Life of the Party: Ben Fraternale Tries Out the Lomomatic 110

All eyes are on our newest star of the show, the Lomomatic 110. If you haven't already heard the big news, we recently launched our latest premium camera, made for the very special 110 format! With a glass lens and plenty of user-friendly features, the highest quality pocket-size camera in the world is now in the hands of the people.

Longtime LomoAmigo Ben Fraternale, who is known for his YouTube channel 'In An Instant' (amongst many other things), tested the tiny Lomomatic throughout its various stages of development, and has since developed a serious bond with it.

Following up on his in-depth review of the camera, we wanted to invite him back to our magazine to chat more about the Lomomatic and share his snapshots with our community. In this latest series of photos taken with the camera, he shared all the 110 fun with his friends and shot some casual, creative portraits.

Hi Ben, and welcome back to Lomography Magazine! Can you please re-introduce us to yourself and your work?

It’s good to be back in Lomography Magazine, especially amidst this historic baby camera release. Greetings to the reader, I am an all-hands-on-deck analogist, with an analogue photo studio in New York, a photography YouTube channel called In An Instant, and a career in the field. I have recently been snapping with the Lomomatic 110 and I’m feeling some kind of way about it.

After shooting a few rolls through the Lomomatic 110, what are your main impressions of the camera?

The Lomomatic 110 is the life of the party. From snapshots of daily life to full on photoshoots, somehow the tiniest camera in the room always gets the most love. It’s an immediately striking object and, as such, it lowers people’s inhibitions when you’re pointing it at them. That’s a huge asset, and one that’s often ignored in the conversation of “gear not mattering.”

What is your favorite feature or characteristic of the Lomomatic 110?

The Lomomatic reduces typical photographic thinking requirements by 110%. This is true of many Lomo cameras, which allow you to shoot more freely given their simpler functionality. But, when it comes to the Lomomatic 110, the electronic auto-exposure really kicks it to another level. I love how similar the camera is to Lomo’s tentpole Lomo LC-A in how it focuses, exposes, and optically treats the world.

Can you tell us about your past experience shooting with 110? What do you like most about the format?

I’ve been around a lot of 110, but other than some escapades with the Diana Baby, I hadn’t shot much of it until now. Beyond my Polaroid work, I shoot mostly with medium and large format. These dump-truck film formats require much discipline, and although it’s all fun for me, the level of concentration that goes into each image can be taxing. 110 provides me with the absolute, extreme opposite experience and that’s the kind of creative jolt everyone needs once in a while. I love the respite of 110 and how fun it can be to just slice some life off.

Have you found that shooting with a 110 camera changed any of your photographic perspectives or habits?

Beyond what I just mentioned, 110 is also quite fun to frame for, and it does drastically change your perspective. You know the image is going to be baby. In fact, you know it’s going to be a grainy baby. The crop factor of the lens also makes it an even babier subsection of a typical full frame image’s field of view. All of these things do alter how you think to snap. You must consider what would look best at that size and with those characteristics, which is a unique challenge to take on.

Do you have a favorite shot taken with the camera? Tell us about it!

Hard to pick a fave, but I do love this shot of kicks holding up a little disco ball against a checkered background. I love it because it makes no sense. Why would this be happening? There is absolutely no justifiable reason for a human to be doing this. And yet, it is the perfect kind of thing to capture on 110. Pure silly-billy behavior.

Any tips and tricks for shooting with the Lomomatic 110?

My advice is to use that .8m minimum focusing distance like the dickens. 110 doesn’t have the resolving power of other film sizes, and so the larger something is in frame, the clearer it is to see. So, close-ups just pop better than wide shots in my experience, and I kind of like collecting portrait-framed pics with the 110 as it makes the work somehow consistent.

What are your hopes for the future of the 110 format?

I think the biggest thing we need to see for the future of 110 is more availability for processing at labs. I live in the NYC metro area, so it’s easy to take it for granted that there are multiple labs around to process 110. Of course you can always ship it out wherever you live, but the format is so small and otherwise easy, that I’d love the entire process of using it to be just as easy.

Anything else you'd like to share?

I didn’t really talk about this, but the Golden Gate colorway is so up my alley it’s unconscionable.

Thanks for joining us, Ben! If you'd like to keep up with his analogue adventures, you can find him on his YouTube channel or Instagram.

written by alexa_alexiades on 2024-03-21 #gear #people #110 #portraits #pocket-film #110-format #lomoamigo #first-impression #lomomatic-110