Nina Rädel with the Lomo'Instant Square Glass

Nina Rädel is the woman behind "bandsonfilm", a personal project shooting bands on film (obviously.) We sent her a Lomo'Instant Square Glass to test out.

Hello Nina tell us a bit about yourself?

I am a London based music photographer, shooting a mix of live shows, portraits and behind the scenes photos on film. I am also interested in any kind of documentary-style photography and like to explore "forgotten" places, like brutalist housing estates and industrial sites.

You run Bands on Film, how did that come about?

When I moved to London two years ago I got to live my dream, to see bands every other night. I was completely blown away by how amazing the music scene is. I had experimented with disposable cameras before and when I looked back at these photos I got the idea to get a camera and document what is going on on London’s small stages. I'm trying to capture what the band is about and to give people a feeling what the show was like; including bruises and beer in your hair. I'm always happy when people tell me that they have discovered bands through my photos. That is the goal.

What is the appeal of shooting film over digital?

To be honest I started shooting film simply because I couldn’t afford a proper DSLR camera. So I decided to make film my thing. I like the little imperfections of film photos – in my opinion that represents small rock bands playing run down stages better than perfectly edited digital shots. I like that photos can look so different depending on the film and camera you use (and you don't know before you try it).

How did you get on with the Lomo'Instant Square Glass and what did you shoot?

I took the Lomo'Instant Square Glass on a trip to Germany where I spend a day in Hamburg with the lovely guys of Preoccupations. They are Canadian and one of my favourite bands. Unfortunately they use excessive amounts of smoke in their live shows so photographing that was nearly impossible, but I took some shots of them in the venue's yard, the greenroom and a bar we went to after. Back home I took some photos of my friends on a hot day by the river. I'm really happy how they turned out. I love how compact the camera is, that was my issue with other instant cameras, I never took them anywhere because they were too big and heavy, but the Lomo'Instant Square Glass fits in my camera bag. My favourite feature is the multiple exposure setting, in combination with the bright colours of the instax film you can get some great results.

Anything fun coming up in the future?

I have just launched my new photo zine with a big party, so I'm taking a short break from music photography now. I'm going on a West Coast road trip next month on which I hope to shoot many interesting people, beautiful landscapes and work with other photographers. The Lomo'Instant Square Glass will definitely come with me. In fall I will probably travel to Germany to shoot some shows of Idles.

To find out more about bandsonfilm visit thier Instagram page.

2018-09-15 #people #london #uk #lomo-instant-square-glass #bandsonfilm #nina-radel