Fisheyes and DIYs with Lomographer @bigfatbambi

Lomography has always been a haven for experimentation and creativity. The last of our 10 Golden Rules encourages us to break the rules to unleash our full potential. Looking at @bigfatbambi's photos you can tell that his mind is bursting with creativity. Versed in different art forms, he has mostly been dabbling in photography as one of his main sources of creativity, capturing his life before he attends art school.

He caught our eye with his intimate photos with the Lomography Fisheye No.2, but looking more at this work we can see he also has a very DIY attitude. Multiple exposures, cyanotypes and even playing around with expired film, Bambi's photos are always a pleasure to look at. We talk to Bambi about his experience with the Fisheye No.2, his creative process, and how he captures the world through his eyes.

Hi and welcome to Lomography Magazine. Can you introduce yourself and tell us how you started photography?

Hey, I’m Bambi, I'm from Bogotá, Colombia and I'm currently living in Boston, Massachusetts. I’m really into art. This is kind of pretentious to say but I do feel that art is everywhere, every corner, every hill, every street, every eye, etc. I’m really into photography itself, but I also love filmmaking, serigraphy, painting, drawing, writing (especially poetry), music, experimental sounds, etc. I’m always so down to destroy, create and experiment with anything coming to art. I'm just starting art school in September so I've been drifting around, creating, learning, and living life on my own for the past couple of years. My dad was a film photographer but he sadly stopped doing it when I was born. I think that was a dumb decision but people say his love for it died and was reborn again on me. I think that’s silly but it kind of makes sense now.

I started slowly with art throughout all my life but got more into photography four years ago. I got obsessed with film but couldn’t afford it constantly then, so I used to make that film look on my pictures with what I had on hand. Then I started with point-and-shoots in 2020 and eventually got really into it. My best friend back home who’s a great artist, Miriam, was also a huge inspiration and she helped me a lot when I started taking photography more seriously. Right now I keep trying to shoot with film constantly but I always have an old digital travel camera with me, because unfortunately film is still hard to afford all the time, but it is cool to embrace different kinds of photography.

Your album knifey 66 captures the spirit of using a fisheye camera. Can you tell us the story behind this album?

I’m glad it does, it was sort of an album made by and for fun, the main character of the album is my best friend, Renae. It kind of felt like a summoning trip of escaping boredom. It happened just being bored in my room and wanting to do something so we just grabbed some objects from my room and made an unconscious DIY photoshoot of just us having fun. Then we had a party in the same week so I saved the film for that day because I thought it was the perfect place to experiment with the camera since it was an emo-themed party.

How long have you had the camera and what have you mainly been using it for?

The story of this camera is very special and funny. I got it in late December of 2022, I was wanting a fisheye camera so bad and was planning to get the Lomography Fisheye No.2 but to put some context, one day I was in a thrift store and never expected to find a cool camera, but surprisingly, in the most random way I found this camera in the decoration section. I thought that was crazy and assumed it was damaged but either functional or not I wanted a Lomography camera with me, so I got it, tested it and luckily it worked perfectly. It definitely felt like a gift of life.

After those pictures some people asked me for the camera so I’ve been recommending it because I think it is the perfect way to bring a point-and-shoot with you in a cooler way, it feels like a third eye on your face that you can carry in your daily life for anything. One thing I love about the lenses is the curved look that gives pictures close to the circle border. I think it gives some kind of expansion and shape to the picture, which is very cool.

Most of your photos remind me of very coming-of-age and youth-centric type photography. Would you say this is your style of photography? And what do you want to achieve with it?

Well, I think it is too soon for me to say that is my style of photography, but it is the one I enjoy the most. I get some sort of natural and very specific look since I want to portray my life, my friends, the people I see, places I go, etc, with how I see it through my eyes. Of course, I like doing conceptual photo shoots, but I’m really into keeping a constant archive of life. And that’s also the thing about it when you go to parties or anywhere and you take pictures of people. They might complain at first, but mostly all the time they just appreciate it, even if they are not going to see it because they don't know me, it's just an archive, a memory in a capsule, something that never happens again, and I like to get my eye to catch those feelings in this bubble earth.

Double exposures also seem to be part of your style. Can you tell us some techniques you use to achieve this? Any tips that you follow?

I’ve always felt very interested in double exposure. I think it is very fantastic how two different things mix and get a new thing for people’s perception. The best tip I’ve followed is to allow yourself to experiment. You’ll probably get a silly or nonsense picture but most of the time those are the best. I’ll recommend playing with objects and people, you can try shooting the first round of the film with faces, people, or action, then the second round with landscapes, objects, nature, or even more action. In the end, it just mixes itself and creates something special, so nothing’s wrong. But very important, be very careful with your film, don’t change it in the light, and make sure you still have a little bit of the negative out after rewinding it so that you can place it in the camera again. I know that’s common knowledge but I’m just a very impulsive person and sometimes I skip steps. But yeah, everyone should go crazy (in a free way) with double and even triple exposures for sure. Don’t limit your vision.

Your album flood catarsis dream is also very eye-catching. Can you tell us how you achieved these results?

I was going to the aquarium with my friend Ana and she had kind of a very scratchy camera with an expired film. She gave it to me that day and we both had fun shooting with it. At first, we thought we had set the film in the wrong way so it unconsciously made some double exposure when we changed it. I also had this idea in my mind of how I wanted the pictures to look, so I got close to things like rocks, shapes, waves, and all of this with the use of external lights and flashes. The film lab job wasn’t the best at first when we received the pictures, but I kind of liked the scratchy look so I intervened in some of those. But you can get very experimental and weird results with expired film, playing with textures, and even submerging film in wine, lake water, or chemicals, but get the knowledge first of how to do it without messing up the film or damaging the developing process.

Among the photos you've taken which ones are your favorite?

This is a hard question for me. I love street photography, there’s something special in old and destroyed architecture and doors. I love when I capture the decadent feeling of a place. But I also feel very proud of the ones I took of Amyl and the Sniffers and Yeule in their show, this taking count on how far I was just part of the audience. Either way, I like the ones that look like footage of a DIY film.

I’d like to be a filmmaker/director so I like to pretend some of my pictures are just shots of a scene. I also love my cyanotypes, it’s fun to get immersed in them. And I’ve been working on this self-portrait polaroid project that I haven’t scanned and posted yet, but I like my self-portrait polaroids too.

Any advice or tips you want to give to the rest of the community?

First, go crazy. Don’t overthink too much about doing something. When your soul, your brain, and your heart are connected with art it just creates wonderful things. Accept and learn how you see things, embrace your perception, and get along with yourself and your photography. (The last part is the hardest for me but believe me, it's the best advice.) We’re always changing and evolving, so have fun with it.

Second, appreciate what’s around, there’s always something to capture in a memory. There is nothing more painful yet beautiful than looking through memories that you brought to eternity with a picture. I’m so young but that’s something that has always been present in my life and I feel very lucky to have already made a lot of those. And the last thing, accept learning from yourself or others. I've messed up a decent amount of films just because of experimentation or lack of knowledge, but remember the times you messed up and try to always discover something new. The grief is never ending but so is the love.

We thank Bambi for his work and you can check out his LomoHome and keep up with him on Instagram. Want to share your creative endeavors with Lomography? Comment down below or message me @rocket_fries0036.

written by rocket_fries0036 on 2023-08-07 #culture #people #black-and-white #expired-film #boston #multiple-exposure #usa #fisheye #columbia #bogota #fisheye-no-2