Author Topic: Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society  (Read 7182 times)

Ed Wenn

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Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society
« on: April 25, 2008, 01:06:37 PM »
Get your teeth around this puppy: http://photondetector.com/blog/2008/04/22/lomographic-society-continues-to-suck-co-opts-worldwide-pinhole-photography-day as those nice people at the Lomographic society co-opt World Pinhole Photography Day.

Francois

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Re: Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2008, 03:26:24 PM »
I'm starting to think the Lomo people will soon ask for a seat at the United Nations...
Francois

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Ed Wenn

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Re: Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2008, 05:07:16 PM »
 ;D ;D ;D ;D

Great comment, Francois. I think they could play a pivotal role in  the Middle East peace process.

david b

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Re: Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society
« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2008, 05:37:55 PM »
We've tried everything else - time to send in the hipper-than-thou Viennese spazzmatrons.

kuru

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Re: Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society
« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2008, 08:39:09 PM »
;D ;D ;D ;D

Great comment, Francois. I think they could play a pivotal role in  the Middle East peace process.

I don't know Ed, their "Don't Think Just Shoot" philosophy might not engender peace...
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Karl

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Re: Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society
« Reply #5 on: April 26, 2008, 07:18:51 AM »
an interesting read. I've obviously been isolated from everyone else's anti-lomo shop views. I thought it was just me! FWIW...I don't have a big issue with them selling stuff that encourages more people to use film. If people want to pay those prices that's up to them. I see lomo stuff in art gallery shops here for the same, if not higher, prices. I do think the way they steal ownership of other ideas shows a low set of morals/ethics and wouldn't buy from them. And the photos they use to adverstise products are s**t.
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traskblueribbon

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Re: Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society
« Reply #6 on: April 28, 2008, 09:43:42 PM »
I think I puked up in my mouth just now...

I have always had a disdain for them, and this just further reinforces my feeling of righteousness on the subject.

whats next LSI presents film!

Francois

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Re: Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society
« Reply #7 on: April 28, 2008, 11:13:23 PM »
whats next LSI presents film!
Nope, LSI gift wrap, LSI bubble gum, LSI macaroni & cheese, LSI After Shave (called Expired Fixer by LSI  ;D)...
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.

dbrooks

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Re: Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society
« Reply #8 on: April 29, 2008, 02:36:01 PM »
Hello all,

It's my first post here and I didn't think it would involve wading into a debate about the LSI but I think it's worth recounting my experience. Without a doubt my interest in photography was sparked through a chance purchase of an LCA nearly ten years ago, bought from the LSI in Singapore (when prices were still only marginally above reasonable - about half the price of now). I loved using it and went from getting through 2 or 3 rolls of film a year, to 2 or 3 rolls a month, or even a week. As my interest in photography grew the limitations of the LCA grew more apparent. I wanted more manual control of the camera, so I could get the results I wanted by design and not by chance. I got hold of an SLR, went on a photography course, joined a camera club. I'm sure that if it wasn't for the LSI (both the community as well as the LCA) I don't think I would have gone down this route. I look back at the photos I took initially with my LCA and they make me smile - they're awful but I still like them.

It's easy to see the attraction of the Lomo "movement" to a novice. It celebrates what are often technically poor shots. The shot's out of focus, blurred, overexposed? That's fine, it's Lomo - there are no rules. As a result, the movement is very open to new members, in a way in which traditional photography is not (with the notable exception of this site and a few others, although I suspect that Flickr is now a growing thorn in the LSI's side). I should contrast this with the position of skilled photographers who go back to using toy cameras having mastered the technical side first (on that note I believe that Lee Frost has written an article on the LCA in this month's B&W Photography magazine). These photographers come at it from a different perspective. They know and understand the rules of photography and further understand when they can be broken.

The LSI has been very clever by having its members do much of the marketing work for them. It's official "ambassadors" in various countries seem to work for little more than the kudos of the title and the odd free plastic camera. When it comes to marketing, the LSI calls for submissions on a particular theme or for a particular camera. The members provide their best work for free, and if the LSI uses it then the member gets paid with tokens redeemable against other LSI products - it's a fantastic business model. I've been a sucker for this too, shots of mine have been published in two or three LSI books (which are normally used to promote a new camera or bundled with it). In each case my payment (in the form of tokens) has been less than the cost of the published book. In each case I have bought the book. I'm a sucker. It's vanity publishing under a different name.

What I think is even more surprising about LSI is the way that its advocates buy into it. Any camera that is sold by LSI is automatically deemed a magic "Lomo" camera, any camera that is not is conventional, dull and boring. When posting shots to LSI I remember with amazement being told off by fellow members for posting shots taken with a non-Lomo approved camera (what happened to the lack of rules?). If anything, the members of LSI are far more self-righteous than those behind it. If I were in marketing I'd love to conduct a study of the LSI - they have a fantastic brand and a perversely loyal customer base. Even though they overcharge their customers for cameras that are readily available elsewhere......

