Drenched in Hues: Philippines' Charisma Lico and the Lomo'Instant Wide

Filipino photographer Charisma Lico may be young but her experience and work speak volumes about her as an artist. She had a quick chat with us about using the Lomo'Instant Wide and shares with us her photos taken with some color gel fun.

Please introduce yourself to the Lomography community and the readers of the Online Magazine.

Hi, I’m Charisma Lico, a fashion and commercial photographer based in Manila. I usually shoot editorials for fashion magazines and campaigns for fashion brands.

What is your origin story as a photographer?

I have always wanted to be a photographer ever since high school, which made me take up Advertising Arts in college. After I graduated, I applied apprenticeship under a fashion and advertising photographer. Since then I have been accepting commissioned shoots for online shops and personal clients.

How would you describe your style as a photographer?

I would describe my style as something very feminine, soft with creamy color colors. Mostly suitable for women as the subject.

What/Who do you consider as the greatest influence in your craft?

I used to always buy fashion magazines and my top photographer idols were Steven Meisel and Mert and Marcus. So I try to apply the factors that I like in their shoots to my own. As I create more shoots, I realized that my work has slight resemblance with Camilla Akrans’ shoots which made me search for more of her works.

How do you develop your skills?

Developing skills would consume a lot of time for practicing or doing more test shoots where we can experiment with the use of different lighting techniques. That thirst and passion to learn something new should be there.

Tell us a little more about your Lomo'Instant Wide experience? Any challenges or interesting stories?

I’m happy that I got to try the Lomo’Instant Wide as it is so much different to what I usually produce during shoots. I would recommend it if you just want to have fun with taking photos and have cool shots. I like that it’s film of course. A lot of digital apps are now trying to mimic the film effect and it’s just hard to replicate that authenticity. So when I want to go artsy, I always bring my Lomo'Instant Wide with me.

My top 3 favorite features are the following:

• I love the color gel filters that come with the package. That is my favorite. It can instantly change the mood of the photos.

• The lens cap, which is also a remote, is actually helpful especially when I want to take self-portraits since I’m not really used to having someone to take my photos.

• I also like the multiple exposure effect, which I tried in some of my self-portraits though the subject isn’t clear so it kind of appears like a ghost effect. Nonetheless, I still like it.

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

I cannot really disclose much detail about my future projects but I’m excited with the release and final layout of the campaign that we did for SM Accessories.

Get even more inspired by Charisma's growing career when you keep updated through her website, Instagram account and Facebook page.

written by crissyrobles on 2018-03-29 #people