Jun 17, 2009 8:33 PM

The Cheap Russian Camera That Could: Lomo Turns 25

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HISTORY: Learn how one cheap camera helped start a visual revolution.

In Bangkok they’ll be wearing bows and fake tattoos. Food and drinks are promised in Tokyo and in Seoul there will be cake. Revelers in Hong Kong will drink shots of vodka while listening to Russian music and in New York the ’80s will return for an evening of karaoke.

The Lomo Compact Automat (LC-A) will be celebrated around the world on June 19, marking its first shipment from the St. Petersburg-Leningrad Optical Mechanical Organization (LOMO) factory 25 years ago.

Over the camera’s lifespan, its cheapness has morphed from a liability to its killer feature. The unpredictable aberrations and vignetting of its lens have become artistic and fashionable, not to mention egalitarian — even the most inexperienced photographer can pick up a Lomo camera and get interesting results.

While these same features grate on many serious photographers, the fact remains that it’s fun, dirty and its cheapness makes it easy for Lomo communities to form and share their shots. In a market where competition is driven by technological innovation, Lomo found success selling simple plastic film cameras that offered uniqueness rather than features. Now Lomo’s stable includes a variety of cheap cameras with different quirks and styles.

Read on for a brief history of Lomo cameras, shots from pros who use Lomos on the job, and to spot the Lomo fakes done in Photoshop.

Top photo: Robin Schroder/Flickr Bottom photo: noe**/Flickr

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HISTORY: Learn how one cheap camera helped start a visual revolution.

LOMO opened in 1914, developing optical instruments for the Imperial Russian army. The company developed Russia’s first motion picture camera but also specialized in night surveillance gear, rocket components and telescopes. The Lomo LC-A was originally designed to compete with inexpensive, high-quality Japanese compacts in the early ’80s.

Initially, the LC-A proved quite successful. Russians were thrilled having access to inexpensive cameras, and eventually shipments found their way to satellite states of the USSR. As communism crumbled, LOMO’s creations lost their luster in the flood of cheap imports.

After the fall of the Soviet Union some Austrian students traveled to Prague, where they found a secondhand LC-A. They were pleasantly surprised by the pictures it produced. Wolfgang Stranziger, studying law, and Matthias Fiegl, studying business, began to acquire and distribute the cameras in Vienna.

By 1992 Austrian interest in the cameras, still being purchased abroad and sold by Stanziger and Fiegl, was proving strong. The pair founded the nonprofit Lomographic Society, more commonly known now as just Lomography, to bolster the camera’s popularity. Lomography essentially became an unofficial distributor, even recruiting enthusiasts abroad to sell the cameras in their own countries.

Two years later Stranziger and Fiegl arranged a simultaneous exhibition in Moscow and New York, exchanging LC-A prints from one city to show in the other. Heavy television coverage at the Moscow exhibition brought interested representatives from the factory where the cameras were actually made. They had initially dismissed their formal invitation as an April Fool’s joke.

Photos: Courtesy of Lomography

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HISTORY: Learn how one cheap camera helped start a visual revolution.

Following the exhibition in Moscow the Lomography organization was invited to tour the St. Petersburg factory where they were told that, due to the opening of Russian markets and the faltering economy, the LC-A was going to cease production. Meetings between LOMO factory heads and Lomography initially guaranteed a monthly supply of 1,000 cameras. Thus buoyed, Lomography opened its first embassies — which are part store, part exhibition hall, part community headquarters — in Berlin and London.

The factory continued to lose money so Lomography brought in an Austrian diplomat to meet with the factory heads. When talks proved unsuccessful, Lomography arranged a delegation of Austrian Parliament members to negotiate alongside them, using political influence to rope then vice-mayor of St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin, into the discussions.

The move worked. The cost of cameras increased to allow production to continue under free market guidelines and Lomography secured worldwide distribution rights.

Bolstered by sales, Lomography began featuring new products. They refurbished or remodeled cameras and then introduced their own designs. As the company expanded they opened stores in various cities. The St. Petersburg factory finally ceased production, however, so Lomography shifted manufacturing to China.

