LomoAmigo: Tom Skyrme from Swim Mountain

Tom Skyrme is a musician from East London who has been shooting on film since he was a kid. His psych-pop band Swim Mountain will be playing live at the Lomography x Nixon Exhibition in Soho on July 24th. We caught up with Tom ahead of this gig to find out what makes him tick.

NAME:Tom Skyrme (Swim Mountain)
CITY:London

Tell us about yourself.
My name is Tom Skyrme, I live in East London and make music. I wrote an EP under the moniker Swim Mountain, which has now developed into a live band as well.

If you had to choose five words to describe your band Swim Mountain, what would it be?
Phased, London, LA, watermelon, cocktail.

How long have you been shooting on film and what do you like about it?
I was born in ’85 so I shot on film first. I really dug Polaroid because it was weird, you got colour and tones you didn’t get on other films. I like the process of shooting film, you don’t get a second chance, you capture a one-off image and you take forever to get it processed so it’s like opening a present to yourself from yourself when you finally go to the shop and get them developed you forgot you took most of them and with cameras like the Diana F+ it always comes out totally unique and crazy looking, in a good way.

Who/what inspires your music and photography?
Everything probably. Some influences will be more obvious than others but the environment is a huge part of it, and the feel of the day. What I had for lunch is the biggest influence.

You are going to play at the opening of the Lomography x Nixon exhibition in Soho on July 24th. About 40 photos taken during the Nixon Surf Challenge in Russia this year will be exhibited. Have you ever gone surfing?
Yeah, really looking forward to playing there! No I haven’t but I love the ocean, it’s probably my favourite thing. I will put down the cocktail and learn to surf one day.

If the photos you have taken had a soundtrack (3 songs), what would it be? It can be one of your own songs or any another song.
Ticket – Swim Mountain, that track was a total vibe, pretty abstract in structure, which is like a lot of my photos.
Sweeter Memories – Todd Rundgren, for obvious reasons in the title and it’s an amazing track (just ask Teej who plays guitar in Swim Mountain)
J.A.W.S – Lxury, because it’s still a total jam

Who would you choose if you could hang out with a person, dead or alive, for a day and capture the experience on film?
Stanley Kubrick, although I’m sure he wouldn’t be up for it but I’d love it, he’s my hero. He could set up the cameras for me. His photography, both moving and still, were incredible.

Can you tell us a bit about this series of pictures? Any anecdotes?
I was traveling about a fair bit so they were shot on a few different cameras, all over America and some when I lived in Brighton, England. My anecdote would be that you can tell which ones were taken on the Lubitel because they came out sideways because I hadn’t got used to taking photos with the side shutter switch.

Any upcoming projects for Swim Mountain?
We are excited to be playing at the Lomography Gallery Soho Store on the 24th for the opening of the Lomography x Nixon Exhibition, we also have a couple of pending videos, the EP launch coming up and possibly a few more shows and festivals.

Your advice to all lomographers?
Don’t drink more than two zombies.

written by hannah_brown on 2014-07-14 #people #festivals #street-photography #accessories #analogue-photography #uk #lomography-gallery-store #france #gallery-store #analogue-cameras #lomoamigo #eastlondon #35mm-films #120-films #londonsoho #swim-mountain #nioxon