Paper + Work: A Diana Instant Square Series by B.A. Van Sise

LomoAmigo B.A. Van Sise was all ears when we told him about the new Diana Instant Square, and he couldn't wait to get his hands on a prototype to test it. However, there is one thing that really bothered him: the paperwork around a product test shoot. Well, there is nothing really we can do about it, we told him, as every recognizable person in your photo needs to sign something. We are sending these photos out into the infinite space of the world wide web, after all. What we didn't know: this simple explanation sparked a genius idea in the artist's mind to create a very special series, just in time for Halloween! And because that mind is so beautifully, weirdly brilliant, we wanted to let him do the talking and introduce his series paper + work himself:

I've got a lot of unmet friends on social media— breakfast cereal-eating, Brooks Brothers types— and they all seem to have dogs. I know this because periodically a photograph will turn up of this dog or that, with a little paper sign in front of them: Rob's German Shepherd with one to say 'I pooped in Dad's bed,' Nathan's terrier with a rummagejumble of shredded detritus strewn across the living room behind him, Sherry and her gray shiba inu and a note to let the viewer know that Shadow ate all the bacon right there, right off the counter. The dog always looks appropriately ashamed, sitting before his smirking jury of thousands of internet strangers.

I am that dog. This is that note.

When @birgitbuchart from Lomography dropped me a line to ask me to test out their new prototype of the Diana Instant Square, she extolled its virtues: it prints the photographic work on a piece of paper right on the spot and leaks more light than Bonnie and Clyde's Ford. She also warned me, quite formally, that the pictures might show up on Lomography's website, and that I had to make sure to get a model release from each and every identifiable human being in every photograph.

I hate paperwork. I just hate it.

So I created this series of instant photographs — which I call paper + work — of somewhat vulgar impromptu portraits of anonimized subjects, printed from the camera over the course of two weeks. As a beverage, it's allsorts: friends at house parties, subjects of magazine shoots I had going anyway, and more than a few volunteers: breakfast cereal eating, dog-owning totally strange strangers from my social media.

I may or may not have declined, forgotten, and purposely eschewed telling the folks at Lomography anything about it. Were they happy about this? A gentleman never tells. But, as I said to them: at least there's no paperwork.

Curious about other projects by B.A. Van Sise? Make sure to check out his website and follow him on Instagram.

written by birgitbuchart on 2018-10-30 #gear #people #halloween #diana-instant-square