Petzval LomoAmigo: Biking with Anton

ANTON is an award-winning portrait photographer based in the United Kingdom. He was a semi-finalist for Hasselblad Master in 2010 and was named ‘Photographer of the Year’ in the Southeast by the BIPP in 2012. He is a big fan of Lomography and recently photographed fans with their favourite camera in our Soho Store. We lent him a Petzval lens and crownd him out latest LomoAmigo! Read on for more

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into photography

I was born in Moscow, Russia, but grew up in Toronto, Canada and come from a family of “makers”. I took up photography in high school and I started to use their darkroom. I am now trying to get back to doing photography and video for its intrinsic pleasure and so last year I launched a few personal projects. The first project is an online web film series, Analogue Tribes which documents Analogue photographers doing projects in an the digital world. The second is portrait series called Velo Tribes where I set up a pop up studio and photograph people who attend Europe’s biggest vintage cycling events. The whole series is shot on a medium format film and focuses on the characters and what they are wearing, so no bike feature at all.

The final project I started is a social meet up for photographers called Photographers’ Dining Club here in London. These are regular events where we put on talks over dinner and invite eminent photographers to talk about their work. This aspect is very important to me, because this allows photographers to connect, share and learn.

How was it shooting with the Petzval lens?

Be prepared to attract a lot of attention! Within minutes of taking the camera out, random people would compliment or come up and ask questions about it. Being a portrait photographer, this worked to my advantage, it gave a certain perception of authority and respect. So getting strangers to stop and pose became very easy and the ‘bling’ aspect was a natural talking point.

I like the physicality of it, its made of brass, its heavy, solid and feels real to hold and operate. I like the metal focusing knob, it made the picture making much more engaging for me. It also created an interesting aesthetic, especially when the background was placed out of focus, it created a texture that was different from any other of my lenses. The trickiest part of the lens is getting used to the focus, its a fully manual lens and I couldn’t rely on my auto focus anymore and had to really pay attention to what I was focusing on to make sure the key part of the image was sharp. I think this is part of the pleasure when using manual equipment – it creates a sense of engagement.

What do you love about film photography?

I have an affinity with photography regardless of the way its produced. For me it brings together two elements that are crucial for any image maker; vision and craft. Vision defines ‘why’ you make photographs and the craft executes that vision, its the part where you actual create the imagery. The thing I love about using film is that it makes the creative process much more engaging. I find myself much more immersed when shooting film or instant, it requires extra attention and I make things much more deliberately that way. When you get the film back and it’s worked, it’s such a high. I like that it creates a sense of journey, it all links back to the intrinsic pleasure I get from the creative process.

Tell us a bit about these photographs.

My other passion outside image making is cycling. Recently on a family trip back to Toronto, I spent a couple of days exploring the city that used to be so familiar to me. I wanted to use the new Petzval lens, at first I was going to just walk the streets and ‘test’ the lens, but once I figured out the effect the lens produced, which is an ultra shallow depth of field with a very specific bokeh effect, I wanted a more specific subject matter.

I took a break at a cafe and as I sat down with my flat white and looked out the window, there was a bike rack full of old, classic, some very rusted bikes. Then I started noticing person after person cycling past on these old things – I knew it is a trend in most urban centers but did not realise it was so prominent in Toronto. Over a couple of days I met and photographed a dozen cyclists and found out that there’s a growing passion for riding, customising, and restoring old bikes. For a couple of days I was immersed in the creative process and energised by the people I met and the bikes I came across. Like many years ago, I felt the passion not just for Photography but also bikes.

Have you had any difficult or challenging situations throughout your photography career?

I think the most challenging part of any creative career is where you lose the passion for creating things and lose sight of ‘why’ you make pictures. For me it’s always been about being engaged in the creative process and I love the idea of creating something from nothing, particularly when you’re doing it with a clear vision. So the toughest periods for me have been during times where I find my self shooting something I am not passionate about, when I am shooting without thinking, without being interested.

It all comes back to doing for things for its own intrinsic pleasure, just shooting for the sake of shooting, until something that resonates with you comes along and then you pursue that. That’s what happened with the Toronto bike set of images you see here. I was shooting random stuff feeling slightly deflated, so I went for a coffee and just happened to see that bike rack full of this old classic bikes and I was fired up again. I thought of the Velo Tribes project and it made sense to pursue this theme.

For more of Anton’swork visit his website or follow him on Twitter at @PhotoAnton

written by hannah_brown on 2014-09-26 #people #uk #lomoamigo #eastlondon #35mm-films #editorial-series #120-films #londonsoho #petzval