Ben Nardini: When Extreme Sports Meet Analogue Photography
7 Share TweetToday, we gain altitude with Ben Nardini, director of photography and pilot of drone for Almo film production. Passionate about image, whether static or moving, Ben meets the LC-Wide in the LGS in New York. He is taking this little analogue camera everywhere ever since, even when the good fellow leaves for Alaska. Let's go for a special meeting "from the top"!
Name: Benjamin Nardini
Job: director of photography and a drone pilot at Almo film
Lomohome: bennfilms
Gear: LC-Wide and a Lubitel 2 camera
Hello Ben, could you please tell us more about you?
Hi, I'm Benjamin Nardini. I'm the director of photography and a drone pilot at Almo film. I'm 31 and live in Roquebrune Cap Martin (Côte d'Azur, France). I come from a little ski resort located one hour away from Nice and called Valberg.
I've started to film when I was 17 years old and while I was taking my ski instructor exam. Back then, I borrowed my parents' camera and shot my buddies snowboarding and freestyle-skiing. Then, I left to live one year in Canada and was cleaning the ski resort lodge where I met different production companies who came to shoot parts of their movies. I was lucky enough to stay with them for a bit. I completely loved it and from this moment I understood I wanted to have a similar job. When I got back to France, I bought some professional gear and this is how I started. Finally I had the opportunity to link my two passions: image and mountain. It's been two years now that I'm mainly working as the director of photography and drone pilot at Almo film.
Tell us your story with photography.
It all started when I did my first season at Courchevel. I met two photographers, Cédric Nassi and Alexis Builles who live in the South of France and who came to do the winter season in Savoie. They both taught me what they know and back to the South of France I worked on some projects as a photo assistant. Then I invested in a Nikon D800 camera and used it a lot to do timelapses.
What was your very first analogue camera?
A Canon EOS100 camera I bought from a friend who wanted to do digital. Unfortunately, the camera only worked for a little while and I also went for digital until the end of last year.
What are the cameras you own?
Now I'm using my Lomo LC-Wide my wife bought me last year for my 30th birthday when we were in NYC. We found the LGS NYC by accident. It drove me to do analogue photography again so now I'm bringing my LC-Wide everywhere with me. I also purchased an old Lubitel 2 on Ebay because I love medium format and it was a nice way to do it. I also own two instant cameras, a Fujifilm Instax mini 90 and a Polaroid 600. I have a small collection of old cameras which are no longer working that I am displaying as part of my home interior.
What is your favorite camera?
My LC-Wide. I like its size that allows me to bring it with me everywhere. He's simple to use compared to my Lubitel 2. The Lubitel is completely manual so I have to use a lightmeter and it takes more time to take a picture. Unfortunately we don't have plenty of time during a shooting.
You're dedicating your shots to extreme sports and conditions and you're still using both analogue and digital gear. How do you choose your camera depending on your project?
Strictly speaking, I'm not a photographer. First of all I'm a cameraman. During shootings, I use my digital camera from time to time for timelapses but I'm always carrying my analogue camera in my bag.
Do analogue photography produce something else to extreme sports photography?
From my side, I don't use analogue cameras for action photography because I'm always busy filming or driving the drone in these moments. I use my analogue cameras to capture daily life, portraits, landscapes and backstage moments.
Why do we still choose to shoot film over digital?
Like for video, I think we still choose to shoot film for the grain. Even if we can know how to recreate this effect during post-production, it does not have the same character. Analogue allows to go back to the original creation process, with a limited number of exposures. You shoot your film, you process it and you wait for the result. I love it.
To what extent do you think that film and digital are complementary disciplines?
It's a matter of intention. The combination of the two technologies offers richness to the different projects we're working on.
Why do you use Lomography cameras?
I'm using Lomography analogue cameras for two main reasons:
- They're easy to use and quick. I don't have a lot of time during the shooting and it allows me to capture right away what I want because they're always within arm's reach.
- The Lomo camera are really easy to carry everywhere because they are small and it's an essential feature (especially for me because I've many things to carry with me and I've the feeling of being a real "photo supermarket".
Could you tell us more about your pictures and their stories ?
First, there is this small selection from a series I brought from our last trip in Alaska (for the shooting of Morgan Le Faucheur last movie, Crétins des Alpes, producted by Almo Film. We should have spent 13 days on the glacier but unfortunately the weather was really bad and we had to leave it after six intense days of shooting. You can see the chapter of the movie here.
It's an extract from the shooting of Great Passes Tour; during this trip we followed some riders in some of the most beautiful alpine passes.
A great time of laugh. If I remember, correctly, one of the riders, Victor Daviet, did a serie with a Lomo LC-A+ featured in your mag. You can also see the video of Act and Vans here.
These two shots show how you can be surprised when you shoot film.
Adversiting shooting for Almo Film / Ludwig
I'm lucky to have a job that allows me to see beautiful places. This selection shows how I'm using my LC-Wide and the way I'm shooting these amazing landscapes.
LC-Wide favorite features?
First: its size and the way it's an easy-peasy camera. When I'm shooting, I've a lot of gear to carry so it's a great advantage to have such a small camera. Moreover, I haven't got plenty of time to use my camera so with the LC-Wide, I just have to take it out of my pocket, select the focusing zone and... shoot.
And the favorite features of the Lubitel ?
I love medium format and the finish when the settings are perfect and when you don't have any issue with your film. I think 120 format is my favorite format. Unfortunately, I don't use this camera a lot because it needs time and films and the processing is expensive.
Some new projects to share with us?
We have two huge ongoing projects with Almo Film. First, we should come back to Alaska with Thomas Delfino for a new expedition in April for a new movie. Then we've a huge ongoing documentary about Mathieu Crepel. The shooting should last two years so there are many planned trips and so many photos in sight...
Any bedside reading, picture or artist you'd like to share with us?
- A bedside reading: Le principe de Lucifer by Oward Bloom
- An artist: JR. I'm following this artist since I've discovered his project called Inside Out. We were lucky enough with my wife to meet him and the American director Darren Aronofsky. We joined their project « La Marche » (more infos here)
Besides photography and extreme sports, do you have other hobbies? Macram? Zumba?
I'm a real geek so I like all the stuff connected to this culture and new technologies.
A last word?
Film photography is not dead !
Lomography rimes with?
Philosophy
Thank you Ben !
Let's finish the interview with the last movie mentioned above by Ben : Crétins des Alpes !
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