo With A Shotgun’ that visually stimulate me. For me, the Kino and 35mm slide film was the only way to truly capture the Lo-Fi home movie style I desired. And with that I became obsessed with all things Lomo! The Diana that spent so many years adorning my shelf has since been dragged all over London and is now part of an ever-growing family!

My art background has always been firmly placed in fashion, illustration and 15th Century Sugar Sculpture. As such, photography terrified me. I have always hired photographers and filmmakers to shoot any fashion work and had no desire to pick up a camera. Lomography encourages that there are no mistakes, no bad pictures, no pressure, no perfection and no rules. It stands for everything the modern world isn’t both in mechanics and it’s fruition. Its subjectivity opens photography to a whole new level of creativity that takes it rightfully so into it’s own art form. In Lomography I have found a life long hobby and a style of photography that suits my lifestyle and commitment to the art form.

Currently I am in the process of sending Giovanni De Carlo my first international film swap. I don’t know what has taken me so long to explore this side of the Lomography community, but as this will be my first experience of film swapping I have created something a little different. I have decided to send a Lomography ‘SOS’ box complete with DIY pinhole camera, Lomography London City Guide, Union Jack Diana Lens cap and other items of Lomo interest. I have also been experimenting with film soups and have even made some stop motion movies of my ‘cooking’; so another four different souped films will also be forwarded in the swap (all of course pre-shot!) Giovannidecarlo has created one of my all time favourite images! It is a double of his friend and fellow Lomographer Bonzone (whose home is also amazing). I think this picture, which made the cover of his Home of the Week, embodies his free spirited rebellion, intellect and creativity that makes Giovanni one of the most influential Lomographers to me personally and the community! I also have formative plans with multi-lens extraordinaire and creator of the Double Dip Camera, James Butler, to create a doctored Pop 9 film swap!
I am very excited to become involved in a good friend of mine, Mario Greicos, paper bag project. Here he has sent Lomographers the world over paper bags to be worn over the head and photographed in different locations. The images in this article show how amazing the results have been. I am hoping to take a few snaps in store and of course, at his request, shots at the West Ham stadium!

I have currently been working on events and promotions with Kiehls skincare. Their rich 160-year heritage has provided an interesting take on photography in community stores. Founded in New York the brand take pride on a strong sense of community spirit. Every customer who would visit the store with a baby would be photographed. This formed a Polaroid wall known as the baby board, almost like our Lomography Gallery Stores and a sight to behold! In keeping with the tradition Kiehls still use the modern Polaroid 300 instant cameras. I have a number of workshops scheduled from the Hampstead store exploring their Aromatic skincare range with the flora and fauna of Hampstead’s secret gardens and Highgate cemetery. I will be linking the base ingredients of the products with the natural environment and flowers in the area.

The final piece of my Lomography puzzle and what makes my experience with the brand so profound is the Soho Gallery Store. Lee, whom I met as a patron, has been a constant source of entertainment, knowledge and inspiration! Without him life would be a dull place! Svala is an amazing manager! I always get good conversation and a cup of tea when I pop in store! Where else does that happen in central London? My continued passion and interest is fuelled by the hard work and fun the staff and the store constantly maintain.

My analogue dreams would be to design my own line of cameras illustrated for Lomography, and to take my full collection on holiday to Disney World! Which will be in part fulfilled when I visit Tokyo Disneyland in 2013!

Ones to watch:
Kingdjin
Francesco’s images capture a dreamy nostalgia. They are sensitive, authentic and his colours are always phenomenal! I am a creature of habit constantly picking up slide film but when I see his work I have colour negative and 120 envy!
Erinwoodgatesphotography
I met Erin at a Gallery Store Workshop when she was on vacation from Canada! We sought out our pictures at the Lomowall exhibition and had a great day shooting our LCAs. Her home is sensational! She is a master of her art!
Artichekt
Architecture has always been a fascination and subject I could shoot forever! No one does it better than Artichekt. His strong use of colour adds such vibrancy to all his images!

escrito por littlemisslove el 2012-11-19 #gente #amigo #community #london #uk #lomoamigo #fay-pinder #grindhousegirl