The 10 Rules of Lomography:
1. Take your camera everywhere you go.
2. Use it anytime - day and night.
3. Lomography is not an interference in your life, but part of it.
4. Try the shot 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 captured on film.
9. Afterwards either.
10. Don't worry about any rules.
Photo by shoegazer
I've been coveting a certain few people's photos on flickr now for quite some time, Brian Milo, shoegazer and lomokev to name just a few. There pictures have something different about them - a unique quality, colours that pop and random vignetting. What they all have in common is that they're shooting with this crazy little russian camera called a Lomo Kompakt Automat, otherwise known as the lc-a.
The phenomenon of the lc-a started back in 1982 when a General Igor Petrowitsch Kornitzky, right-hand man to the USSR Minister of Defense and Industry, slammed a little Japanese mini-camera onto the desk of his comrade Michail Panfilowitch Panfiloff. After examining the camera closely and noting it's sharp glass lens, high light sensitivity and robust casing the two men gave immediate orders to copy and improve the design with the ultimate goal of producing the largest quantity possible for the pleasure and glory of the soviet population.
It was decided - every respectable Communist should have a Lomo Kompakt Automat of their own.
Fast forward to 1991 when the lc-a's popularity is waning. Picture a handful of restless viennese students cruising through the capital, enjoying the new-found czech democracy and popping into a quirky old-school camera shop just to browse. They see the lc-a and buy a few just for fun. After snapping a ton of shots from every angle possible the group develops their film and realizes they've stumbled across a gem!
Of course they told their friends, who told their friends, who told their friends and soon enough (1992) the Lomographic Society International was born and picture taking just hasn't been the same since.
The Society hosts events such as meet-ups, contests , exhibitions and Society Member Projects such as their World Archive endeavour in which they are aiming to provide the most comprehensive portrait of the planet ever assembled. Apparently they aren't afraid of challenges.
I think that's cool. I think the pics look cool. I think the society has a cool scene going on. And I think it's cool that Christmas is just around the corner!
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