LomoGuru of the Week: Grazie

I’m pretty sure you’ve had a glimpse of her photos or might even have dropped a comment or like in her Home. We might need no introduction for this week’s LomoGuru, but a few decent sentences will most probably work!

Meet Graziella, or more popularly known as grazie in our Community. Originally from the Philippines but is currently based in Southern California, Grazie sure had a lot of fun experiences, add to that her Lomography friends, in a span of two years in the Community.

Know more about her plus a look at her Lomographs as this week’s LomoGuru!

Name: Graziella Ines
Lomography username: grazie
Location: Southern California
Number of years as a Lomographer: 2
Number of years in the Community: 2

Share to us your most memorable experience in the Lomographic Community.

Wow. There are a lot of memorable experiences in the Community in the past year alone but one that I cherish and enjoyed the most are all the film swaps/double projects. I get excited everytime I receive an envelope from my film swap partners. It’s just so much fun receiving something analogue from a good friend, the analogue way. And when I shoot over them and see the results later, I feel that a piece of me traveled to their countries too. Like how my friend cc-in-paris said, it’s traveling photographically. It gets overwhelming sometimes but damn it’s so much fun!

Another memorable experience was that exhibit last year at the L.A. store for “The Prophecies of An Analogue Future” where a photo of mine was chosen to represent the #2 Prophecy. Also the opening of the Sta. Monica gallery store which I attended and got to meet some great people and ate yummy cupcakes.

Have you actually met people in the Community that you now consider as close friends? If yes, name at least one of them.

I have to admit that I haven’t actually met my good friends here in the Community. Oh except for one and that is noe_arteaga. I met him at the L.A. store and got to chat with him and we planned to do several Lomowalks and a film swap.

I love this Community because I’ve met so many interesting and nice people, some I consider my good friends. Before I would use the phrase “Lomo friend” but for these friends, I can’t. It’s true that I haven’t actually met them in person but I talk to them a lot and share similar passions with them. And yes, I hope to meet them soon.

There are my cool and funny buddies, Marisa and Erick from my motherland, the Philippines. They crack me up all the time. It feels like I’ve done several Lomowalks with them already. I would love to take Lomographs of Manila with them.

Then there’s my good, good friend Axel with whom I’ve had excellent doubles projects with (and it’s not done yet). He is the coolest guy and takes some of the best Lomographs. He is also my best critique Lomography wise and knows my Lomo self the best.

There is sweet Victoria who inspires me a lot and sends me all these beautiful postcards out of her Lomographs. I will be forever thankful to her for that Vivian Maier book. And my best girl Mery who is just the sweetest and she makes me laugh all the time. I plan to visit her this summer and we’ll do a Lomowalk with the Madrid peeps. And yes, Peter, jean_louis_pujol and troch who are so generous with their advise and whose passion for photography I admire a lot.

I also mentioned in the first question my lovely friend Carolina (cc-in-paris) who I’d love to visit and chat with about not just Lomo stuff but also movies, music, fashion, etc. We did several doubles also and I wouldn’t mind doing more.

There are other good friends I’d love to meet in real life like dakadev_pui, albeelee, ohpleasedontgo, qrro, littlekoala, mafiosa, wuxiong, trw, hodachrome, gunship, upic, volker-jp, trashpilotin, i_am_four_eyes, pussylove, lawypop, jeabbzz, goonies, sprofishgel, sye, robter, warning, lola_juanlu, realrampage, analogmonolog, mikahsupageek to name a few.

And of course I ’d love love love to do a Lomowalk and hang out with my other Pinoy friends: boobert, ponzi, stitch, superkulisap, feelux, renenob, talgrrrlrocks, xyron,denbilita, antibiotyx, zoe191. I think I would need more than a month to do that though.

Then finally meet two people I look up to and whose Lomographs I admire so much: lakandula and boredbone

Do you think you’ll still be taking Lomographs in the next 5 years? Why?

Yes! Because I love it! It makes me happy and sane. Haha. I hope Kodak will continue producing films and that I don’t lose my job so I can continue buying films. And that an equivalent or close to Fuji Neopan 1600 will be produced by Lomography in the near future.

I love Lomography/film photography so much that I think I’ll grow old doing it.

What is your favorite Lomo camera and why? Do you have any memorable experiences while using this camera?

I love all my cameras but if I really need to choose one, it would be my LC-A+. If the others are my lovers, the LC-A+ is my soul mate.

I was walking the streets of Chinatown in San Francisco last December when I decided to stride away from the tourist routes and trek the alleys. There I met Evan, a teenager practising his kung fu. It was so fun watching him but at the same time I was a little scared he would get mad and kick me or something. But I still clicked away with my LC-A+. And he turned out to be so nice.

Is there any advice you can give to new analogue shooters?

Just shoot away! Follow your heart though. Shoot to be happy. Don’t shoot to please. Enjoy it and don’t get discouraged. Then you will love it. Trust me.

See more of Grazie’s lovely Lomographs!

written by mayeemayee on 2012-03-11 #lifestyle #interview #lomohome #community #grazie #lomoguru