UK Community Amigo: Dale Wightman from Southgate

In a new series, we talk to film fanatics from all around the UK about their passion for film photography and their favourite places to shoot in their home town. Today we go to Southgate in London to meet Dale Wightman who works at Middlesex University, loves the Spinner and DJ’s at the Silent Discos.

Name: Dale Wightman
Website: dalewightmanphotography.com
LomoHome: dalegem
Where I Live: Southgate, North London, UK

Tell us about yourself.

I’m married to a feisty Portuguese lady and a very proud father to a beautiful 9-month-old baby girl, Maria. I studied Performing Arts at Uni and have taught drama workshops for children from 3 to 18. I work as a freelancer in video and photography. Since 2008 I have taught part-time at Middlesex University on the Television Production Course. I sometimes DJ – most recently getting involved in Silent Discos at the highest place in Europe – The Shard. I like to smile as much as possible and live life to the full, creating and sharing memories with friends and family all the time. I’m never without a camera and during half a years travel through South East Asia and New Zealand, I took 9 cameras with me!

Where did your love for film photography start?

I’ve always been the go-to guy for photos after an event and have boxes of old pictures from my teenage years through to University. I took GCSE photography in 1998 and loved developing my own black and white photos – I want to make my own darkroom one day. Although I have and work with a Canon 5D Mark III, I still LOVE to shoot with film as there are some great cameras out there and you can’t beat that nostalgia that film gives. Also, waiting for a film to be developed is half of the fun….it’s a chance to capture the unknown and be surprised a week later.

What are your favourite cameras and why?

The Spinner – great camera. I take it with me on all my travels to capture great landscape photos. I’ve also used it at weddings as a great group photo…it really interests people. I also love the SuperSampler as it is a great way to tell a story in 4 frames.

Tell us a bit about these photos you chose?

• Andre Wedding – I love using the spinner at weddings…it keeps everyone interested and creates great photos
• Bubbles – I attended my first festival in 2012 and captured random people at the event and this lady kindly blew her bubbles at me!
• Garden Friends – the spinner creates a ‘thing’ that we all need to do as well as capturing a great photo
• Honeymoon – the spinner really shows off everything around our little hut by the beach from a very special holiday
• Kiss – my wife hates posing for photos so I tried capturing this without her knowing
• London 2012 – great event and the 360 view shows off all the stadium
• Lucy Rose – Great performance and I love the light leak in this photo
• Maria Food – there is always time to take photos of my baby. I’m storing up an archive ready for her 18th birthday!
• Maria Hat – this is one of my favourite pictures of my baby girl
• Muni – during our travels, this beach was completely empty….so we ran around….(I had to pick a photo without clothes on!)

Tell us your top 3 locations for shooting in your town?

The underground is always an interesting place to capture stills. Trent Park – it’s where I studied, although the buildings are now owned by someone else you can still walk around the campus. When the daffodils come out it is beautiful. My garden – it’s not big but it’s where I host BBQ gatherings with friends and family when the weather is right so it holds lots of great memories for me.

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

Wow – not sure…I love the cameras that Lomography have and I still have a few on my birthday wish list. Maybe a dual camera that shoots photos in both directions at the same time or something. Oooo no, I know…a camera that can take photos like an old photobooth! 4 selfies on a slight timer! That would be awesome…call it the Lomo boothy.

Thanks for taking part of our series, Dale!

written by hannah_brown on 2014-06-28 #people #street-photography #accessories #lomography-gallery-store #gallery-store #features #lomoamigo #eastlondon #tributes #35mm-films #tutorials #120-films #londonsoho #southgate