How has yours gone so far? I hope it’s full of those beautiful colors and lots of lush views. Enough to fit in and look good in a square photo snaps like what Ben Galvin did!

A few months ago, our Lomo Amigo Christophe Dillinger teamed up with us in pursuit of publishing a special edition of Square Magazine a new book, and asked everyone in the Lomographic community to show one’s year in square. A kind of a competition that called for images strictly taken with the format we’re all familiar with – the square, each attached with stories of the photographers has to tell.

After the grueling task of going over the entries, finally 6 analogue photographers were chosen and today, we’re going to attempt to take a deeper look at the winning entries, starting with Ben Galvin.

My friends are all having babies.
Ben Galvin

Having children and surrounding myself with yet even more people was the furthest thing from my mind. I live in Madrid and share it with more than three million others, most of whom spent the first part of 2010 in the street endlessly celebrating. The World Cup, Gay Pride, Easter week, the list of fiestas goes on and on…

I’m English, uptight and like being alone. I took my girlfriend away from her family celebrations and fled to the Outer Hebrides. We ran around on remote hilltops, danced hysterically along vast empty beaches and enjoyed being on own with nobody to bother us. A world without people, just what I’d wanted.

Later on I visited my mother in my home town. She raised nine children, something that’s always amazed me. How could she cope with being constantly surrounded? How did she get through it and not go insane?

Afterwards, I went to see my friends and their new families. I accompanied them everywhere and observed their screaming babies, hyperactive toddlers, day in day out of nappy changing, breast feeding and temper tantrums. I left them after a week, pretty certain of how much they envied my freedom to come and go as I pleased.

I returned to Madrid, developed my photos, took one look at them…and realised how wrong I’d been about everything.

I don’t want to be alone.

written by fookshit on 2010-12-25 #lifestyle #winners #square-magazine #year-in-square