We speak to Lens Strap inventor, Kevin German, about how he’s taking smartphone cameras a step further in photography
Steve Jobs once said: “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.”
No truer words could be said in regards to American photographer Kevin German and his product Lens Strap. In homage to his profession, German goes back to the basics by introducing an attachable analog color filter that doubles as a bracelet for smartphone cameras. Trigger happy enthusiasts can snap away saturating images in four colors and four borders. Sounds a bit kitschy, superfluous even. Why would anyone spend money on something that’s already provided digitally? “There are no apps that allow you to color shift,” German says. “When you have an app and you apply the filter to the app, there’s an algorithm to it. There are only a finite number of options it’s going to do. The pictures are all going to look the same. In photography, you’re taking a picture of the light. The subject reflects off the light, that’s what you’re taking a picture of. When you put this [Lens Strap] over the camera, the light is always changing, the result is always changing.”
Having sewed his prototype together himself, German boasts of his latest design where the filter tucks into a thicker strap for a swank cuffed look. He’s also developing additional visual effects including pinhole and blurred edge features. For anyone interested in tipping their own hat to analog nostalgia, they’ll have to go online as Lens Strap is based and sold in the US but with international delivery. German is a traditionalist at heart, but innovative in spirit. “All this digital manipulation is trying things after the picture is taken. When shooting film, people were exploring all the time. They tested and tried. I wanted to create something more pure to give people the choice, to be more creative.” For more info on it, visit www.lensstrap.com.
