Community Amigo: Alexandra Huemer from Liverpool

In this new series, we talk to film fanatics from all around the United Kingdom about their passion for film photography and the best places to shoot in their hometown. Today, we meet Alexandra Huemer from Liverpool.

Name: Alexandra Huemer
LomoHome: wendyfruitcake
Where I Live: Liverpool

Tell us a bit about yourself

I moved to Liverpool in 2010 to go to university, and then ended up staying after I finished my degree. Together with a friend I have started a music company, Spin Cycle & Rinse, which helps young musicians take their first steps in the industry. In between things I am a freelance writer and music journalist. When I don’t go out on photo sprees I spend my spare time reading, drinking coffee, watching TV shows, and trying to learn Italian. I also love to travel whenever I can; unfortunately, that’s not nearly as much as I’d like.

Where did your love for film photography start?

It only started in December 2014. I guess a good part of the blame can be laid on a dear friend of mine whose photography I’ve been watching and admiring for over a year. She and her work definitely inspired me to try it for myself, and I’m very grateful for it. One day I was aimlessly browsing the internet when I came across a purple Holga. I looked up photos [that] other people took with their Holgas and was immediately, totally, helplessly in love. I ordered that purple Holga the same night and am taking her everywhere since. She (yes, my Holga is a girl) has made the learning process very easy for me by giving me very clear ideas of what I can and cannot do with film. It has been a short but very fruitful ride so far, and I have no wish to stop anytime soon.

What are you favorite cameras, and why?

Definitely the Holga because she was my first love and she’s been very easy to work with, and I am having so much fun with the multiple exposure and the color flashes. I don’t think I’ll ever get bored with of it. I have also fallen for a Voigtländer VF135. I like its feel, it is pocket-sized but sturdy, and I have found that in combination with the Earl Grey film it takes weirdly fascinating, mysterious pictures with great contrast and lots of grain.

Tell us a bit about these photos you chose?

One half of these photos were taken in Liverpool, and they kind of reflect on how I see the city. There are these wonderful and impressive monuments like the Liver Building and St. George’s Hall, and on the other side there are trash-filled back streets and rundown buildings. It is a great contrast, and while I love all of the towns beautiful buildings and monuments, I think the decaying beauty of the town also has a really good story to tell.

The other set was taken in my hometown in Austria on a recent visit. On a winter day, suburban Austria can become the most silent place you know; there is only the quiet noise of trees and the crisp snow breaking under your weight when you walk. It is such a great place to just turn your brain off for a few days and refill your batteries, and that is kind of what the pictures represent to me – that safe place where I’m embraced by a calming silence and darkness.

Do you have any top spots for shooting in your town?

St. George’s Hall, inside and out, is a great place for pictures. It is a great backdrop for capturing people and also a great photo scene on its own. Same goes for the Picton Reading Room in the Central Library. This round-shaped space is pretty unique, and it’s filled with great books and blue spiral staircases. If nothing else it’s a wonderful place to get inspired. Last but not least, I love St. James’ Park with the old cemetery of the Anglican cathedral. Taking a walk among those decaying tombstones is a pretty humbling experience.

If you were to invent a new film camera, what would it do?

I was thinking for a while that it would be neat to be able to switch between 35mm and 120mm film using the same camera – but that wish has already been granted with the LC-A 120. I will definitely try that one out. Other than that I would kind of love an easier way to do infrared. For me as a beginner, the whole process seems a bit daunting at the moment. Obviously I don’t know enough about the process yet to know if this can be done, but if there was a camera that did IR exclusively, or had a magic IR switch or something, I would be all over that.

Thank you for taking part, Alex!

geschrieben von gise11e am 2015-03-10 in #Menschen #lomoamigo #community-amigo #section-people #category-lomoamigos #alexandra-huemer