My Inspiration, My Muse, My Love

17

Many of us have their own special Lomo stories – how we got introduced and hooked by this magnificent world. My story is a little different from those… It is about the person who kept me excited about this world.

Ever since I shot that picture back in February, I have been head over heels in love with it. Everything about it appeals to me: the amazing natural colours, the perspective, the square format and of course the subject. The subject that I have everything to thank for, including my current love for Lomo.

So here’s a little story about why she is so important to my Lomolove:

A few years ago I started out with digital photography. The usual: rule of thirds, composition, perfect exposures, as little noise as possible, all about perfection.. Had an account on flickr, was part of a photography forum where people would give each other feedback, strong criticism and so on.
And then there was this one guy who posted a few pics from a trip to the mountains. They were taken with a Holga CFN 120 with 35mm film, sprockets, light leaks, cross-processed. And they looked amazing!
So I asked the guy what he took them with, he linked me up with a Holga site, and soon enough I had ordered a Holga Starter Kit from Amazon.
My first 3 rolls were basically screwed up, I had only a few “good” pictures come out of them, so I kinda lost the motivation.

Credits: xxxanderrr

What added to it was the fact that I paid about 20 Euros for development and 10×10cm prints. Which is like.. a LOT for a student. Obviously I wasn’t thinking of scanners and “just development” back then.. I was just too much of a n00b in film photography.

A few months passed by, and I decided to use 35mm film on my Holga. That didn’t work out either. I got about 5-6 pictures from the roll that were acceptable – the others were just.. pure horror. Only after getting the prints did I realize the limitations of a 60mm lens on 35mm film..

Credits: xxxanderrr

And again the motivation faded.

Then I went to Amsterdam with my 2 best friends, my now girlfriend and her childhood friend. I took my Holga and my digital SLR. For the hell of it, I bought about 10 rolls of Fuji Superia 120film… And I ended up not ONCE taking out my SLR, but just shooting Holga stuff. I went wild. Doubles, hip shots, flash here flash there. It felt like fun, though maybe it was the weed talking. But when later on I got the prints I was simply STOKED. They were incredible! I did pay quite a lot of money for it, but still!

Credits: xxxanderrr

And then my girlfriend got herself a Holga, after being so in love with mine. And she.. is the one who till this day pushes me and moves me to take more pictures, to get more film and more cameras. She is truly the one who got me EXCITED about Lomography. For one.. it was her own excitement that got me all YAAAY about lomo. She was SOOOO into her Holga it made me nuts really… So once her birthday came, I got her a fisheye camera which she used a lot in summer and got some stunning pictures from.

And then came the GAS: gear acquisition syndrome. All you heard us say is “I want to try THIS film” and “I want to get THIS camera”. And sure enough, very soon she got herself a Lubitel 166B.

Credits: yeahyeahyeahh

And so did I, like 3 weeks later.

Credits: xxxanderrr

Followed by her Diana F+ CMYK, and my Diana Mini.

Credits: xxxanderrr

Followed by an Instant Back as a present to her.

Credits: yeahyeahyeahh

And of course, this was all accompanied by a LOT of film.. first a few rolls here and there, and then 35 rolls of 1991 expired Kodak Ektachrome64 off ebay, and then 86 rolls of lots of random expired stuff…

Credits: xxxanderrr

And the way things are going, there is no stopping us. We will continue getting film. We will continue getting cameras. We will continue documenting our travels on film and not a stupid CCD or CMOS sensor.

The next step: her birthday in a few days and I planned the perfect Lomo gift. Sadly, I won’t say what, since I already made the mistake of talking about it in the shoutbox and her accidentally reading it (Mika, Natalie and Max will remember that ^^). But I will say that since she’s turning 20, the number “20” plays a big role ;)

This feels amazing to say the least. To have a person that supports you in your plans and ideas, to have a person who understands why you’d pay 160 euros for expired film or 200 euros for some plastic toy camera and a few lenses. To have a person that keeps you going..

And I simply cannot describe the feeling of getting all this lomo-related stuff as a present, because you KNOW she’s absolutely going to love it. She’s going to be excited, she’s going to shoot a ton of pictures, she’s going to make you go out into the world and shoot yourself, because that’s what we both do, because that’s what we both are: Lomo Lovers!

Credits: yeahyeahyeahh

And for this I would like to thank you @yeahyeahyeah!

written by xxxanderrr on 2011-07-10 #lifestyle #inspiration #lubitel #love #ebay #holga #diana #diana-mini #muse #requested #creative-writing #yeahyeahyeahh

17 Comments

  1. wuxiong
    wuxiong ·

    <:) <:) ...

  2. paper_doll
    paper_doll ·

    lovely story :)

  3. pomps
    pomps ·

    Is great to be inspired & supported by our Love!

  4. runbantayrun
    runbantayrun ·

    isn't that what it's all about? good one mate.

  5. susielomovitz
    susielomovitz ·

    :).

  6. warrilow-tong
    warrilow-tong ·

    What a lovely article! :) inspiring and cute = perfect combination!

  7. geekgoddesskilobyte
    geekgoddesskilobyte ·

    I really enjoyed reading this! Lomo on!

  8. jarvislomo
    jarvislomo ·

    cute story I like

  9. cherry_west
    cherry_west ·

    lovely! :)

  10. vidrarvel
    vidrarvel ·

    Something very similar happened to me, well, us - we have an account for us two here on this site with my girlfriend. By the way, if you want to combine the SLR craze and the Lomo madness, keep an eye on ebay and look for old Russian cameras - in particular, those called 'Zenit'. I took a LomoWalk just today and used up a 24 exp. roll in no time and I'm really excited about it. - Of course the result will be online in no time, once I get the pics on CD. I wish you all the best, and keep on shooting, of course. ;) Regards, Tamas

  11. britterzb
    britterzb ·

    Awe :-D

  12. xxxanderrr
    xxxanderrr ·

    Thank you all for the kind words and comments :))
    It means a lot :)
    Glad you all enjoyed reading this :)))

  13. marinabenito
    marinabenito ·

    lovely :)

  14. guanatos
    guanatos ·

    I specially liked the GAS I can totally relate to it!!!

  15. lereile
    lereile ·

    lovely!!! i wrote an article about my partner too and he opned an account here!!! @rochi he is!!! by the way, i'm so happy to here from you!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i was sad when you left!!

  16. roxanneross
    roxanneross ·

    aww, such a cute article :)

  17. natalieerachel
    natalieerachel ·

    This is so cute! And I have to admit...I have GAS too....hahahaha

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