Why is my vivitar UWS not considered a lomo cam? Why can’t I identify my work as lomography? To be technical about it, lomography according to wikipedia, is the commercial trademark of Lomographische AG, Austria for products and services related to photography, whose most popular product is the LOMO LC-A Compact Automat camera. From the LC-A Automat, Lomography has produced and marketed an entire line of their own branded analog cameras: Fisheye, Diana, Holga, Oktomat, Supersampler, etc.

Unfortunately vivitar UWS is not produced by Lomographische so it’s not considered a lomo cam hence my pictures are not “lomographic”. But to take away the technical aspect and blur the boundaries of lomography, this art of photography is simply put, a casual, snapshot photography. With any film camera you can achieve a lomography effect, which are “over-saturated colors, off-kilter exposure, blurring, "happy accidents," and alternative film processing that are often considered part of the "Lomographic Technique."

lomographic expression

The world of Lomography has 10 golden rules, which defines their philosophy and approach to photography:

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

Pretty common sense huh? Take out the word "lomography” and you can apply these principles in whatever camera you are using. Currently models marketed by Lomographische AG include:

Lomo LC-A
Diana
Holga
Holga 35mm
Actionsampler
Frogeye
Pop-9
Oktomat
Fisheye

Fisheye2
Colorsplash
Colorsplash Flash
F-stop Bang
SuperSampler
Horizon 202
Seagull TLR
Smena 8M

At present, the technicality of “lomography” is less strict and includes any analog cameras, which basically have the sole purpose of creating the thousands of Lomographic expression (whatever they are). Hence for the next posts I will be using the word lomography interchangeably and freely. :)

To learn more about the world of lomography, visit their site: lomography.com.

Related posts:

  1. Tips to an Affordable Lomography lifestyle
  2. Accessories for your camera
  3. Finding a good lomography group
  4. Lomography cheating
  5. Blackbird Fly Camera