Lomography x Exposure Toronto: Meet Jibril Yassin

We're proud to partner with Exposure Toronto on this new series of artist features. Exposure Toronto was founded in 2020 as a not-for-profit organization focusing on the amplification of Black creatives within the photography industry. Their community and studio are built to provide a safe and accessible space; as well as financial, physical resources and opportunities.

We want to get to know these talented artists involved and support Exposure Toronto in highlighting the artists' work and thoughts. That's why we sent Exposure Toronto some Lomography films and Art Lenses for their photographers to play with. Lastly, for this inspiring series, we are thrilled to highlight Jibril Yassin and his photo series with our Berlin Kino 400 film.

Welcome to Lomography Jibril! Can you introduce yourself to our readers?

Hi! I’m a nice person! Sometimes I take pictures.

Can you describe your relationship with film photography?

I’ve been shooting film for several years. Film is my weapon of choice and I appreciate the forethought and execution that goes hand-in-hand with film photography.

How and why did you get involved with Exposure Toronto?

I had been booking their studio space for some time when I was approached about this. Exposure is the best. Full stop.

What are you hoping to achieve with your photography?

Something awe-inspiring, I hope! Something I can look back on several years removed from the experience and enjoy wholeheartedly.

You took these portraits with our Berlin Kino 400 film. What do you make of the results?

Black and white is always a challenge to shoot with and I’m thankful for another crack at it. Berlin Kino is such a dope film stock.

Do you like to plan your shoots or have it spontaneous? Why?

I try to plan them out so I have an idea of what I want and set a structure to work with but leave room for happy accidents and improvisations. I find overplanning shoots can result in an extreme sort of tunnel vision which can ignore a lot of important things you wanted to have that you may not have considered.

How do you get your model to pose the way they do? Any tips for working with a model?

Sometimes I have specific ideas in mind if I know the model well enough or want to try something with the environment but I tend to let them pose however they feel is best for the situation and go further from there. Trust your models and make them feel comfortable enough to perform their roles well!

Top three go-to items for a shoot?

Batteries, a reflector, and a Bluetooth speaker.

What else are you passionate about and how might they influence your work?

Fashion photography, surrealism, 32-bit video games and really awful early ‘90s band portraits have taught me to just embrace what you have around to create something interesting and figure out the rest later.

What are you working on at the moment; anything we can expect?

I have a few things in the works, nothing too concrete. I’ve been working on and off on a zine I’d like to self-publish within the next year or two. But I’d like to do more collaborations and work for brands in the meantime.

Thanks, Jibril for sharing with us. Find more of his work on his website!

written by kaylalew on 2022-01-28 #gear #people #black-and-white #canada #lomography #berlin-kino-400 #exposure-toronto #jibril-yassin