Lomography

Manual cameras are romantic, digital cameras are democratic.

Just a little earlier in April, me and my friends went on a little road trip up to Cape Town. While we were there, we decided to make our way to the, quite famous, Old Biscuit Mill. This is a lovely market that happens on a Saturday in Observatory, Cape Town. You will find the most unique hand crafted items, the most stunning art pieces, the most scrumptious, innovative food (if food can be innovative) and anything else your heart desires. At the Old Biscuit Mill ….anything goes!

The little guy that caught my attention

So we were strolling through the stalls and shops, when we seen loads of people huddled into one store. We decided to see what the fuss was all about. We discovered a shop full of fabulous photography and unique cameras, from your modern digital cameras, to old school Polaroid cameras. But there was one camera that caught my attention. This camera goes by the name “Lomo” and it has the most funky, colourful, most beautiful range of cameras around.  After discovering this lovely little camera, I had to take it upon myself to find out more about the Lomo camera and the photos it takes….Lomography!

What is Lomography?

With today’s technology, everybody can be a photographer. This is because all cameras now days come with automatic settings. But where is the fun in that??? There’s no challenge…it’s basically spoon feeding!

I stumbled upon a blog, 1stwebdesigner.com, where the author explained the concept of lomography quite nicely. So I thought I’d share it with you:

“I once read from a book ‘Manual cameras are romantic, digital cameras are democratic’. To me it evoked the romanticism of old vintage film and polaroid cameras.  It evoked in me the romanticism of old vintage film and polaroid cameras. “Off colors, wrong focus, vignetting effect–this is what traditional photography defines as a ‘bad picture’, but for lomographers, that isn’t the case. They use these ‘wrong’ settings to their advantage, creating one of a kind photos.”

Traditionally, this photo would be regarded as a bad photo.
Not in Lomography though.

Lomography goes back to basic, fun photography. Its all about shooting lots of photos, without thinking.  It is spur-of-the-moment type photography. And so the motto adopted by Lomographers is “Be Fast, Don’t Think.” Lomography is forgetting about the traditional rules of composition and having a lot of fun.

According to Lomography.com there are 10 golden rules or rather, guidlines, to Lomography:

1.  Take your camera everywhere you go
2.  Use it any time - day and night
3.  Lomography is not an interference to your life but a part of it
4.    Shoot from the hip
5.  Approach the objects of your lomographic desire as close as possible
6. Don't think
7. Be fast
8. You don't have to know before hand what you captured on film
9. Afterwards either
10. Don't worry about any rules

Check this video out on the golden rules of lomography

Here's some examples of lomographic photos:

A collage of Lomography photos.

Lomography

A brief history of Lomography

The folks at lomo have created a timeline on their website www.lomography.com if you’re really interested about where Lomography came from and how it developed. I also found this really cute video on the history of lomography, so if you don't feel like reading take a look at this. I don’t have all the time in the world, and I think ya’ll are smart enough to understand a simple history as found on the Lomo website. So here it is:

“It all started when two students in Vienna, Austria, stumbled upon the Lomo Kompakt Automat – a small, enigmatic Russian camera. Mindlessly taking the shot from the hip, and sometimes looking through the viewfinder, they were astounded with the mindblowing photos that it produced – the colours were vibrant, with deep saturation and vignettes that framed the shot – it was nothing like they had seen before!
Upon returning home, friends wanted their own Lomo LC-A, igniting a new style of artistic experimental photography that we now know as Lomography!

A vintage LOMO LC-A camera

Following the mania that ensued upon the introduction of Lomography, they flew to St. Petersburg in Russia to work out a contract for the worldwide distribution of this fantastic little camera. Soon, the 10 golden rules was set up as a guide to this analogue movement, followed by exhibitions, world congresses, parties, installations, collaborations, and events. New products, films, and accessories were developed, and Lomography.com served as the communication hub for Lomographers worldwide. At the same time,Lomography Gallery Stores were put up worldwide.”

Lomowalls are popular lomography exhibits.

Lomography wall at Bastakiya Art Fair 2009

Another company often considered to have a similar aesthetic is Holga, which is a common 120mm toy camera made in China. It produces the same kind of low-fidelity images that Lomo cameras are famous for, and sometimes the term lomo is used interchangeably to refer to either type of camera.

Holga Camera

How much do these cameras cost?

Okay, so the Lomo folks have moved on from the original Lomo LC-A (although still available) and have created some really funky Lomo cameras ranging from the fisheye, to the Diana.

These camera’s are quite reasonably priced.  In South Africa you can get your own Lomo camera from about R600. But they do go range up to approx. R4000. I am talking about the real fancy packages here. You also need to buy the specialised film, and remember to take into account the cost of developing the photos.

Some people argue, however, that the Lomo cameras are over priced. With the very first Lomo camera only ranging from a very low $1 - $30!

Take a look at some of the stunning Lomo camera designs:

Ahhhh these are all sooo amazing! If I could, I would buy all of them. Besides their prettiness, they sound like they are so much fun. The thing is with Lomography, whether you're a professional photographer or a photo-taking pleb like me, you all start at the same point. Lomography is a paradigm shift on photography. It has created a new rule system for photography -NO RULES! This makes me think of a saying my philosophy lecturer always says, "Your past experiences guarantee nothing in the future if the rules change. We all begin at zero." 

So I think I am sold. I am going to get me one of these cameras, and I am going to become the best Lomographer ever. Or....lets just see how it goes. 

This is definately stuff worthing showing in my eyes.  Hope you learnt something new <3