La vida Lomo

So much of the past week has been spent walking - it really is the best way to see the city (at least, until I get a bike!) and for someone with a poor sense of direction, helps connect the synapses and see how it all fits together. From East Village I took to walking across the island to West Village, a more gentrified kinda area, rich with literary/musical/activist history and loaded with streets of gorgeous brownstones and tucked away parks to boot.

A freelance photographer I'd met through work in Sydney happened to be visiting, so we tramped the streets together for a day or two. It was interesting to spend time with a real photographer and see the things that would catch her eye, and how she would approach the shots she took. I took great pride in taking her to the Lomography store and gallery on West 8th Street, which is a bit like a candy store for photographers - so many colourful plastic cameras with fun accoutrements like fish-eye lenses, coloured filters, splitters and all kinds of analogue goodness.

There I finally had my first roll of film from my Holga developed. The results were pretty wild, obviously it's a form of photography you have little control over but I still have lots to learn. Some shots were crisp, others sunblown and fuzzy. My favourite is a multiple exposure I took when my sister and her boyfriend were walking through Bondi, and he's on my bike:

All the shots I took while riding Big Red turned out a bit crazy, though I like this one:


Back at the Lomo store, Krystle was stoked to pick out a spinner, which takes 360 degree panoramic shots. It's an intriguing contraption, with the camera body mounted on a handle you hold rather like a speed gun. When you take your shot, you pull a string from the bottom of the handle, and the head of the camera spins around to take in the view. She's already planning all the amazing sport shots she'll be able to do, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with! I had to restrain myself from dropping cash I can't really afford, but I know I'll cave eventually - they also run workshops and events at the store so I'll definitely be back!