Introducing @pollo305 — North America's Honorary LomoHome of November 2024

In celebration of our extremely talented community, the team at Lomography USA have been honoring their favorite active Lomographers on our website for LomoHome of the Month. For the month of November we're highlighting community member Manny (@pollo305) for his amazing albums and LomoWalls.

While considering himself new to world of analogue photography, Manny's LomoHome is compiled of well-composed street photography and a ton of visual experimentation, showcasing what it truly means to be a Lomographer!

Lomographic Beginnings

こんにちは, I am a Puerto Rican Nicaraguan creative from Miami, Florida. I do a little bit of everything but I mostly focus on music, video editing & photography. I am part of an independent record label called Southern Giants which is run by the homies, check us out!

I actually just recently got into film in December of 2023. I have friends that shoot film and are great at it. Olu is one of them! He has a LomoHome too, @femifemi. Check out his work! Anyway, my friends always told me I should try to shoot film because I would love it and they were right. It’s kinda taking over me because I have barely been shooting any videos lately.

I was shooting digital on my Sony A7iii for a while and actually I only shot video. Little by little I got into photography and was like “on snap this is pretty cool”. I only got into film on my last trip to Japan — I couldn't pass up on this opportunity because if you don’t know, Japan has so many vintage camera shops! I went into it not really knowing about any cameras so I started with a point and shoot Minox 35 PE. I really loved the photos and was getting a lot of love on them so I wanted a camera with more control… that’s when I got the Canon F1.

Why shoot film? For me it’s the whole process, from going to buy film to loading the camera, only having a limited numbers of shots, not knowing how your photos come out until you get them developed, and sometimes you forget what you shot so the surprises are always cool! If you’re thinking about shooting film YOU SHOULD fosho!

Living an Analogue Lifestyle

The way I found out about Lomography was from searching Google on how photos looked when shot with certain cameras and lenses. I actually thought it was just a simple site that people used to upload pictures and just keep online or one those sites that make a link for you to share. It wasn't till I started doing more research on film cameras that I realized it was more than that, and full of fire photographers!

After that I started uploading all my photos and looking more into the community. I really love it and I’m telling all my cool photographer friends to join all the time. The love on there has been real and I already met some cool people from all over. Lomography makes me want to travel the world, link up with other photographers and go out shooting. LomoHomes are cool! I always look into the photographers and photos that are posted. Since joining I've wanted to be photo of the day and I got it last month so that was cool.

I started seeing LomoWalls on a couple of pages and instantly wanted to make one too. I asked a Lomo friend how to do it, looked it up and used my Tokyo sunset photos to make one. I think it’s fire.

Looking to the Future

Regarding what I hope people take out of my work — I feel like I just started and I’m just figuring things out, so for now I hope they just enjoy the compositions, colors and moments I capture. I don’t really consider myself a photographer just yet, I just like documenting life!

I lost my mom last year, she was also into shooting and printing photos so I’m happy she left a lot of memories behind for me to sit down with when I miss her and I guess now I’m trying to do the same for my friends and family…. and the world.

I didn’t even know the 10 golden rules! I had to go look them up for this interview but it’s funny because I feel like I’ve been following all 10 subconsciously. As for my life and which rules I relate to the most, I'm just trying to live in the moment everyday… feel it all! And be silly!

I don’t know about my all time favorite shot, but I've got two that I really like.

This one was shot in Tokyo in Hatagaya. It’s a cool little neighborhood and there were so many moms on bikes with their kids, and sometimes even laundry, zooming through sidewalks and traffic. I thought it was so cool! I just love how all the colors came together with the mom and daughter's outfits, the buildings, the bike.

This one I shot in Thailand. I was trying to experiment with movement and caught this guy stopping a blind person from running into traffic. The moto taxi didn’t stop so he actually saved him. That’s Thailand for you! Kind people and crazy moto taxis everywhere.

My hopes for the future of analogue is for film to be cheap again! Nah, but honestly I’m not sure. My adventure in the analogue photography world just started and I’m excited about it all. I’m learning about old photographers and there’s so many great photos! Maybe I just hope this film comeback inspires a new generation of photographers to capture the new world like the greats did in the past.

Not related to photography, but I also just dropped two albums this year “Love Pollo” and “1st day Out” on all streaming platforms. Go check them out! I also plan to drop some books with photos of my trip in Japan, graffiti, and windows (I really been into windows lately.)

Follow me on IG if you like the work and want to keep in touch. Getting a good photo is such a blessing I’m happy people like them. ありがとうございます.

If you're interested in keeping up with Manny and his work, make sure to check out his LomoHome and Instagram.

written by eloffreno on 2024-11-26 #culture #people #experimental #lomohome #golden-rules #community #community-member #lomohome-of-the-month #lomohome-of-the-month Share Article