Newcomer of the Week: alexvoyer

Alex Voyer’s LomoHome is his ode to two things he loves the most: water and photography. Get to know our featured community newcomer from Paris, France in this brief interview.

Name: Alex Voyer
LomoHome: @alexvoyer
Location: Paris, France

Please tell us something about yourself and what you do.

I am 37-year-old French and I live in Paris. I love water and photography. I am free diving instructor and long distance swimmer. I’ll go in any place where there is water to take some photos. I used to go to many pools in Paris but now I travel around the world looking for new places to go swimming and diving.

How did you find the Community and who/what convinced you to join?

I used to make a lot of digital photos. But going into the water with heavy stuff is not convenient so I came back to using this a film waterproof camera. I found a community of people who shoots this type of photos in Lomography and I wanted to share my photos with them!

As you have read the 10 Golden Rules of Lomography, what rule do you apply in your everyday life?

Of course, I read the golden rules. The last rule—Don’t worry about any rules—is certainly the most important for me. Taking underwater photos is very strict and conventional. We must use big housing and flashes and are confined to strict rules. However, the photos all look the same. It is impossible to recognize the photographer who took them.

Lomography is exactly the opposite. Each photographer has a unique and strong personality because he doesn’t follow the rules! It is easy to say this but it is very hard to do! I try to keep this in mind.

In this digital age, why still film?

For a lot of reasons. As I told you, I also have a digital camera which makes wonderful images. I can take a lot of images but only a few memorable ones. With film, when you press the shutter button you know that it is an important moment that you have captured. Even more so underwater because it is impossible to change the film when you want it. I think that we lost this kind of thinking with digital photography.

Your favorite analog camera as of the moment? Why?

I love my Nikonos V camera. It is a small one but it has a very good lens. Here is an article I wrote about this camera.

What is the Lomographic camera you’d want to have someday?

I would love to get an underwater Polaroid or an underwater medium format! I can be your beta tester! (Laughs)

Any song or movie you live by?

“Air Mail Special” from Ella Fitzgerald. When I heard this song for the first time on an LP I bought in a flea market, I listened to it for perhaps ten times. Then I wondered why I never heard this song before in my life. I was 20 then. There was no internet yet.

I discovered that the media are really selling sh** and now I know that we must look for good artists. The internet and communities, like Lomography, are a very good way to discover real talents!

Share your current favorite lomograph, could be yours or a friend’s. Why?

I have no really favorite lomograph and certainly not mine. All the photographs are so different. It’s like asking me if I prefer ice cream or French wine…impossible to say! Sorry!

Any Community member you look up to? If so, why him or her?

I am discovering a lot of photographer each day. It is very difficult to say but I suggest that you start browsing through the community of film photographers who shoot underwater. A few months ago, I discovered Nikonos Project which is totally filled with photographs taken using Nikonos cameras!

What are you looking forward to in our Community?

I look forward to seeing different photos taken with different films and cameras. The community is a big source of inspiration in this world where everybody wants a camera with a bigger sensor and shoots more pixels!

2016-05-22 #newcomer #newcomer-of-the-week