LomoAmigo: Everywhere We Shoot Shoots with the New Petzval 85 Art Lens

From schoolmates in college to creative power couple, Everywhere We Shoot has come a long way. This husband and wife team from the Philippines has made an impression with a portfolio of photos and graphic design.. EWS’ work has been commissioned by top-caliber brands, published on noteworthy magazines and exhibited on foreign shores.

Ryan and Garovs Vergara have made a name for themselves, particularly in the Manila and Japan art scene. Their style, as they say, is ‘straightforward and raw,’ and such attributes make their work stand out. Everywhere We Shoot owns an aesthetic not commonly seen in the portfolio of many Manila-based photographers. Straightforward, raw, bordering on whimsical at times and never ever boring, Everywhere We Shoot’s style defies convention as we know it.

In this interview, Ryan and Garovs talk about their artistic beginnings and share their experience with the Petzval 85 Art Lens.

Please introduce yourselves to the Lomo community and the readers of the Online Magazine.

Hello we are Ryan and Garovs, we are Everywhere We Shoot! We met in college in 2004 and discovered a mutual obsession with the same magazines: Spin, Fader, Trace, Nylon, i-D, 10, Self Service, and more! Ryan was studying Multimedia Arts, while Garovs just finished Fashion Design. As a school assignment in 2005, we would dress our friends up, then drive around looking for a good spot to take their pictures. We had a lot of stuff so we created a website to put our works in and named it everywhereweshoot.com, and too soon, we started getting work from it.

We got married in 2012, until now we are still trying to maintain a healthy work/life balance at home. Our works are always very personal so we always end up having our works as something related to us.

How did you get started with photography?

Reality Bites-like home videos and disposable cameras!

How would you describe your style (as photographers/artists)?

Straightforward and raw. Both for work and art.

What subjects do you particularly like to take photos of?

Around our house, plants and our cat Fuzi.

What would you count as your greatest achievement?

Being together everyday.

Digital or analogue? Does it matter which?

Analogue is beautiful, cannot compare it to digital. They compensate for each other. In analogue/film photography it is hard to take bad photos, even errors can become art… But, it is more costly and takes a lot of time to produce. Digital is fast but you have to work on it post-shoot to get the film quality you like.

How would you compare your experience of shooting with the Petzval Lens with using other Lomography products?

Amazing bokeh especially the swirlys! Since we used it with a digital camera, we felt as if we had a film camera with a digital back!

How about with other lenses?

The Petzval’s usage is near 50mm 1.8, WITH SUPER BOKEH POWERS.

Can you tell us a little more about your Petzval experience? Any interesting things you encountered or challenges?

The Petzval is a bit heavier than our other lenses. We brought it with us for a location shoot, and when shooting for work usually the shots are calculated and you already know how the picture will come out. But the Petzval gave our photos a raw, cinematic look.

What is your favorite feature or what do you like most about the Petzval Lens?

The swirl bokeh, the brass body, and the manual aperture that makes you forget you are using digital.

For what kind of projects would you recommend the Petzval?

Any outdoor location shoot, especially when backgrounds are of trees or buildings.

Any tips for first time shooters?

Go out! Let go of your phone and take lots of pictures of everything!

Do you have ongoing or upcoming projects that you would like to tell the community about?

We have a solo photo exhibit in Cohju Contemporary Art, Kyoto, Japan. Please visit if you are there :)

All photos taken with the Lomography Petzval 85 Art Lens and a Canon 5D Mark II Camera.

Learn more about Everywhere We Shoot on their official website. Follow Everywhere We Shoot on Instagram @everywhereweshoot and on Facebook.

written by Jill Tan Radovan on 2016-05-30 #gear #people #manila #philippines #everywhereweshoot #petzval #petzval-85-lens #ryan-vergara #garovs-vergara