My Tribute To Lomogoraphy

RyanS · March 24, 2012

Okay, if you are not up to speed on lomography, here is a quick run down. Kids buy expensive plastic cameras that are flawed in several ways and load them with film. Then they take pictures. It is best to not think, at all! Just snap away. Finally, you process all this stuff in to the computer without caring much how it turns out. Then you can impress your family and friends with your high class art. Now, I know that sounds terrible. But it is actually all about fun. Common things you'll hear lomographers say: "You can't see what picture I took. There is no screen on the back!" "I never use the viewfinder." "Film is cool because my grandfather used it." Stuff like that. It has been criticized as a terrible art form at best, and a scam to sell kids ultra-cheap plastic cameras at outrageous prices at worst.

Well, I like it. I say let the kids have their fun. And the older folks too. So, I decided to put together a little lomo tribute shot. I think it proves that you don't need to purchase $500 in cheap plastic camera bits to create these images. A cell phone camera is good enough. It is really all about random results. Here is what I did:

1) Find a couple terribly composed photographs that some how escaped the culling process. It is best if they have some lens flares. Maybe your camera went off by accident, or you just flubbed up the shot. Do NOT choose your best shots. You want the ones that look like they are shot from the hip.
2) In lightroom randomly adjust WB, tint, etc. Basically your goal is to screw with the images in all kinds of terrible ways.
3) Open up the two images in photoshop and stack them on top of each other.
4) Publish the photo. Don't think about any of these steps too hard. You want to be fast, loose, and sort of all over the map. Just randomly tweak things.

Nikolai · March 24, 2012

And what's best, you can do all this with your brand new 5DMkIII (or 1Dx) and the most advanced photo processing software on the planet, too! Top that, plastic camera!

DavidTO · March 24, 2012

Those shots don't look flubbed.

Looks like fun!

Dogdots · March 24, 2012

I love it ... what a wonderful way to create

bbjones · March 24, 2012

We need some way to "like" or "recommend" or "+1" posts, cuz this one deserves it. The picture is oh so lomo, but the text is priceless.

Richard · March 25, 2012

Excellent, Ryan. I really like what you've created. I would only add a reminder that one has to exercise some critical judgment with stuff like this--just as not every unrecognizable shot works as an abstract, not every combination of shots will work when combined. You still need to be aware of the basics--color, composition, texture, etc. Working fast and loose is fine, but be prepared to toss most of it. After all, we generally toss most of what we shoot very carefully.

RyanS · March 25, 2012

Thanks. I think. My favorite lomography quote:

You'll never completely understand the world. But you'll understand your Lomographs even less!

That about sums up the state of mind. Lomography is like the photography counter-culture. If a photographer says to do it, a lomogorapher is sure to avoid it. Critical judgment goes right out the window. The lomographer says "who cares" and keeps shooting. It is sort of a tounge-in-cheek backlash to the digital revolution. Which is why producing a lomo with digital gear, like I've done, makes an ironic gesture consistent with the mirth of the whole genre. I hope it is a fitting tribute.

Shoot restlessly and give your memory a kick in the ass with your lovely, crap, beautiful, artistic and silly Lomographs.

Moreover, Lomography is often an unconscious act that can't be controlled at all.

If you think about it, you aren't lomographing. The young kids believe that by connecting with 'analog' they are re-connecting with emotions they think have been suppressed by the digital world in which they live. They'll often talk about the feelings of analog versus digital. It isn't what it produces, it is how it is produced. They still like to keep one foot in the digital world, so it isn't a total backlash.

This is one of the best intro vids I've seen for Lomo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EQRV59y8xg