Lomography

· culture ·

In one of those serendipitous finds that happen when you're surfing, I found this photolog a couple of days ago, which mentioned a Photoshop technique to make your digital photos look like they were taken with a Lomo. My first thought was, "That's a nice effect", closely followed by "What's a Lomo?". So I hit Google for answers. What I found has started me on a mini obsession. The art of Lomography is apparently something of a cult.

Lomo cameras are Russian and resolutely lo-tech: built like tanks, mostly manual and breaking all the rules of photography, Lomos are anti-cameras. But they produce wonderful, vibrant, different photographs. The fish eye lens means that there's extreme vignetting, and not a straight line in the house, but the images are spontaneous and somehow more similar to the way you see the world through your eyes -- if you're very stoned. I got so excited about having a nemesis for my digital camera, that I ordered a Lomo Kompakt Automat. Well, my birthday is coming up and I was having trouble thinking of ideas when people were asking what I wanted. Expect some weird photos in the near future...