Lomography

Written by

Hector Hurtado

in

As part of the curriculum for the school of photography, small groups have been given an assignment to treat about a particular photographic technique, whether at shooting, lab, or post-processing phase. Together with two other classmates, we decided to tackle lomography, and I thought the Construct would be convenient to share our findings, as well as to spread the theme to others interested.

 

What is Lomography?

 

Lomography is the alias of Lomographische AG, an Austrian photographic company dealing with a specific range of products. Its name has been inspired by their flagship camera, the Russian Lomo LC-A, a compact model originally developed in St Petersburg by Lomo PLC, a former state-run manufacturer.

Bought by two Austrian marketing students while on holidays in Prague, this cheap camera produced quite erratic snapshots ranging from blurry, over-saturated, or with heavily vignetted. The two students liked the results and decided to create a company that would distribute it exclusively outside of the former Soviet Union.

rusty rails, by

 

Since the Lomo LC-A, Lomography developed other models such as the Holga, the Diana, the Actionsampler, and the Fisheye. What these cameras have in common is a cheap build and case (usually plastic), as well as a low-fi output incorporating a photographic effect. Coupled with their ease of use, it is easy for any Lomographer to produce images that differ radically from classic or academic standards. This is further emphasized by the company’s 10 rules of Lomography encouraging  snapshot, candid, and document photography:

  1. Take your camera everywhere you go and whenever you go.
  2. Use it any time – day or night.
  3. Lomography is not an interference in 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 beforehand what you’ve captured on film.
  9. You don’t have to know afterwards, either.
  10. Don’t worry about the rules.

Being marketing students, the founders made a clever strategic move by becoming the sole distributor, and armed with freshly acquired viral and tribal marketing concepts, the young company effectively created a social photographic movement considered artistic by some, or plain hype by others. Regardless, both points of view have fueled a debate that would only increase Lomography’s popularity.

A flock of people, by

 

Lomography qualifies more as a photographic style than as technique. Under this simple consideration, it divides photography socially rather than technically. Love it or hate it, I believe it has the merit to give a different approach to photography and as such, it followed a cycle not uncommon to other creative activities.

Nowadays, the popularity of Lomography is disrupted not only by the aforementioned cycle, but also by image editing software that can mimic most effects regardless of the camera owned. The debate is not anymore “Is Lomography original, therefore creative, therefore artistic?” but rather “Are standard image editing effects original, therefore creative, therefore artistic?”.

My artistic opinion is that what matters ultimately is the effective impact of the image, regardless of the techniques used to create it. An image should suffice itself, needs no explanation and no defense. The image is its own language, whether the viewer accepts it or not. And it is up to the artist to embrace whatever techniques he sees fit for the production of the work, whether these are truly original or totally lacking creativity. Up to every producer to propose a vision and build a reputation, after all…

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