Do you Lomo ?

[scouse]

As my mate summed it up nicely - There are no photographers anymore, just picture editors!

Not strictly true... as my other half noted at a race meet at Donnington recently while observing the lens junkies..."Seems to be an awful lot of people taking pictures here, but very few photographers"

[Alun]

So what do the pro photographers on here specialise in?

[snaphappy]

I started with motorsports, mainly super moto. To finance the race season I took portrait work on through the winter. All this was pre digital, in the end I gave up the sports, I was fed up with editors publishing start and finish snaps with a write up. I'm no journalist and race write ups in German were above me, no UK mags were interested in the smaller Euro scene so I carried on with the portraits. Now its nearly all military work and large group photos. But I'll do anything that pays the bills if you want to send me on assignment

[Alun]

But I'll do anything that pays the bills if you want to send me on assignment

I'd like to send you on assignment, as would the majority of small magazine publishing companies in the UK, but the editorial budgets just aren't there in the UK.

As an example, take the US mags like Outside and Backpacker, with sales of over 400,000, and then look of the UK equivalents such as Adventure Travel, Trail, TGO etc the combined sales of all the UK outdoor magazines is about 1/4 of the sales of one US magazine - and editorial budgets are likewise.

I've yet to check out motorcycle magazine sales in the US but I'd say the same would be true. The cash just ain't there, unfortunately.

[backofbeyond]

Well, I'm off to a wedding in a couple of hours as my next assignment.

Work areas have varied over the years but anything to do with the press has been low on my priority list because, as you mentioned, the money side has always been difficult. I did work for WH Smith's in-house magazine for a few years (after I'd photographed the editor's wedding!) mainly because the assignments were interesting and I'd do them as "loss leaders". Over the years it's got me to some interesting places (chamber of the House of Lords for example).

I've always done a lot of sports stuff as well - initially karting, schoolboy MX, showjumping. I worked at Silverstone for 15yrs doing public days, corporate events, P.R etc. These days it's mainly athletics - marathons, triathlons, that sort of thing. It's interesting as I run in them as well (still got the aches from the Gt South Run on Sunday).

I still do a reasonable amount of corporate work as well. This year's "highlights" were a corporate calendar for RBS and working for Mulberry at London fashion week.

None of this pays huge amounts so it's just as well my wife's got a proper job!

[scouse]

Actually guys my initial query was to find out if anyone else messes around with low tech photography. The pro guys won't touch it as it is more of an experienced amateur/art photography field these days.

http://www.lomography.com/about

I have a collection of "toy" cameras, the cheap and cheerful 35mm and 4x4's that people used to chuck out when autofocus point and shoot 35mm cameras became cheap and popular. I like the effects you can get from them in camera and it's purely for the love of experimentation... so I guess the answer is that... Nope, nobody else Lomos

[Alun]

That's a great site scouse. An old mate of mine went through a phase were he would only travel with a homemade pinhole camera, some of the images he took in Egypt and Morocco were the most atmospheric I've come across.

[scouse]

Some times I cheat....

At the weekend I was shooting with a digital body and a Zenitar 16mm lens - totally manual on a digital camera. As it is not full size sensor acts as an ultra-wide rather than a fisheye. I have to use a lightmeter to get the correct exposure, which is an old Leningrad one... really low tech and slightly off calibration , but still gives great results... this saturation of colour and lack of overall sharpness is what appeals to me - it's not until you get home you find out if you have a usuable image...



Back Forest October 2010 by Scouse_and_Jules, on Flickr

[Em-J]

Lomo pic of the week anybody!? Email me your low-tech arty travel pics please! B) [email protected] - Ooo! and while we're at it, anyone any good with a paintbrush!? Let's get some paintings, drawings and sketches up too!

[appleby]

That's a great site scouse. An old mate of mine went through a phase were he would only travel with a homemade pinhole camera, some of the images he took in Egypt and Morocco were the most atmospheric I've come across.

I took this photo of my house with a pinhole camera!



Actually, it was a Retro App on my Android phone!!:whistle: