Community Amigo: David Morrow from Warwickshire

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 David Morrow from Warwickshire.

Name: David Morrow
LomoHome: davecmorrow
Where I Live: Nuneaton, Warwickshire

Tell us a bit about yourself

During the week I work as an Assistant Finance Manager for a group of engineering firms. It’s a very busy job. On weekends, I enjoy riding my motorbikes around and obviously taking photos of things I think are interesting as I see them flash by. When digital cameras took over from film cameras in shops, I almost stopped taking photos. Then one day I stumbled across my old cameras in a box and remembered how much fun I had taking photos. Since then, I have not stopped. There is now always at least one camera with film in [with me]. My next challenge is to start developing my own films.

Where did your love for film photography start?

I have been doing film photography from my childhood. Back then, I would only use a camera while on holiday. As I got older and started a part-time job (a paper round), I started using cameras more. The only camera I could afford at the time was an old Zenit-E. The images I got with that camera and the Halina 150 (red) while on holiday in Ireland, seeing where my dad was from, got me hooked on photography. Sadly, I cannot not find the photos anymore but I can still remember the old abandoned house where my dad grew up and all the landscape shots I took. Hopefully I will be able to find those photos again one day.

What are you favorite cameras and why?

My favorite cameras would be any from the Zenit range. I still have my first Zenit-E I bought when I was a teenager and still use it. I now have five different Zenits: E, EM, 122 (5th edition), 412LS, and KM plus. They are all great fun to use and the Helios lens is fantastic – you can get some really lovely bokeh photos with it. I like the Zenit-E for its usability [and] robust build quality. I’ve had it for around 20 years and have not managed to kill it. I think the Zenit KM is also cool because it is the most modern and has automatic advance and automatic settings.

Tell us a bit about these photos you chose.

A: This is the phone box in the village I grew up in. Sadly, you don’t see red telephone boxes very often. The bright red of the phone box compared to the dull background colors in this photo looks really good.

B: This was taken at the Reading Festival c. 2002, the year I finished at Uni. It was a great weekend and this portrait from it just looks amazing.

C: This is good example of the bokeh while using one of the Zenits. I love poppies and the bokeh really makes them stand out.

A: It shows what my cat loves doing most: sitting down and doing nothing. The colors and the background really work well.

B: I selected this one because it is from the first film swap I did. I think this double works quite well, and getting the photos back from the developers was the most excited I’d been waiting for photos for awhile.

C: This is Astley Castle. I stumbled across this building when I stopped to take a photo of the church next to it. It is now one of my favorite buildings. I really love photos of abandoned buildings. Although the castle has been rebuilt, you can still see the damaged parts.

A: This one has a great mix of colors. This kitten hardly sat still for a few seconds so I was very lucky to get this photo.

B: I love street art and this one is nice and fun. I saw a picture of this on the Lomo site so while on holiday in Brussels, I managed to find it and get my own picture of the street art. Why can’t more street art be like this?

C: This is my brother test riding his bike. We both have bikes from this garage which is one of my favorite places to visit. They always have lots of bikes I want to buy, if only I had more money! Going out on the weekend on one of my bikes with a camera in my pocket is always a great adventure, so coming back to where one of the bikes came from makes me happy.

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

I’ve only been in Nuneaton for a year and really finding my way around the town. However, my favorite place to shoot is the site of the old brick factory. It was turned into a large park years ago and there is a great mixture of wildlife, forest areas, footprints of the old factories, and even artwork relating to the past use of the site. It took me a while to work out what these big metal things are, then one day I realized [that] they are large metal bricks. Every time you go to the park there is always something new or different to shoot: new flowers in the summer, birds nesting, or swans with cygnets on the lakes.

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

Now, this really is a good question. What I would really like is an SLR that shot on the sprockets and allows me to use all the lenses I have for the Zenits. The Lomography Sprocket Rocket I have is fun to use and I love how the images come out, but it would be nice to have an SLR with all the features you would expect on an SLR and be able to take 36 photos.

Thanks for taking part, David!

written by gise11e on 2015-03-03 #people #cat #zenit #cats #music-festival #poppies #zenit-e #warwickshire #lomoamigo #community-amigo #section-people #category-lomoamigos #david-morrow