LomoAmigo: Russell Darling
13Russell Darling is one of our Lomography UK regulars. He is a big part of our community of film fanatics and regularly joins our workshops and events. In this interview, we asked him about his experience shooting with the Lomo LC-A 120, as well as his work as visual effects practitioner for films such as “Star Wars,” “Twilight,” and “Godzilla.”
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m never sure how to answer that question without it starting to sound like a dating profile. I’ll give it a shot. I’m an American expat who’s been living in London for the past five and a half years. On my Twitter profile, I say that I’m a movie visual effects practitioner, casual photographer, and explorer of the world. I say I’m a visual effects practitioner because my job involves both art and technology. I started my career in the movie business just over 18 years ago, working for George Lucas’ visual effects studio, Industrial Light and Magic. I’m credited on over 20 feature films, including a couple of the “Star Wars” prequels, one of the “Twilight” [movies], and most recently, “Godzilla” and “Ex Machina.”
I love to travel and explore the world! One of the things I really love about London is that it’s a great travel hub. I can easily spend a weekend in another country and experience another culture, which is amazing for someone coming from the USA. The best I could do there is a weekend getaway to Los Angeles or Las Vegas. So far, I’ve traveled to just over 300 cities in 44 countries. It’s a pretty good start, but there are so many more places I want to experience. I call myself a “casual” photographer because I like that better than “amateur.” I’m certainly not a professional; I just do it for fun! I use photography as a way to explore my surroundings without ever getting in the way of experiencing those surroundings.
Your company recently won an Oscar for work on “Interstellar.” Tell us about that! What’s it like holding the golden man?
I didn’t directly work on that film, but It’s a very exciting time for all of us at Double Negative! Although I’m sure they used bits and pieces of technology that I built for the studio. Of course, I still held the Oscar and posed for a photo. It’s heavier than you might think. It’s great inspiration walking into work each day to see a display case with a couple of Oscars, a few BAFTAs, and several other awards.
How was it shooting with the LC-A 120?
I’m really happy with the camera! I took it from streets of London to a much harsher environment of snow and subzero temperatures in the mountains of Romania. It performed really well! I’m impressed with the automated film advance that moves from frame to frame without having to look through a little window for the visual markers. The quick zone focus and auto exposure really suits my shooting style.
Any tips on using this camera?
It’s pretty much the same as the original, LC-A (one of my favorite cameras!), so just treat it the same way. The bonus being that you get beautiful square media format images out of it.
What do you love about film photography?
In my job, I work with digital images. Everything is controlled down to the single pixel. It’s quite liberating to go out and make images in a more organic fashion. That’s what film photography gives me. I like a little bit of unpredictability. I like the element of surprise, not knowing how the final image will look until I get it back from the lab. Of course, film photography can be a much more controlled process for those that desire it. My approach to photography is to just let the beasts run wild and see what happens.
What’s coming up in 2015?
I’m working on an exciting new movie, but I can’t say anything about that right now. Travel-wise, I might finally take on the epic Trans-Siberian Railroad trip. It’s been on my wishlist for a long time. I’ll also being doing as many European city breaks as I can throughout the year.
Thanks for taking part, Russell!
written by hannah_brown on 2015-03-18 #people #uk #lomoamigos #lomoamigo #lomo-lc-a-120 #russel-darling
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