I think the LSI has changed quite a lot in the past few years. I read somewhere that the original founders had made a lot of money but then lost it all by pumping into an ill-conceived arthouse film. Since then the LSI have gone through a corporate reorganisation and now seem to be a far more corporate and aggresive outfit. I assume this was partly due to the production of the LCA being closed down in Russia and having to source alternative Lomo products, mostly from China, in the form of cheap plastic gimmicky cameras.

Although I ditched my "lomohome" (I cringe at the word) some time ago, I picked up my LCA again recently. Ignoring the LSI hype it really is a great camera. However, without the LSI I'd never have heard of it.

David

dbrooks

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Re: Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society
« Reply #9 on: April 29, 2008, 02:39:58 PM »
p.s. Although I know I shouldn't, I'm still giggling at the phrase " hipper-than-thou Viennese spazzmatrons", well done david b.

Attached below is a photo of the head Viennese spazzmatron himself (the Lomo president) sent to me by LSI some years ago. This is him relaxing in his flat (how many LCAs did he have to sell for that?). On the wall is my photo which was uploaded to LSI, which he took a shine to, had enlarged, and then some time later got one of his minions to check with me whether I had any objections to him having it for his personal use. I believe I was offered payment of 15 Euros, and even more depressingly, I think I gushingly agreed.........

[Sorry, image deleted during forum software upgrade. Please re-upload if so inclined.]

LT

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Re: Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society
« Reply #10 on: April 29, 2008, 04:49:09 PM »
welcome to FW DBRooks and congratulations for winning the prize for the longest ever first post :)
L.

eyecaramba

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Re: Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society
« Reply #11 on: April 30, 2008, 02:57:46 AM »
David...  One of my best friends growing up was David Brook.   So, I like you already.  David was actually a really funny kid.  The kind of guy you would expect to grow up and still be very funny.  Maybe earning a little class clown cred at some various stops along the way.  All this makes me wonder if you are funny also.  I like the way you have deconstructed the lomolosiphy of things.  They are intriguing as a collective, as a top down super sensation, as orthodox silly billies, as crass cash grabbers...

This is an oft incendiary topic... I reposted this link over at toycamera.com

http://toycamera.com/forum/index.php?topic=1317.0

...and was getting great intellectual spillage until everyone ripped off their make nice sunday go to meeting hats and started to sing and fight at the same time, like the Jets and the Sharks.  It is fun to air this topic every now and again because I think a few people get wiser each time.

But what I really want to do is mix up a big pitcher of lomojitos and watch the rumble and pretend I am a fancy man of the world and the writhing masses of lomotherf*ckers are actually tipsy buxom septuplets named Lara.
My chopstick is really a love poem.

moominsean

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Re: Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society
« Reply #12 on: April 30, 2008, 04:45:50 AM »
yeah i read the first couple lines, my eyes glazed over, and then scrolled down to the pretty picture. not because you are boring, but because i'm not very bright.

i wouldn't be mad until he passes and that photo of yours sells to someone for $2 million.
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dbrooks

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Re: Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society
« Reply #13 on: April 30, 2008, 09:53:22 AM »
eyecaramba, if that rumble ever happens I want a front seat.

I'd  document the whole thing using my latest LSI purchase - a plastic camera with 4 misaligned lenses (one of which is fisheye), sourced exclusively by the LSI and manufactured in the 1970s by a handpicked group of blind Chinese orphan amputees, spraypainted gold, dunked in glitter then personally burned to give it a unique shape and performance. Stock limited. Cost ?395.

Ed Wenn

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Re: Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society
« Reply #14 on: April 30, 2008, 04:52:09 PM »
dbrooks; Wilkommen at Filmwasters. Thanks for such a long first post and for the personal details of your various brushes with LSI. All very interesting. Nice photo too. The nice Lomoman should have at least sent you a Lomocopy of your Lomograph that he had blown up and put on the wall of what (we assume) must be his Lomohome.

 :D

All this Lomotalk has got me wanting to include a vote of thanks to LSI. In the course of a long and winding journey through the world of online photography sites over the last 6 years, the LSI mantra of "Don't Think, Shoot" became such an irritant that it was one of several key factors in us starting up Filmwasters.com (yes, the name is ironic), to prove that you could have a lot of fun with photography, not take yourself too seriously all the time, not be an anorak obsessed with equipment, but still take the time to try and grow as a photographer and try to do something creative no matter what your setup was.

More "Think, then shoot" than "Don't Think, Shoot".

Ed Wenn

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Re: Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society
« Reply #15 on: April 30, 2008, 04:54:41 PM »
....oh yea, I almost forgot. The reason I came back to this thread was to say that Gordon has put in some very fine writing on the parallel thread at Toycamera.com. Definitely worth reading if you have half an hour to spare. Although, I'm not sure anything there quite reaches tops the "hipper-than-thou Viennese spazzmatrons" comment  :D

gary m

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Re: Great article from Nicolai about the Lomographic Society
« Reply #16 on: April 30, 2008, 11:06:34 PM »
Another good read if you have the time from a few years ago by Alfred K. http://cameras.alfredklomp.com/lomography/