A LomoWalk with “Berlin on Film” Community — Part I

Inspired and impassioned by film photography and the Lomography movement, a group of friends gathered together to make their journey with analogue even more special through a community and a magazine. Get to know the Community members and let them take you on a LomoWalk through Berlin in this article by one of the members themselves.

Dear Lomography community, my name is Noemi, a.k.a. malin_konica and back in April 2019, I founded a community around analogue photography named Berlin on Film.

As it might be obvious, we are located in Berlin and we are a bunch of film photography enthusiasts, craving for action. We organize our own meet-ups and walks — we talk, we shoot, we exchange ideas and experiences. We are there to cross-influence each other, get and give help and also be friends. We have been wanting to be vocal about our passion that we even started our own analogue magazine called Berlin on Film Magazine.

Lomography gave us this exciting opportunity to try out their best films and we accepted the challenge with enthusiasm. Through their shots, I want to introduce you to the five founder members of our Berlin on Film community:

Theodora (@theofromgreece)

Theodora is our Greek mama. She moved from Greece to Germany about 10 years ago. She has been linked to analogue photography through two strong bonds: her family and her studies of Conservation of ancient and fine art objects. Theo is definitely the person who cares the most about the people in our community. She managed to shoot amazing portraits of most of us.

"The community inspires me every day: different styles, photo preferences. I catch myself watching how people choose the subject, point the cameras and many times I try shoot the same way to what kind of results I will have."

Her passion for analogue photography is growing day by day — the same as her collection of cameras, which started with a present from her father: a Lubitel 2. Lomography has been part of her journey of experimentation since forever.

"Lomo rolls are like new toys for a kid, the curiosity to experiment hits the highest levels. I shot the Color Negative 400 in 2 days, one cloudy and the second sunny and bright, without changing the ISO. I liked the brightness of the colors, the light of each of the two days. I felt like I was present again through my photos. I would like to shoot this roll again, hopefully with my friends in the daylight, somewhere not in the city, definitely double exposure portraits and a few landscape shots."

Teresa (@Teresa.raw.35mm)

Photography has been a constant in Teresa’s creative life. She went back to analogue photography in 2014 and still, she is not tired of playing and experimenting with it.

Teresa joined Berlin on Film quite early on — she is one of the founder members. For her, the community has become a major part of her film experience.

"I believe that during our photo walks we manage to create stories that otherwise would have never been told, a storyline brought to life by creating and placing our pictures together."

Teresa is always around with at least 2 cameras (loaded with B&W and color films) — and a big and welcoming smile on her face. Last but not least, we are OM1 and XA sisters! Lomography has always been her go-to in terms of experimentation. Speaking of the roll she tried:

"I picked the Lomography CN 400 film and since I had already experienced its rich and saturated colors, I thought it was time to try it with double exposures by playing with the contrast that this film allows. For the 1st frame most of the roll was shot with Berlin on Film during a restricted photo walk in Pankow and some final shots were done at home due to the lockdown in November which was extended to January. At home, alone with my boyfriend and wanting to have the second frame with portraits, the choice was obvious."

"After all, this Lomo film gave me the first time experience of trying double exposures with my Leica M6 and shooting 39 portraits of my boyfriend in an organized photoshoot with a tripod and long exposures. I am very happy with the results and the one where the metal statue is snicking into my boyfriend’s head is my favorite because the struggle to create a matching frame with nonplanned double exposures is real. I will for sure use this film for multi-exposures again in the future and this collaboration leveled up my creativity that has been very lulled. Thank you!"

Thank you to @berlinonfilmmag for the beautiful photos and their thoughts on the film and analogue photography. Special thanks to malin_konica for the organisation! Stay tuned for part two of this article to get to know all the other members of Berlin on Film as well. Follow them on Instagram and check out their blog to get inspired!

written by alinaxeniatroniarsky on 2021-01-22 in #gear #people