As a volunteer for the Luminato Festival for the past six years, and an instructor for the Community and Outreach department’s Youth Volunteer Photography Program for the past three years, it’s been a great privilege for me to be able to work with a fantastic group of people, doing some fun things before—and during—the festival. And this year was no different. For our second youth photography session after I taught some photography tips and techniques, we all made our way to the Toronto Lomography Store on Queen Street, where they gave us a quick workshop on what Lomography is all about, and on how to use one of their cameras. We each got a La Sardina camera to play with during the workshop, learned how to put in and take out a roll of film (yes, film still does exist!), and took in some tips on how to best use our Lomos for some great effects like panoramas and double exposures.
After the workshop, we took a walk to Kensington Market where we all snapped away to exhaust our 36 roll of film. While I’ve tinkered with toy cameras before—and even own a bright orange Blackbird, Fly—this was my first time with a Lomo. I’m surprised it took me this long.
These photos below were taken with my Nikon D800. The pictures I took with my Lomo will come at a later time, when they process the film and digitize it for all to see. Click on each photo thumbnail for a larger version.
The Luminato youth photographers sit and learn enthusiastically with their new toy for the workshop while the instructor and helpers helped us with loading the camera, and winding the rolls.
The Lomography store is filled with lots of toys and goodies for the photographer in all of us. With the large array of Lomos available—each with their own special effect—it was fun times for all of us trying to soak in the Lomo experience. The Lomo wall they had with a large collage of photos taken with their cameras was equally intriguing and inspiring to look at.
One of the things that both Lomography and I stressed during each of our workshops was to be creative with our photography. These cameras are really fun to play around with, so whether it be taking photos from ground-level, or just taking blind shots from the waist, it was good to experiment to see what you can come up with.
I was happy to see that many of the youths were in fact getting creative and doing things to get that one truly unique picture.
With the clouds rolling in, it looked like we were in for a wet one. Fortunately, the rain held back for us to be able to enjoy our outing with our Lomos.
One tip that I like to tell my students: always be prepared. Walking down the street, this man with a shopping cart and puppy sticking his head out of a shoulder bag came out of nowhere. Before even seeing if my camera was set properly, I brought it up and snapped the photo at waist-level.
And finally, I leave this blog post with one of my favourite shots of the day. Although it’s a relatively simple photo, there are so many things going on in it, that it makes for great storytelling and individual interpretations.
For additional details on how you and your group can reserve a Lomography workshop, contact the Toronto Lomography store here.