Capturing Autumn in Swedish Woodlands: Oscar Persson takes the LomoGraflok on a Walk

Two years ago, Oscar Persson, a.k.a That Bearded Guy, started a YouTube channel documenting his process of shooting landscapes around Scandinavia, and trying out analogue gear to share his thoughts with creatives and film photographers alike. Oscar uses a range of film formats on his channel, from 35 mm to medium and large format. We sent him a LomoGraflok 4x5 Instant Back to take into his local woodlands, and the resulting images are full of an ethereal Nordic charm. You can find Oscar's video documenting his experience below!

Hi Oscar, could you start by telling us a bit about yourself and how you got started with film photography?

The short answer is the Pandemic! The story goes: one night, I was browsing a Swedish online auction and came across this lovely Rolleiflex. I didn't know much about old cameras back then, but I knew about Hasselblad and Rolleiflex. I thought to myself, that looks cool, and it would be fun to try out. I placed a bid and held the highest bid for the longest time. Then, during the last 5 minutes of the auction, the price skyrocketed. I lost the auction, but a seed was planted. Now, I wanted a Rolleiflex, but I soon realized they were pretty expensive. Therefore, I looked into alternatives and ended up buying a Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex, which became my gateway into film photography.

I since acquired quite a few analogue cameras, and today I almost exclusively shoot film. In ways it was a pandemic hobby that stuck.

How did you get started with large-format photography, and what have you found most challenging and rewarding about working in this mode?

Large format has intrigued me since the start of my film photography journey. Large format is slow, cumbersome and impractical. What's not to like?

I'm very drawn to that. I like to take my time when out in the field. I love that it's a fuss. It indeed isn't for everyone, but there's something about things not being too easy. There's an immense satisfaction in seeing an image you worked for on that large negative.

The trickiest part for me has been composing on the ground glass. I still struggle with this. Often, I get the general idea right, but I often miss a small detail somewhere. Like not giving certain parts in the image enough breathing space. I have improved on it, and naturally, the more I shoot with large format, the more used to it I get.

You started your YouTube channel documenting your photographic process in 2021. What made you want to create these videos?

YouTube is something I've had in the back of my mind for a long time as something I wanted to try out. But I never felt I had the time I wanted for photography, and even less so to do videos on top of that. Then, in 2021, I switched career and went from working in an office to working in a depot. This also meant I switched from working office hours to working shifts.

I often work nights, and when I do that, I work seven nights straight. After which, I have one week off from work. Perfect for landscape photography and YouTubing! So, I started uploading videos and continued doing so. For me it's a way to share my passion for photography and a motivator for me to explore photography even more.

What attracts you to landscape and nature photography?

For me photography is foremost an artistic pursuit. But it's also a reason for me to go out and explore, to see what's beyond the next hill. In that pursuit, I found landscape and nature photography. Which both got me out of the door, pushed me to explore, and satisfied my need for artistic expression.

What do you feel is the most important thing to capture in your images? What excites you?

I love scenes that are messy in a good way. Like images with a lot of details and secondary subjects that flow well together. It's hard creating those images, it's very easy that those images becomes overwhelming and cluttered. But when done right, they can be beautiful. If they also contain a bit of grit, then it's golden.

How was your experience shooting with the LomoGraflok? Do you think it could become a permanent addition to your equipment?

I loved the LomoGraflok. It was so cool, and so fun shooting with. I have never shot instant film before, seeing the film straight after the exposure is magical. But more importantly, I loved the look out of Instax. It was tricky, though, especially getting the exposure right. I heard about the narrow dynamic range of Instax. I'm decent at spot-metering my scenes, but Instax is a different ballpark than negative film. First the limited dynamic range, but you also have to expose for a final image straight off. Instead of for a negative, where you instead expose to get the absolute most details. But when done right, the results gave me a similar feeling like I get from shooting slide. There's something inherently cool and fascinating with Instax (and slide film).

I definitely can see a LomoGraflok finding its place in my kit. Not for any real practical reason, I just like the look and feel of the images.

Last October, you made a video about photographing autumn forests. What did your process look like this time around?

Instax! When I received the LomoGraflok, it was peak autumn here — and therefore most of my autumn images thus far are on Instax.

Besides that, the only difference between autumn and other seasons is that it's much easier to photograph woodlands during autumn. The colours do a lot of the work, even if you like me shoot a lot of black and white.

My process is the same regardless of season, either slow or loose. I prefer being methodical, slow, and perhaps a bit cumbersome when photographing. I start without a camera, looking for subjects and try different compositions with my hands or a view catcher as a guide. When I take out my camera, I already have a firm idea of what I want to shoot and how. But some days, I pack a small camera. Currently, I have a love affair with my Contax G1. On those days, I just go for a walk, shoot whatever and don't overthink. I need both in my life, but I'm foremost a cumbersome photographer.

Do you have any other projects coming up that you’d like to share?

My big project is my YouTube channel, and I want to give it a new start.

I've been focusing a lot on landscape and nature photography, and will continue doing so. But I also want to start explore more buildings and urban places in the future. As well as doing a couple of bigger trips every year.

Besides YouTube, I have two build projects that are related to my photography. I recently purchased a newish van that I will convert into a campervan, to allow me to explore even more with my camera in the future. Secondly, I plan to rebuild my darkroom during the winter to do more and hopefully better darkroom prints. Follow my YouTube channel, and I'll share my journey there.

We'd like to thank Oscar for sharing his work and insights with us! To view more of his work, follow him on Instagram and check out his YouTube channel and website!

If you're curious about Oscar's experience with the LomoGraflok, he made a video documenting his entire process.

written by emiliee on 2023-11-24 #gear #people #places #videos #nature #forest #landscape #sweden #instax #autumn #large-format #woodland #scandinavia #lomograflok