Lomography

Lo Fi Film Camera

http://www.lomo.com/

http://www.lomography.com/

10 rules

I'm considering the Action Sampler, since it's just $30.

Jeffrey P Shell is into this. Via email he said....

The essence is captured in the title of a recent Lomography book - "Don't Think, Just Shoot". It's a beautiful camera that takes beautiful photos, picks up colors nicely, and works decently in lower light - making it a camera perfect for capturing spontaneous details in the world.

It's not just the mood / attitude, but some essence of community. And that community is filled with people photographing and sharing the details of their trips, nightlife, communities, pets, moments.
Combining the nature of quick unprepared / half-prepared shots with the qualities and quarks of the various Cameras (from the mightly LC-A to the plastic multilenses) is what makes it so fascinating.

The multi lens Action/Super Sampler cameras, which take four pictures over a small duration of time onto a single print, fit into the plan.
They can create photos like a snowboarder (or telemark skier!) jumping over the edge of a half pipe. In these photos, where two seconds of action are caught onto a single frame, it's not the rider that is the subject - it's this quick shot of two seconds of action on a sunny day at Brighton.

For me, personally, I've always liked the "don't think, just shoot" concept, long before I ever heard of Lomography. But every camera I came across tried too hard to be perfect, was too expensive and advanced for my needs, and often just didn't yield quite the colors or other details I really wanted. They were trying to hard to be an easy Point And Shoot camera and gave me no control over how I wanted to use low light situations, yielding flash marks when I didn't want the flash on, or leaving something impossible to get any valid print from.

So last winter, wanting something to take skiing that cost less than an Elph Sport (I like the Elph cameras, but didn't know if I wanted to stick with film at that point), I picked up the Super Sampler (four panoramic lenses, over .2 - 2 seconds, film advanced with a pull string, no viewfinder) last winter to take skiing because it was cheap, easy to use with gloves on, and took fun ski shots. It was also fun to have on a Bicycle when riding about the city. It was actually a FUN Point And Shoot camera. Ultimately it led me to the rugged non-"gimmicky" LC-A, which has yielded the same enjoyment and some of the best photos of my life.

Because also, for me, it's the distortions and imperfections that are beautiful. I like Lo Fi. Simple photos on simple medium that come out rich; toy cameras; tape and vinyl (a bonus effect of my new apartment is that the hardwood floors, thick walls, and spacial layout make my record player sound 10x better than in my old apartment). Lomography falls into this area, and amplifies it with worldwide samples of similar works offering glimpses into the stupid details of life without bogging them down into Vacation Photo Album drudgery. It just says "here's a bunch of pictures." Fans say "cool." And then it's on to the next click and click and click until it's time to go to the lab and get surprised by what turns out.