Photo: Courtesy of Lomography

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HISTORY: Learn how one cheap camera helped start a visual revolution.

Today, Lomography has 11 stores worldwide, in addition to over 30 “embassies” which host exhibitions, workshops and other events. The company has a robust web-presence, which incorporates online sales with a community of devotees, a blog and an online magazine. They’ve also tapped into web communities on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The inclusive appeal that is the cornerstone of the company’s marketing has proven quite successful, as users of sites such as Flickr have started their own Lomo groups to share their pictures.

In acknowledgement of the 25th anniversary, the flagship American store in New York City’s Greenwich Village, opened in January, is throwing a birthday bash. In addition to karaoke, the organizers promise food and drinks, music and an “amazing surprise.”

“We’re definitely expecting our most loyal and active Lomographers to participate,” says Nicole Bogatitus, manager of the New York store. “We always seem to get a good response from people who are surrounded by the ever-increasing digital culture as they find something totally unique about embracing analog.”

The New York festivities kick off on Friday at 10:30 a.m. The party begins at 7 p.m. They ask that you RSVP via shopnyc@lomography.com

Next: Meet two pro shooters who use Lomo cameras on the job and see examples of their work.

Photo: Courtesy of Lomography

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THE PROS: Photographers Gavin Thomas and Keren Fedida show off their Lomo skills.

Cameras offered by Lomography may seem tailored to the amateur market, but some professional photographers have also embraced them.

Above:

Gavin Thomas, who has shoots celebs like 50 Cent and Ciara for Rap Up magazine, often works with Lomo cameras.

“For these particular shoots I normally shoot with both digital and analog, using many of the Lomographic cameras. My camera bag is packed with a Canon 5d Mark II and 50d as well as my LC-As, Fisheyes, Holgas and Diannas.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Lomography line also appeals to visual artists. Photographer Keren Fedida made a difficult choice of photography over painting in her career and so she loves the expressionistic results found in her cameras. After being introduced to a Holga she hunted down Russian cameras at European flea markets. “The first roll I shot blew me away… the multiple exposure, the grain, the vignetting. I felt like a painter again.”

Top photo: Gavin Thomas Bottom photo: Keren Fedida

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THE PROS: Photographers Gavin Thomas and Keren Fedida show off their Lomo skills.

The Lomo style’s popularity is partly a reaction to the potential for perfection with digital photography that some find sterile.

“Analog photography records a trace of reality,” says Fedida. “Digital photography creates images that tend to conform to the well-known and mostly tedious templates of advertisement, glossies and TV screens. It has made ‘photography’ more superficial, banal, predictable and tedious.”

“Lomography, more than anything else,” she says, “is about learning again what digital photography has had us forget: just how surprising reality can be on film.”

And in an age of ever-expanding features on each year’s new digital models, some photographers find the simplicity of the Lomo cameras liberating.

“I really enjoy the semi-automatic functions of the LCA,” says Thomas. “It is very easy to use because you have limited settings. And the thing I enjoy the most is the unexpected results. By shooting over a previously shot roll of film I’m able to achieve totally random and unexpected results unmatched to spending hours in Photoshop.”

Top photo: Keren Fedida Bottom photo: Gavin Thomas

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THE PROS: Photographers Gavin Thomas and Keren Fedida show off their Lomo skills.

Lomo’s continued popularity has cemented it as more than simply a fad, with more and more acolytes joining the fold every day. “I think there will be a lot of die-hard Lomographers to come,” says Thomas.

“The Lomo is not only a welcome novelty camera that can open new possibilities to the jaded professional, it is a didactic tool,” says Fedida. “You can sense the amazement, as if film photography was being reinvented. I do hope that some of that joy of discovery, of disbelief will lead people to relearn the photographic arts.”

Next: Try to spot the fake Lomo photo …

Top photo: Gavin Thomas Bottom photo: Keren Fedida

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SPOT THE FAKE: Determine which image in each pair is a real Lomo photo and which is Photoshopped.

Each pair of images, above and below, contains one image that’s from an authentic Lomo print, the other is a Photoshop emulation. Can you tell which is which? The answers are posted at the bottom of the page. Click through to the next page for more pairings.

First set answers: