Tsutomu Umezawa's First Impressions of LomoGraflok 4 × 5 Instant Back

Tsutomu Umezawa says that he usually shoots with color negative films for portrait projects #It Girlie. I asked him to shoot with the LomoGraflok 4x5 Instant Back, an instant back that allows you to enjoy Fujifilm Instax Wide Film with a 4x5 large format camera.

Hello! Please introduce yourself.

I’m Tsutomu Umezawa. I shoot advertising photos and movies, mainly using film.

How long have you been shooting in large-format?

I started shooting with a large-format camera 10 years ago. Sparrow Photo is a large format camera store and many legendary large format photographers go and meet there. I bought the first camera there.

What do you find so fascinating about shooting with large format cameras?

When I shot and printed my first photos, I was super surprised that it captured more details than I could actually see with my own eyes. I felt like the subject actually existed, “lived”, inside of the picture. It was so detailed and vivid.

How did you like the LomoGraflok 4x5 Instant Back ?

I liked it a lot. It is simple and very user friendly. You can eject a film just by pushing a button and that’s it. It is easy to use, and I find it very lomographic.

What is the large format cameras’ situation in the Japanese market?

It used to be a camera for old-school photographers. But as film is booming now, young photographers start to use 35 mm cameras again, and even large-format cameras for their artwork and professional shooting for magazines. That's a great trend I think.

What do you expect from Lomography?

I think Lomography tries to protect the analogue culture and film, from the big waves of digital transformation. So I also really enjoy the “process of shooting” that comes with the LomoGraflok, besides the photograph itself. I would love to shoot larger format instant photos in the future if that’s possible haha.

Models : Mary ,Cezan ,Erina ,Shawn

Many thanks to Tsutomu for his impressions and his thoughts with LomoGraflok 4x5 Instant Back! Check out his Instagram and get inspired

written by xcvllshawn on 2020-12-10 in #gear #culture #news #people #lomograflok #lomograflok-instant-back #tsutomu-umezawa