There was a time not that long ago when I would forgo taking
out my expensive and highly capable Digital SLR for a spot of photography and
instead grab a cheaply made, plastic, lightweight and low-tech compact with
whatever film happened to live in my fridge. The camera in question was a
Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim (UWS) and served as my introduction to the world of
Lomography.
For those who are unaware "Lomography is an analogue camera movement and community, and is
also a commercial trademark of Lomographische AG. It was founded in 1991 by
Viennese students Matthias Fiegl and Wolfgang Stranzinger when they discovered
the Lomo LC-A camera created by LOMO PLC of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Since
1995, Lomography has been the sole distributor of that camera outside of the
former Soviet Union, and has since moved into producing their own range of analogue
cameras, and other imports such as the Diana camera" - Wikipedia.
It might help at this point to check out their website and
store to see what it's all about but essentially Lomography (to me at least)
was an opportunity to reignite interest in 35mm film, to experiment in
different ways of shooting and processing, to use cameras both old (Olympus
Trip 35) and new (Lomography Supersampler) and to forget about the technical
elements required to create a shot and simply concentrate on the fun and spontaneity
of shooting.
In truth it appealed to me on two levels. The first was to
remove myself from the constant learning and applying of photography rules and
concepts, to leave behind f-stops and bracketing and just enjoy shooting purely
for fun. Secondly it appealed to my gadget loving side. Being able to both
scour car boot sales and charity shops for old cameras and oddities and get my
hands on the latest weird and wonderful kit from the Lomography store. I was
hooked.
I spent a few years as an active member of the community. I
entered competitions, uploaded photos and wrote articles for the site. I bought
and sold cameras, refurbished old kit, tried all manner of 35mm film and argued
with the naysayers who believed all Lomography to be an outlet for hipsters to
pass off naff photos taken on poor cameras as art.
It might be surprising to some then that I have sold all my
analogue cameras, emptied my fridge of film and have not posted on the
Lomography website for a number of months. No longer do I eagerly await the
postman to deliver my latest processed negatives, gone are the days of writing
articles for Piggy Points and the closest I now come to cross-processing is via
a digital filter.
So why the turnaround? In short I have come to loathe the
company and community I once had a fondness for. It was not instant, it was not
based on the film medium nor is it a slight on their products, some of which I
would still speak just as highly of today. It seemed to happen gradually as the
products became more popular and the community grew larger.
Along with a bigger community came more user generated
content. It is this content that slowly started to turn me away from the
community as where once I defended against the Hipster tags I now saw a growing
number of articles living up to this. Articles would heap praise on products
(sometimes justified) whilst never exploring the negatives adding up to a
balanced review. Hyperbole would mount throughout a piece before erupting like
a bullshit volcano across your screen. With each new review of a new camera
turning into a Lomography love-in I started to become frustrated with the
writers and bored with their pieces.
Worse still were those writing of products and photos making
claims that were technically incorrect and just plain wrong. In a sense it's
difficult to judge someone's opinion as wrong as it is after all just an
opinion. But when you are using scientific or technical terms to describe
something you should have some understanding of those terms and what they mean
and be factual in your conclusions.
In an example posted by one user showing a completely washed
out photo reddened by a drastic light leak they wrote "The photos are very high contrasted, with emphasized saturated
green and red tones. It also gives lovely red light leaks", none of
which were true of the displayed photo other than the light leak all but
destroying the image.
The metaphors and hyperbole continue in many articles; one
describes Velvia RVP as a "beast"
and "probably one of the most
crazy, unpredictable and wild films in the universe" whilst another
describes Superia 1600 as offering "mind
blowing grain." It probably shouldn't bother me and maybe it goes
against the Lomography ethos to be so concerned with factual terms but it does
bother me. Reading the grossly exaggerated and factually incorrect claims
induce cringe of the highest order and turn me off the website entirely as I
start to view members of this community - my community - as the Hipsters I once
swore we were not.
Not convinced? Those examples are just a film review or two.
There are countless more examples in tipster, location and camera articles.
I'll leave this section with one more quote from a camera review conclusion; "Don’t be shy, just say “I love you” to
your beloved camera, and share with us how sweet your experience is when living
with your petite camera sweetie!" Brilliant.
It's not just articles though. Another aspect that grew
tiresome for me was the constant pushing of new products down my throat. With
each product launch the website shifts its focus away from some of the user
generated content and focusses on the new camera in question almost exclusively.
Reviews, location articles and tipsters all feature the latest product and the
next wave of monthly requested articles are guaranteed to feature the new
camera heavily. In short the whole effect slowly starts to come off as one big
marketing trick. And once it turns from a great community site to just another
business selling me something then unfortunately my interest starts to wane. I
understand Lomography isn't a charity and are in business to make money but
once community members are used as advertising vehicles (post this article to
your blog for some piggy points, etc.) the community spirit fades and a soulless
marketing machine is all that remains.
If the dreadful articles are my first and the marketing
machine my second driving factor behind my departure then the third has to
inevitably fall to the photography. Like the articles before it I have to add
at this point that it's not all bad. The Lomography website has in fact plenty
of talented people there too. I've always argued that despite the medium and
capabilities of a particular camera a good photo is a good photo. I still stand
by this and thoroughly enjoyed some of the photography featured from people all
across the world. But for every one good photo there are hundreds of poor ones.
It is of course subjective as to what constitutes a bad
photograph - or “lomograph”. It's not personal taste I'm referring to here
though but more the deliberate abuse of film. Washing your roll of Fujifilm’s
finest emulsion in a bath of washing-up liquid and drying it out with a
hairdryer before shooting is not in any way any kind of photography I care to
be involved with. To see praise heaped on the horrible results just heightens
my sense of coldness to it. Yet this culture of experimenting has gripped the
community as people dream up new ways of destroying perfectly good film to take
utterly crap photographs. Did you know for instance that destroying your film
with lemon juice produces amazing colour? Or how about the amazing results one
can achieve with a mixture of orange juice, washing powder, cider vinegar and
lemon flavoured Vodka? It's bad enough that someone thinks these sorts of
experiments can produce anything but utter dross but to have the results
embraced and liked by a community leaves me dumbfounded.
There are more yet somewhat lesser factors I could pick at
as to what alienated and turned me off the community. The piggy point system
for one would feature quite heavily as well as the cost of the cameras in the
store. Ultimately though these are things I can live with and argue both for
and against but the above major points I cannot. Once I felt the site became a
marketing gimmick and when user content started to irk me by living up to its hipster
reputation it was a speedy switch from Lomo lover to a digital future.
I want to add at this point two things. The first is that I
love film. I get excited trying out new emulsions and that seemingly endless wait
to see the results once the film goes off for processing. I also love some of
the equipment I've had my hands on over the last few years including Lomography
cameras (Supersampler, La Sardina, Spinner 360, Diana Mini) and non-Lomography
cameras alike (Trip 35, Vivitar UWS, Fujifilm Zoom Date F2.8). The second is
that this article itself being an opinion piece is likely to come in for heavy
criticism itself. Being a previous regular contributor to the site I may even
be guilty of some of the things I've accused others of. Either way the end drew
near and now my Lomography account lay dormant waiting to be deleted.
I must admit I was saddened when that last package was
carried to the post office before being shipped to its new owner and I will
genuinely miss those cameras. The rest though I will not. Maybe Lomography just
isn't for me anymore and my criticisms are unfounded? Maybe I'm just not 'hip'
enough and don’t 'get it' anymore? You can decide for yourselves. I meanwhile
have no regrets leaving a community, a website and a company behind that I
unfortunately over time I came to dislike.
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