lomography

[syzygy]

http://www.lomography.com

If you haven't seen it already, I heartily recommend exploring this site.

I'm planning on getting one of the clockwork cameras, following in the footsteps of a couple of friends who are already into lomography.

Are there any lomographers on vjforums?

Dan.

[holly]

I don't get it.... What is so great/unusual about a blurry Russian camera? Am I missing something?

[LEVLHED]

My wife and I have been fighting with a PHD (press here dummy) fully auto/zoom/blah blah 35mm for years now..never really been happy with the pictures it takes and it doesn't always even work right, malfunctions, won't snap a pic unless you smack it on the ground kinda thing...thinking maybe its time to "upgrade" to one of these groovy lookin jobbies!

::soon to be a lomographer::

[syzygy]

Originally posted by holly
I don't get it.... What is so great/unusual about a blurry Russian camera? Am I missing something?

Well, some of their cameras are a bit more than just a lens and a shutter. There is one that has four lenses. The shutters open in sequence over a period of either 0.2 seconds or 2 seconds, each exposing a strip of the film. So you end up with 'time slices' that capture moving objects in a really cool way. The best thing about this camera is that it's clockwork - when you are taking pictures with it you get a very satisfying whirring sound.

I'm not sure what is so special about the other ones, but everyone I know who has tried one has become a convert.

Mainly, though, I think it's about attitude. It's about deciding not to use an expensive, complicated camera but instead using a really low-tech device. It's about capturing your life with a camera that you take everywhere rather than getting too hung up on the technicalities of taking photos. (Check out the '10 rules of lomography' on the site)

In any case, the main reason I posted the link is that the site has thousands upon thounsands of interesting snapshots from all over the world. Plenty of inspiration in there.

Dan.

[holly]

Cool;)

[JeffUrban]

Originally posted by syzygy
It's about deciding not to use an expensive, complicated camera but instead using a really low-tech device. It's about capturing your life with a camera that you take everywhere rather than getting too hung up on the technicalities of taking photos.

I think I might get an inexpensive, uncomplicated ~digital~ camera... if it's all about taking the camera everywhere, and freely snapping lots of pictures, I'd feel better with a digital camera than having to spend all those $s on film and processing. Plus they can do all of those stop motion and multiple picture things anyways.
Only problem seems to be the time needed to turn on some models before you can snap... have to look into that.

[phase04]

i've been into these cameras for a while now.. found mine on ebay for quite cheap, compared to the lomography site..

just search for "LOMO" on ebay, and the russians will give you the hookup.

the best (IMHO) is the "holga" medium format cams... they have so many quirks that ones photos never end up looking the same.. light leaks, double exposures, etc.. lends a very surreal, almost ethereal quality to photos. the colors, errors, moods of the shots are miles ahead of an untouched consumer digicam snap, plus medium format blows up nicely. everything just looks more saturated and dreamy throught these things, very nostalgic feeling... or something like that..

[epoch]

i love my lomo. have had mine for about 5 years. they are a lot of fun to shoot with. granted they are a bit cheapy, in terms of construction. but that is the fun of it. i know that mine at one point would get stuck and not advance the file properly, so i would get these funky multiple exposues and the like. all the images always turn out in some trippy form. they are one of those cameras that just make you want to snap photos. one thing i have noticed is expired film works great in them, gives you these super saturated colors and the like! so if you shoot a lot it makes film rather cheap. plus i like the fact that it is so simple focus is controlled by a switch near the lens, you have i believe 4 focus positions or something like that. it takes a little getting used to, but once you nail it down it opens up a world of photo bliss.

[robotfunk]

yeah had my lomo a few years, pretty fun way to catch action scenes, 4 pics in one .. all diff angles and times.

the plastic ones you get in giftstores are very flimsy tho.
its rare that i am able to finish a whole film before it gets stuck

[eirenah]

ohmygod my boyfriend has one of these, i'm affraid he's lomojunkie...
it's all great (photos, simplicity), but there's one problem.
if you don't have your own photolab, and if you do it at regular photo-shop/store, there is a big possibility that someone who works there decides not to develope half of your film, because he thinks photos failed and there's something wrong (and actually you were experimenting with great light, abstract shapes...) oh they should really teach them some art in that schools... he had the whole experimenthal film, and they developed him only few portraits of his dog... nothing else.. : (

now what was i thinking when giving away my oldshool homephotolab in my early uni days.....:sad:

[samvisualkitchen]

we're lomo-addicts, I guess 30% of our stuff is done with one or the other lomo (actionsampler, supersampler, LCA, Holga? we don't go for the 16 or 9 -lens cam's because the definition gets too small.)
check www.visualkitchen.org/lomo.html
for some early samples of our lomo to mov experiments
cheers
sam

[vandeti]

hi,

I'm looking for a digital camera to use as a lomo
'taking pictures without thinking, and when you get home, you discover what pictures you have taken'

so I'm looking for a small digital camera, 2.1MPixels is just fine
3 is better !!

it has to be very small

it doesn't have to have an LCD-screen
cause I won't be looking at it

it has to be cheap
(cause it doesn't have an LCD-screen ;-)


any suggestions ??

[skyvat]

In my experience the quad-shot lomo is a great idea but totally sucks in practice. One frame will be totally over exposed while the other is in total darkness, 1 in 10 chance that all 4 of your images on a given exposure will be "readable".

They also break easily.

But hooray for lofi cams and techniques the Holga's a lot of fun.

[LEVLHED]

well, I had this really shitty cam once..it was like $20 and held a couple dozen really shitty 320x240...it DID have a sort of lomo quality to the thing..poloroid? I think I got it from Office Max about 4 or 5 years ago...

and of course, I don't mean lomo is "shitty"
you prolly know what I mean..

[yathosho]

lomo is probably the best marketing concept for the worst cameras around. studying photography, my class participated in a contest by the lomographic society (free films and cameras). man, the results were so depressing, like 1/5 of each film was an actual image, the rest destroyed by that piece of plastic. grrrr.

i'd love to have a supersampler with *real* lenses. plastix sux.

[Amukidi]

One of my ex-students, a highly gifted animator has been using one of these babies for a while - I just saw the footage he's created from the images and it's stunning! Simple rules are: Don't push it beyond its capabilities - learn (I know, but give it a go) what it will do and give it your all! I'm bowled over by this stuff. Same old story - no substitute for genuine creativity......