It was in the early 1990s when two students in Vienna, Austria,
discovered a small enigmatic Russian camera, the Lomo Kompakt Automat,
and started a new style of artistic experimental photography of
unorthodox snapshots. In the blink of an eye the Lomographic message
spread around the planet and people from North to South were screaming
for Lomo LC-A’s. So they hopped on a plane, flew to St. Petersburg and
negotiated a contract for the worldwide distribution of this fantastic
little camera. Then everything happened quickly for Lomography. We set
up the 10 golden rules as our guiding principals, held numerous
exhibitions, world congresses, parties and events. Mounted
groundbreaking collaborations and projects, installed lomography.com as
our communication hub, developed new products, films and accessories
all while opening up Lomography Gallery Stores in metropolises
worldwide.
What started out spontaneously as an artistic approach to photography
in the Vienna underground scene developed into Lomography becoming an
international socio-cultural movement using photography as a creative
approach to communicating, absorb and capturing the world. Today we are
a globally active organization dedicated to experimental and creative
visual expression, a playful combination of lo-tech and hi-tech and the
amalgamation of a cultural institution with a commercial photographic
and design company focussing entirely on the unique imagery, style and
approach of analogue photography and its further development.
The 10 golden rules of Lomography
On this website we, an approximate Million of Lomographers worldwide,
are creating the biggest ever-growing and ongoing snapshot portrait of
the planet consisting of the wackiest, most exciting and most
impossible little sights and moments of our time. Lomography is
happening in the here and now, in the minds and shutters of
Lomographers around the planet and in the analogue universe that, if
anything, we are only starting to explore.
At the very base of this lie the 10 golden rules that define our
philosophy and approach towards photography. Memorise them, recite them
by heart, or break all the rules; whichever way, be ready to throw all
your inhibitions about photography to the wind.
1. Take your camera everywhere you go
2. Use it any time – 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 (william firebrace)
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
Polaroid Originals
