Petzval In All Its Glory by Chris Pollard

London based photographer Chris Pollard captured the catwalks and presentations of London Collections: Men (LCM) – the capital’s showcase of menswear trends this season with the Petzval Lens. His wonderful photos from that night will be showcased in our Lomography Soho Store from Feb 5th onwards. Keep on reading for the details.

Hello Chris, remind us who you are and what you do?
I’m a photography enthusiast working in the fashion industry as a graphic designer. In the last few years I’ve become fascinated with analogue photography – I’ve found it really helps me develop creatively. I enjoy experimenting with mediums such as Petzval and Polaroid as they force me to try and capture a scene with just a single shot, rather than taking hundreds of frames and choosing just one.

Tell us a bit about theses Petzval shots
In my last post for ‘Lomoamigos’, I took the Petzval//Nikon camera to the countryside to get acquainted with the part analogue, part digital set up. Feeling more proficient, I headed back to more familiar settings: the catwalks and presentations of London Collections: Men (LCM) – the capital’s showcase of menswear trends this season.

The images I have chosen depict very distinct brands. I have a strong interest in tailoring so I made sure to capture the debonaire models in their bespoke suits at the Gieves & Hawkes and Savile Row presentations. In contrast, I was drawn to the gritty motorcycle styles at Belstaff and the pre-catwalk excitement at Sibling.

How have you been getting on with the lens?
I feel much more at ease using a Petzval lens since tackling LCM. The lighting and speed of catwalks are quite unforgiving, especially when using a lens with no direct aperture control! For me one of the difficulties was not having much distance between the foreground and background which meant I couldn’t take full advantage of the lens’ bokeh. But when the composition came together, the analogue properties really set the photos apart and made it totally worth while.

What do you have planned for 2015?
I want to take my photography a little more seriously this year. I still see myself as an enthusiastic amateur but I’m trying to develop further – I’m aiming to achieve my Licentiate award with the Royal Photographic Society in the near future. Also with my day job as a graphic designer for Ralph Lauren, I want to begin incorporating more photography into my work, eventually shooting in the studio is Milan.

Petzval In All Its Glory by Chris Pollard
February 5th – March 5th
London based Fashion photographer Chris Pollard documented the catwalks and parties from the London Collections: Men AW15 through a Petzval lens. Join us for the private view of this exhibition Feb 5th from 6-9pm with complimentary drinks. This event is FREE.

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sohostore@lomography.com
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Sunday: 12 – 5pm
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written by hannah_brown on 2015-01-20 in #people #accessories #analogue-photography #uk #portraits #analogue-cameras #exhibitions #lomoamigo #eastlondon #35mm-films #120-films #londonsoho #petzval #chris-pollard