Whoah! I feared that this type of marketing would rear its ugly head when I heard that the Lomography crew were going to re-launch the Diana. Mixed emotions about it, but to paraphrase something Susan says at one point on the next Filmwasters podcast, "If it's going to encourage people to buy more film then I'm all for it"?and anyway, it does look like it'll be a cool camera to use.
But back to the marketing; other than the stupidly inflated prices it's the Lomographic people's marketing schtick that has annoyed me from Day 1. Here are some (admittedly out of context - sorry Bill
) excerpts from the advertising material for the Diana + that kind of annoy me:
- As we say day in and day out: Be fast.
- To hold, point, and shoot a Diana camera implies a conscious decision to relinquish control.
- With each click of the shutter, a moment is captured in a unique and fairly unpredictable way and a small narrative begins to reveal itself.
All of the above are of the "don't think?just shoot" variety and it's a school of thought completely at odds with the way I see toycamera photography. Sure, if you press 'Go' enough times with film loaded, you'll end up with one or two nice images, but if you stop and think for a second about what you're trying to achieve, what the camera is capable of, what the light's like etc. (you know, all the stuff you do when you use other cameras), then believe me, you'll end up with far more decent snaps. Every plastic lensed camera I've ever owned has had a few quirks that you quickly learn about and then use as part of the picture making process. You don't "relinquish control", it's not "fairly unpredictable" (at least not after the first few rolls). If you have anything about you as a photographer you'll pick up what a toycamera does well and what it doesn't do well and work with it on that basis.
- On top of that, you can count yourself as an individual note inthe Diana's illustrious history - which dates back to the better part of 40 years.
Nice. They're cashing in on an unlikely and totally unexpected cult success purely for the profit, but they want you to feel part of the story. Glad they care. What is this, a Jack Daniel's commercial?
- Diana shots are raw & gritty, with a character all their own. They simply cannot be duplicated by any other camera on Earth!
...so why are they trying?
It looks cool though
[climbing down off his high horse and exiting the building]
