Lomography rant!

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ianjmatt

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Ian
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I have found myself returning to film recently, dusting off my OM lenses and picking up a Trip and a Yashica rangefinder. In the internet research, reading about others also using film, I came across Lomograhy for the first time (I know - really behind the times).

At first I was excited - an entire movement dedicated to film and experimentation, what could be better! Then I noticed that the website had something of a commercial feel, and the subjects in the photos were all young, attractive and hip.

It soon became clear that this wasn't an art movement, it was a commercial operation. As far as they're concerned it is only Lomography when taken with one of their approved cameras (mainly Holgas, Lomos and other plastic toys used deliberately for their low quality) - preferably bought from them. This was confirmed when I visited one of their London stores today which just had their own products in.

They're free to do what they like, and people are free to buy whatever they like, but it seems rather deceitful to disguise a money-making marketing scheme as a spontaneous movement.
 
The only beef I have with lomography is the essential sameyness of a lot of it and the fact that a Lubitel sold by them goes for over £200.

But, you're right, it's not a 'movement' in a non commercial sense.
 
Welcome to the 21st Century! :)

It's quite common now for companies to market things as if they were a grass-roots movement. Lots of bands that supposedly 'made it on their own' through facebook/myspace etc had marketing teams behind them directing everything.
 
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Yup, they're relying on marketing to create value in their brand and it appears to be working! If you do fancy any of the lomo cameras try eBay. Same kit, cheaper prices and if you buy a cheap imitation then it'll be difficult to tell apart from the real thing anyway.
 
Trip 35 and some Poundland film for me :D

I was being dragged around Urban Outfitters the other day and I saw the 'official' lomography 35mm film. Three rolls for fifteen quid! Sod that! I can get three rolls of XP2 from Boots for a tenner :thumbs:
 
gingerjon said:
The only beef I have with lomography is the essential sameyness of a lot of it and the fact that a Lubitel sold by them goes for over £200.

But, you're right, it's not a 'movement' in a non commercial sense.
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What!!!! the bloody things were only about £15 new!
I have one here somewhere..... £199 :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: Blimey you could buy a yashica for less. In fact I saw Bronica 645 for under a £100 a few weeks back, their having a laugh.
 
They're having a flash sale in their London store this week, up to 70% off. They'll probably still make loads of profit out of that.
 
They're a bit like the Apple of photography. They've managed to turn owning products that do the same job as competing products from other manufacturers into a religion, albeit on a smaller scale.

I had a look before and they were selling Zenit cameras for nearly £200 while they were selling on eBay for £10.
A fool and his money...
 
ah well - We've been doing our bit to popularise shooting on a cheap ebay sourced plastic toy camera for a while...About as far away from the ethos of the commercial Lomo Movement as it can get, I reckon.

I Should be getting the second roll of film from the Homeless Holga anytime soon :)
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
WHAT? That's way too good to be true - care to get me a load before they run out? (XP2 is around the £6 a roll mark)
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Well I say a tenner but they are six quid each but Boots has an ongoing 3 for 2 across all film. I should have said three for twelve quid! Apologies :) Still a good deal though. I tried the Kodak equivalent and was not a fan. However when I put XP2 through the trip or my Minolta I love the results. Especially when Jessops develop it. The free film doesn't hurt :D
 
Anyone daft enough to want to dabble with this nonsense deserves to be ripped off.

Personally, when I spend £200 I expect quality and value. Obviously. Which fails to explain why I've got a LensBaby and a few of their bargain optics... :eek: :lol:
 
DropDead said:
Lomography = Lameography
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Why?

Marketing aside obviously it is a camera which gives a certain style and feel to images.

Surely it is more "Legit" than using a series of effects on photoshop to achieve a old style look or indeed the Holga look.

Also with the phone apps it isn't the same as waiting for film.

It is obviously Cool at the minute, but using a camera/lens combination to take a certain style of photograph is the basis of all photography.

If you can get past the hipster marketing then you will see this, admittedly that is hard.
 
ianjmatt said:
but it seems rather deceitful to disguise a money-making marketing scheme as a spontaneous movement.
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Not really, The Lomographic Society (Lomography) was specifically set up as a (viral) marketing campaign to increase demand for its products and as demand grew, so did prices. What started as a £15 camera from the former USSR grew to an almost £300 camera now.

I've had Lomo and Holga cameras for years ( still have a broken Lomo LC-A from 1986 that cost me about £10 used and a newer one that works, from 1996) and the fun of using them in the '80s was the fact that they were easy to use, difficult to mess up and whatever it produced was worth keeping, strange colour, light leaks missed focus, vignetting and all. Shoot then see what it looked like days later when the film came back ( even better if it was cross processed) I didn't know about "Lomography" till a few years ago when I saw it advertised on a poster. Theres some good pictures in the galleries, buts its all aimed at selling their cameras, nothing else.

My daughter used my Lomo for her A level course then complained it was too sharp with good colours, she went out and got a Holga that came, new for around £30, with black tape to seal the body if you didn't want light leaks. It must have done its job well because she got an A.

But now, she uses digital.

Allan
 
TheBigYin said:
roll of film from the Homeless Holga anytime soon :)
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that would require me to get my ass in gear and take some pictures with her

weather has been shocking here and todays the first nice day in ages and i'm up to my neck in budget setting

but dont worry i havent forgotten and helga the holga will be on her way to the next victim relatively soon
 
no worries Pete, I can't remember the last time I actually got out to shoot something - it may even have been the first couple of frames on roll 1 :lol:
 
big soft moose said:
that would require me to get my ass in gear and take some pictures with her

weather has been shocking here and todays the first nice day in ages and i'm up to my neck in budget setting

but dont worry i havent forgotten and helga the holga will be on her way to the next victim relatively soon
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How do you sign up to be part of this?
 
Send big yin a pm - but i think it was full for helgas first holiday - still if this goes well there might be a second itteration
 
My view on it is that, at the end of the day, it's money going into film cameras, film rolls and film processing - which is good, even for the person who shoots daily with a Hasselblad and Velvia, or the person who occasionally shoots a roll of Poundland Kodacolor through an old plastic 35mm film camera.

And there will be many people who jump onto conventional film cameras, or just conventional photography in general. Yes, they charge far too much, but it's not all downsides.
 
gingerjon said:
I suspect lomo is actually on the way out anyway now that there are iPhone apps that do the same thing and there will be a big crossover in lomo/iPhone hipsters.
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In the Apple store today I saw a 'lomography' iphone cover, replete with falsw lens cap in the centre. Wonder how long till they move the camera to that point so the iphone can look more like a camera.
 
Yeah I've seen that one too. The one I saw today was more built up though, so the phone would have felt chunkier in the hand. A shutter button on the edge and a central location for the lens would be wise moves for Apple I reckon.
 
They're just fads. If we didn't have the fads though there wouldn't be anything new to try and eventually dismiss, or not. ;)

It's nice if a fad comes from a grass roots movement, but that kind of thing is getting rare as a fad can gain momentum quicker and be exploited by big business even more quickly. (if said big company hasn't started said fad in the first place ;))


I saw one of the camera mags pushing an iPhone app which takes square images, with various effects. Effects which can be combined, but bought one at a time btw. ;) 'Square, it's a different way to view the World'. :lol:

Of course the 'app' is the biggest fad going. Make it a photo app, and £$£$£$£$£$. ;) :lol:
 
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