I’ve been loving the look of lomo for a while now, but I’ve only recently delved into creating my own faux lomo. What is lomo?
When you take a picture using a camera produced by the Austrian company Lomographische AG, it’s called "lomography." The term originated because of cameras that were made by a Russian Optics company called LOMO PLC. Their cameras had an unusual lens which produced lots of distortion at the edges of the image while keeping the center sharp… Lomography emphasizes casual, snapshot photography. Accidents such as over-saturated colors, lens artifacts, and exposure defects are rehabilitated to produce swirly, abstract effects. The lens effect can be partially emulated in photo-editing programs, such as Gimp or Photoshop. The Lomography motto of "don’t think, just shoot" presumes spontaneity, close-ups and ubiquity, while deemphasizing formal technique. Typical Lomography cameras are deliberately low-fidelity. The following are the company’s 10 Rules of Lomography:
- Take your LOMO everywhere you go & whenever you go.
- Use it anytime — day or night.
- Lomography is not an interference in your life, but a part of it.
- Shoot from the hip.
- Approach the objects of your lomographic desire as close as possible.
- Don’t think.
- Be fast.
- You don’t have to know beforehand what you’ve captured on film.
- You don’t have to know afterwards, either.
- Don’t worry about the rules.
Lomo photographs are usually high contrast, with unusual saturation and color. Real lomo photographs use the technique of "cross processing" in which film intended for developing in slide chemistry (E-6) is processed in photographic negative chemistry (C-41), and vice-versa.
– from Lomography on Wikipedia
I was already following these rules (or lack thereof). They jibe with my way of thinking about photography. And now I’m starting to use Photoshop CS2, The Gimp, and PXN8 to create these fake lomo camera effects. I guess the effort in post-processing doesn’t capture the lomo ideal, but it’s a start.
The picture I’m sharing above has only been up on Flickr for one day, and it’s already been favorited 4 times! I’m breathing new life into my old photographs and having a fine time doing it.
The official Lomo site
Flickr Groups: LOMO, Faux Lomo, Lomolike, Lomo Fakers League
My Fake Lomo Images on Flicker
Wow! I’m in heaven! The connectivity/interactivity/mashupability staggers the imagination. Is this the future?! I can see my Flickr pictures on TV. I can see my Flickr Favorites as a slideshow. I can watch a slideshow of my favorite tags, my favorite people’s pictures, my groups… I can barely stand it! And I thought listening to podcasts from my TiVo through the stereo was cool. This is bliss! This is almost as satisfying as a correct bagel on a sunny day! It wasn’t even that hard to set up. 😀
