Lomography

Lomography is a movement that promotes (and exploits) the use of Lomo cameras, predominantly the LC-A, and a "shoot from the hip" attitude. Viewed as either a modern impressionistic art movement for photography to create images of every day life or a simple (and effective) marketing ploy, Lomography has attracted a large international following around "The 10 rules"

10 Rules

1. Take your LOMO everywhere you go.
2. Use it anytime - day or night.
3. Lomography is not an interference in your life, but a part of it.
4. Shoot from the hip.
5. Approach the objects of your lomographic desire as close as possible.
6. Don't think.
7. Be fast.
8. You don't have to know beforehand what you've captured on film.
9. You don't have to know afterwards, either.
10. Don't worry about the rules.

other meanings

Lomography has become a synonym for the adventure of making pictures with the simple LOMO fun cameras of soviet production and later models.

The Lomography Society International in Vienna has made "lomography" the brand name for new LOMO fun cameras which are manufactured in the name of this society. One camera of that new brand is the fisheye lomography camera.

Viral Marketing

As this movement was created and is run by the Lomographic Society, the sole legal importer of LOMO products to the United States, many have suggested that the Lomographic movement was started as a viral marketing campaign. The Lomographic Society was able to increase the demand for its products by creating a group that its customers would instantly become members of. This increased demand led to increased prices - the LOMO LC-A, for example, would cost about $30 US in the former Soviet Union. If bought through the Lomographic Society, the same camera would cost $200 US. Judged in terms of profit and generated hype, this marketing campaign has been very effective.

Links

• Lomography Society International
• Flickr Lomography Group
• Lomography News
• [*Why I don't like Lomography, from *Alfred Klomp's camera site
• Emulating the Lomo effect in Gimp
• Emulating the Lomo effect in Photoshop

Glossary Terms