Monika Mitterdorfer
Bringing back the magic of analogue, Monika Mitterdorfer, aka agrimony, is a Lomographer from Innsbruck, Austria. Read on to hear her insights, recommendations and more!
Making things appear out of nowhere or capturing something that I see on a piece of foil is like magic. I know it’s a chemical process that makes this possible but I still find it amazing! As a child, I believed in wonders and photography remains some kind of miracle to me even as an adult.
The world’s first dual-format instant camera with a glass lens for unrivaled freedom and the sharpest instants imaginable with Instant Mini Back and special lens attachments included, elegantly adorned in charming pastel leather.
I like to alienate my images and add a magical effect. To achieve this supernatural effect, I use techniques like multiple exposures or shoot with high contrast black and white films and experimental color-shifting films like LomoChrome Purple.
I also like to work with blur or get very close to my subjects. Furthermore, I love to materialize light in my pictures. My favorite lens for this style of photography is the Daguerreotype Achromat Art Lens – it gives my photographs the little touch of magic that I want and the different aperture plates are especially perfect for this. I also like that I can use it as a macro to get really close.
On my photo hikes and on holidays I often take the Neptune Convertible Art Lens System with me because it has three lenses for different shooting situations. They are small and relatively lightweight, can be used with several aperture plates and as macros too.
To make my images even more abstract, I think about different processes that I can use in addition to the effects I can achieve with my camera or special films and lenses. I prepare my cameras to achieve special effects, I manipulate my films with different chemicals and tools and I add light-sensitive emulsions on photos – for example, on those instant photos taken with the Lomo’Instant Square Glass.
Technique: Sunprints on Instant Photos
I wanted to use several light-sensitive liquids, like Solarfast and Cyanotype-Sensitizer on instant photos but first I had to find a primer because the surface of the instant would not absorb the liquids. I tried various kinds of primers – gelatin, gesso, photo transfer potch and so on. All of these materials work, but they must not be completely dry (except gelatin). After about two to three hours of drying time, I added the light-sensitive liquid (in a darkened room) with a soft paintbrush and placed objects like plants or other flat things on the surface of the instant. Then, I carefully attached the photo to a picture frame and exposed it to the sunlight for a few minutes. After that, I washed the photo and left it to dry completely.
All photos were taken by Monika Mitterdorfer. You can follow her on Lomography.