LomoGuru of the Week: Vicuna

Even if you are new in the Community, you sure have heard of this week’s Lomography Guru who have been true to analogue for more than a decade!

Meet Stephane, or more popularly known as vicuna in the Community, as he shares to us his joyful experiences in the world of analogue and further on, in the world of the Lomography Community!

Read on as he gives us tips and as we feature his lovely Lomographic gallery! Enjoy!

Name: Stéphane Heinz
Lomography username: vicuna
Location: Raiatea, French Polynesia
Number of years as a Lomographer: 8 years
Number of years in the Community: 6 years

Share to us your most memorable experience in the Lomographic Community.

Well, there are a lot of memorable experiences… But the one which I remember the most is my first big competition win. It was back in 2007, I was in the Community for less than a year and was one of the winners of the big Lomography Absolut Competition. I was so surprised and honored to be chosen as a winner - that was a fantastic feeling. And even today, everytime I get the chance to win a Lomography competition, it’s a fantastic feeling, I never get used to it! :)

Have you actually met people in the Community that you now consider as close friends?

I had the chance to meet some Lomo-friends for real and it was everytime a great moment. I remember my meeting with lomodirk in Nürnberg. He showed me his city and we had a great day together. And we had the chance to process our films together at the end of the day: it was my very first home-processed film! Thanks for that Dirk!

I also met grenoouille and her daughter marguegue when they went to visit us on the Cote d’Azur (when I was living in Nice) and we all spent some great days together.

And I can’t forget Christmas 2011: katoun & I went to Los Angeles for a week and we had the chance to meet satomi (a Lomo-legend!) and blueskyandhardrock We were invited to Satomi’s home to celebrate Christmas and it was a true moment of happiness. The next days, satomi and blueskyandhardrock brought us to different places in LA and we had such a good time together!

And in a few weeks, we’ll have the visit of one great Lomographers and Lomo-friend who is coming to see us in French Polynesia… We’re so happy to meet him! But I’ll tell you later who he is, he he :))

And there are so many other Lomo-friends I’d like to meet for real… But for every travel I make, I know that there are always some new Lomo-friends to meet all over the world!

Do you think you’ll still be taking lomographs in the next 5 years? Why?

Yes, of course! I don’t see any reason why I’ll stop taking Lomographs for the simple reason that I can’t imagine living without it! These Lomographic cameras really changed my life and the way I look at things. It’s part of my life now, not an interference that could stop one day.

What is your favorite Lomographic camera and why? Do you have any memorable experiences while using this camera?

That’s a difficult question… I have so many Lomographic and other analog cameras that the choice for one isn’t easy. If I had one to choose, it would be the iconic LC-A+ as this camera always comes with me, especially when I’m travelling abroad. So I can say that all the memorable travel experiences I had were documented by my LC-A+. It’s the very best travel camera ever, so small, so reliable and lightweight that you can really bring it everywhere! But besides the LC-A+, I must say that the Lubitel+ and Horizon Kompakt are also my favorites. This trio, LC-A, Lubitel and Horizon is the very best travel combo to document everything in different film formats and picture sizes.

Is there any advice you can give to new analogue shooters?

Analogue needs patience and passion. So if you start analogue, you need to be patient as you won’t get immediate results the way you want them. And be patient while shooting because the best occasion for a shoot doesn’t come directly to you, you need to wait and observe to catch the perfect moment on film. And about passion, yes, it’s an essential ingredient. You can’t just shoot Lomography if you don’t deeply involve yourself in what you’re shooting. A great picture is the one made with passion, joy, emotion, sadness, or anything else, but it’s coming from your heart, from your feelings and not from your brain. Because analogue is not about technique, rules, calculations and control of what you do, it’s exactly the opposite.

So take your camera, free your mind, let it go and just shoot. You’ll see afterwards which emotions you captured on film… And then, shoot again and again and again!

written by mayeemayee on 2012-03-04 #lifestyle #interview #community #q-a #lomoguru