Liz of Lomography NYC Creates Light Paintings with the Lomo Instant

Here at the Lomography NYC Gallery Store, we are always testing and playing with our cameras and accessories. We asked our staff to test the new Lomo’Instant camera. Liz, our lab assistant, went crazy with the long exposure future.

Name: Elizabeth Arias (Liz)
Camera: Lomo'Instant
Profession: Photographer and Lab Assistant

Hello Liz. How was your experience?

You may think the Lomo’Instant is just like any other instant camera but it truly isn’t. It has all the functions of an instant camera but it also includes some extras! There’s the multiple exposure switch and the ability to change your aperture, giving you a lot more control over what your picture will look like. Usually you are just limited to taking a picture and getting the photo right away, but with this camera you have the ability to be more creative and take your time constructing the types of photographs you want.

What’s your favorite feature?

My favorite feature of the Lomo’Instant camera is the option to put the camera on Bulb (B) setting, which allows you to take long exposures. I decided to experiment with this feature and was really satisfied with the results. I tried thinking of an easy and convenient way to use light. That’s how I came to use the flash on my phone as my tool for drawing with light!

Sounds a little odd, but think about it: If you’re out with friends and don’t have a flashlight on you or some other form of light, the flash on your cell phone is a great alternative. You can have your friend or family member, or even a stranger, if you’re into that, hold the camera while you draw with light. But in my case, I tried doing it by myself. I simply held out my hand as far as it would go, made sure I could see it when looking through the viewfinder, pointed the flash towards the camera, pressed the shutter, drew what I wanted, and released the shutter. These are the results!

Any tip you’d like to share?

In addition to all the amazing stuff I already mentioned about this camera, you have the ability to use color filters for the flash. So I decided to take my experiment a step further and simply taped one of the filters onto my phone’s flash and voila! I have blue, purple, pink, orange, or yellow light! You can write words, attempt to draw a human figure (as I so wonderfully failed at), create a pattern, or just be as silly and creative as you want with it. There are so many possibilities! The Lomo’Instant is such a big step forward for instant cameras, so don’t miss out on all the amazing things you can do with this camera!

written by antoniocastello on 2014-11-21 #art #lifestyle #instant #accessories #analogue-photography #films #instant-photography #lomo #nyc #ny #analogue-cameras #liz #elizabeth #arias