Tom Welland talks to us about his Lomo passion
Tom Welland is a Lomo addict and passionate photographer from the UK. Recently Tom was featured on the Guardian website, so it is great that he decided to come and share his work with us too.

I am an analogue addict with a tendency towards Russian cameras, mostly for their sturdy quality, sharp lens’s and the sheer USSR look.

I am always looking for a picture thats missed by most and enjoyed by more. I like taking photos of almost anything as long as its fun. I think its best to actually experience the atmosphere and ambience and that will come accross in your photos. In my opinion too many people try and be the photo sniper, lurking in the midst, the fly on the wall. I like to be in the thick of it and try and capture the feeling rather than whats the best angle.

Using old analogue cameras has its set backs as all of my cameras have “personalities” and work best under certain situations. There is very little rules when it comes to using Russian cameras. I often will fire off a whole roll in my lubitel for instance only to find most are wasted due to the timer being stuck on but there is always one golden shot which I am litterally in love with. This is part of their charm, give them a chance and they will astound you, it can get annoying but alot of my cameras are over 50 years old. I do not use photoshop or any other software to crop or make any modifications to my photos. Much can be achieved by selecting the right camera and the right film combination and waiting for the right light.

When you only have 12, 24 or 36 photos to shoot you have to be a lot more selective. I am a massive fan of cross processing slide film, the results you can achieve are incredible and a suprise. The joy does not just come from seeing your photos, its the whole process of making sure the settings are right on my mostly all manual cameras, shooting then waiting the days for my negs to be developed at the lab. There are massive advancements in photography and digital SLRs can take incredible shots but for me I like the feeling these old cameras can create. They aren’t sharp, the focus can sometimes be off but for me, photos aren’t maps, they aren’t about sharing detail, they are for creating an impression.

There is also a strong passionate community behind analogue photography mostly thanks to the online resource at Lomography.com. This excells learning and fires the thirst for knowledge, techniques are advanced and new cameras are put through strange methods they were never meant for. The Russians built their cameras so well that they can take the off piste abuse that the community throws at it.

You can see more of Tom’s work at the following websites:

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Lomo

I am really happy to feature Tom, as it is a bit of a different direction for Japancamerahunter. I feel that it is important that all aspects of photography are covered, so it is great that he can come and give us a better understanding of himself and Lomo.

Thanks Tom.
Japancamerahunter