Lomography

Sometimes being an active Lomographer can get you some great opportunities. Here's the story of how an idle snap on the streets of London got Discodrew a professional photography job with a group of celebrities, and his photos featured in a national magazine!

As Online Manager of Lomography UK i spend a lot of time flicking through all your photos, looking through competition entries, searching for shots for newsletters or great examples of Lomography in general. One day i happened upon this gorgeous photo by discodrew…

I had a second look at the lady in the pink coat, she looks remarkably like Amy Lamé, Mayoress of Camden, comedienne, writer and broadcaster. I asked Drew if he realised who she is, he didn’t, he just spotted her bright pink coat and quickly snapped her. I sent the photo to Amy, who was so pleased with it, she asked if Drew would be willing to do a print for her.

In fact, Amy was so impressed by Drew’s Lomography shots she asked him if he would take the promotional photos for her new podcast ‘homoLAB’, which she presents with her fellow BBC London 94.9 DJ Baylen Leonard and Planet Rock and Absolute 80s DJ Lucio Buffone . Here are Drew’s experiences of the day…

Drew: ‘Meeting Amy, Lucio and Baylen was a real pleasure they were really friendly and eased my nerves straight away. The location (Lower Marsh, near Waterloo) was ideal. I’d put a plan together before hand of what shots I wanted to take and walking the location gave me yellow and red brick backgrounds, graffiti subways, red gates, market stalls, colourful murals and a park at the end of the road, a lomographers playground! Having listened to the Homolab podcasts I wanted to portray it’s friendly, fun relaxed vibe and give Amy a mix of different styles to choose from for the website and press photo’s. I got exactly what I wanted from the cameras I chose Lomography Fisheye, Holga 120 CFN, Canon E600 and Olympus XA2 and used colour negative and cross processed slide film.’

As if working with these celebs wasn’t enough, Drew’s photos will be used in Time Out magazine next week. How’s that for a great result?!

Here’s what Amy says about why she loved Drew’s photos so much…

Amy: ‘I knew of Lomography before because my friend Lou Siroy is a picture editor at The Times and he has written a few things for the website in the past.
When I first saw the photo Drew took of me on a cycle hire bike, I loved it because I was totally unaware that he had taken it. I worked as a photgraphic model (mainly in advertising) for many years; I also work in TV and on stage, and as a performer you become very aware of image and presentation; sometimes it can be hard to be totally “natural”. Drew captured the natural concentration on my face as I was about to cross Oxford St with a hoarde of pedestrians in front of me…my coat is flapping in the wind and I’m a woman with a mission. I don’t have any photos of myself on display at home, but my partner loved Drew’s picture so much we have decided this will be the only one allowed on the wall!

I asked Drew if he’d be up for taking some publicity shots for a new podcast project I am doing with dear friends and fellow radio presenters Baylen Leonard and Lucio Buffone. The photoshoot with Drew and Scott was such fun- when Drew took his various cameras out of his bag I knew it would be a laugh- he used a giant red camera (the holga), an Olympus camera from 1985 (my mom had the same one!!) and a fisheye camera too. We larked about Lower Marsh on a Saturday afternoon, had lots of coffee and cake, and he got some great shots!’

homoLAB is a culture & current affairs podcast for queers, friends and fans. Conjured up weekly by Amy Lamé, Baylen Leonard and Lucio Buffone, it’s free to download from iTunes and www.homolab.com