Foamlabbers as LomoAmigos: #2 Erik

Seven young photography fans in one creative team – meet our newest Amigo’s Foam Lab. Rosa got the ball rollin’. Now it’s about time for the next foamlabber in the series – please meet Erik Kroes!

Name: Erik Kroes
City: Rotterdam
Country: The Netherlands

Tell the community a little bit about yourself. What do you do for fun and is it the same thing you do for a living?

Well dear community. I’m a passionate photographer all the way. Not like I was walking around with a camera in my hands when I was two years old or something like that. But at a certain point photography made me curious and it never left me. That has resulted in a photography study. I’m graduating at the St. Joost Academy in Breda at the moment. Next to that there’s Foam Lab which I’m part of together with 6 other enthusiastic youngsters.

How did you end up being a Foamlabber and what is your experience so far?

I noticed an interesting job application during my internship in Switzerland last year which really grabbed my attention. I was lucky enough to be allowed to apply through Skype. I haven’t had a silent moment since. One project isn’t properly up and running yet or we think of three others already. It’s a good thing that we have a really wonderful group to work with and Foam as a truly inspiring work place. When you leave the museum walking through exhibitions after a day of hard work you realize again that it’s worth all the hassle.

How long have you been a Lomographer or are you new to this whole thing.

I’ve held one in my hands before from a fellow Foamlabber but I don’t own one. I usually work with my digital camera a lot so I can pull all sorts of digital stunts. Besides that I do own a medium and large format camera but those are far from Lomo. It took some getting used to working with a Lomo because usually the details play a large role in my photography. The Diana that I had with me actually gave the best results when I put the subject smack bang in the middle.

How does an average day of Erik look like?

Average is such a complicated word. My days are so different. On Wednesdays and Thursdays I get out of bed early to take the train to Amsterdam for Foam Lab. On Mondays and Tuesday I travel to Breda for my study. And then there’s my family in Apeldoorn that I visit regularly and my girlfriend in Deventer that I want to spend time with as well. So on average, I’m always on my way to somewhere else. A sort of digital nomad; I can feel at home pretty much anywhere as long as there’s a laptop and a camera in my bag.

You take excellent snapshots! How do you capture such snapshots and would like to reveal your secret snapshot method?

With a Lomo off course! The most important thing with photography is often that you have to know what you want to communicate and take the time to think about how you’re gonna achieve that. With a Lomo that usually means: get in close and put your subject in the middle of the frame!

How did you like shooting with Lomography camera’s and what did your friends think about your analogue cameras and photo’s?

As I said, it took some getting used to but that went quite fast. My Diana was light, small and in my bag almost continuously. The Sprocket Rocket gave me nothing but smiles from everybody!

What was the strangest, funniest, or hands-down greatest photographic/Lomographic encounter you had while doing the series?

That has to be the opening of Anton Corbijn’s exhibition in Foam. Hanging out of the window while taking a picture of a huge line of people was really cool.

If you had to choose, which is your favorite photo form the selection and why?

The couple in the grass makes me smile. A nice analog atmosphere within the image and the subject!

If your photo selection should have a soundtrack, what would it be? (3 songs title & artists please)

The Postal Service – Such Great Heights
Berlin Serengeti – The Hop
Vitalic – Pony Pt. 1

What else is on the agenda for you? Anything you are looking forward to you would like to share?

With Foam Lab, there’s always something on the agenda. For example, there’s a new exhibition (Still/Life) opening on September the 9th to which we’ve added our own flavor with special paper tours and great movie clips with the participating photographers. I also have some thrilling photographic projects that I’m working on myself but I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything about those yet!

Your advice to future Lomographers is?

Take your camera with you all the time and everywhere. Take pictures with a purpose in mind. Be your worst critic but above all, keep enjoying yourself!

For more information about Foam Lab – go visit their eigen website, LomoHome and follow them via Facebook & Twitter.

More photos taken by Erik:

written by mrmaart on 2011-10-28 #people #foam #amigo #dianaf #amsterdam #netherlands #nederland #dutch #holland #lomoamigo #photography-museum-amsterdam #foamlab #sprocket-rocket #nld