Fast Favorite: Mark Oblow and the Minitar-1

Artist, skateboarder, and photographer Mark Oblow recently joined our lineup of LomoAmigos. Here, he shares his shots with the Minitar-1 Art lens, which he told us didn’t leave his camera for many days while he was testing it, as he loved it so much!

You are an impressively versatile photographer with a wide range of subjects. Talk to us a bit about the differences between shooting celebrities, skating and your own personal projects such as those shared in your online journal.

“There are a ton of differences between what I shoot. I think the first big difference is whether it’s a job with a client or shooting for a personal project.

When it’s a job, it’s a collaboration with the client or brand, so there are restrictions and other people’s opinions on what is being created. When it’s personal, it’s all my own vision.

The thing about shooting with celebrities is time; I can get anywhere from 15 minutes to a few hours, so it’s 110% go time till they walk offset. With skateboarding, you can shoot all day and come up with nothing. In skateboarding, if you don’t land the trick the photo is no good till you do. Running a bail or a photo of someone that did not make the trick is frowned upon.

I enjoy all the different subjects for different reasons, but the biggest reason is that it makes every day unpredictable and unique."

How do you manage to capture your skateboarding subjects at just the right moment during their impressive tricks? They look almost frozen in the air–any blurriness hinting at the movement is utterly non-existent.

“I’ve been skateboarding since the 80’s so I know it like the back of my hand. I know the tricks the guys are trying so I know when the best moment to capture them is. You need to be panning the camera while shooting with a fast shutter to capture them crisp.”

Your shot within this series of swimmers wading into turquoise waters between two hills looks quite surreal and voyeuristic due to the perspective the photograph was taken from. How did you make this shot and what sort of effect were you pursuing?

“I was shooting from a moving car while panning in the same direction as the car, which causes movement in the photo.”

The Minitar lens is known for its high performance in all sorts of lighting situations–low-light and even candlelight. What kind of light did you use for these photos and how do you think the lens interacted with your lighting circumstances?

“I shot with this lens in Hawaii so I was using it with a ton of natural light. The colors that the lens was able to pull in were amazing, as well as its ability to vignette. I also loved the size of the lens and how compact it is. Overall, I truly loved working with it and would recommend it 100%.”

Your journal entries combine photography, collage and drawing. What is your relationship with these three mediums–does one influence the others or do they all work together synchronistical?

“As an artist, I work with a bunch of different mediums, I bounce back and forth between them and they all intertwine with each other. I use spray paint, stencils, pen & ink, woodblocks, photos and other found materials from my travels. My journals are my art outlet, they are my way of putting my ideas on paper, as well as a time capsule of my work and life.”

Need to get a piece of the action yourself? Get the Minitar-1 from the Lomography Online Shop.

Keep up with more of Mark Oblow’s work at his website, and Instagram.

written by katphip on 2016-09-20 #gear #culture #people #places