The Lomographic Society - The Story of the LC-A
From Mod Mania
The Lomographic Society - The Story of the LC-A
“Lomo is a conversation between you and the world” (Thomas Napper (BBC4 2006)
Lomography is a term coined by Wolfgang Strangziger & Matthias Fiegl the founders of the Lomographic society, a world wide society of photographers or “Lomographers” set apart from normal photographers for their choice of cameras and the way they shoot. The cameras are chosen for their lo-fi quality, high saturation (often combined with cross processing) and the characteristic vignette that frames the image. The society has 10 golden rules by which its members abide to in their artwork. (Lomographic Society n.d.)
¬Lomo PLC is a Russian scientific manufacturing company from St Petersburg set up at the beginning of the First World War to make optical instruments for the Russian military. The company for over a century has been at the forefront of soviet optics, manufacturing products such as cameras, telescopes, microscopes and rocket components. At its peak it employed 27,000 people and was unique with three “Orders of Lenin”, the country’s highest honour, testifying to the company’s proud history and numerous achievements. (BBC4 2006)
Lomo PLC falls into the Lomography story with one particular product, the Lomo Kampakt Automat or LC-A, first put into production in 1984. It was a highly successful camera in Russia at the time for being a relatively cheap product.
It wasn’t until 1991 that Strangziger & Fiegl discovered the camera whilst on a trip to Prague. They brought the camera back to Vienna where they started snapping photos of there everyday life. Soon many of there friends where asking them how to get the cameras, and they started to go on search of cameras to sell to friends. After seeing the growing popularity of the camera, In 1992 they decided to organise an exhibition of all the photographers in Vienna using the Lomo camera. Without any funding or sponsors they decided the easiest way to fund there exhibition was to sell Lomo cameras, but instead of pitching the sale as the sale of a camera, they were selling membership into their society, the logographic society, by owning a Lomographic camera you become a life member of the society. (BBC4 2006)Along with the creation this society came a set of rules, although originally created as something of a joke they have stuck with the society since:
The 10 golden rules
1. Take your LOMO everywhere you go. 2. Use it anytime - day or night. 3. Lomography is not an interference in your life, but a part of it. 4. Shoot from the hip. 5. Approach the objects of your Lomographic desire as close as possible. 6. Don't think. 7. Be fast. 8. You don't have to know beforehand what you've captured on film. 9. You don't have to know afterwards, either. 10. Don't worry about the rules.
(Lomographic Society n.d.) Over the following few years the popularity of the Lomo grew vastly with exhibitions around the world sparking interest in new countries it wasn’t long before the society grew into something of a franchise with ambassadors and embassies for the society being set up in country’s such as Germany and the UK.
However by the mid nineties with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian economy was in crisis. This forced Lomo PLC to cease production of their entire line of photographic equipment, and by December 1994 the Lomo LC-A was discontinued. (BBC4 2006)
At this time the Lomographers went to Russia and presented an exhibition of Lomographs to the company. They established a deal where the society would be the sole distributor of the LC-A if the company continued production. Lomo PLC continued to deliver around 1000 cameras a month to the society until in 1997 the company realised they could no longer produce the cameras at the current cost due to increasing energy prices. With a sharp 50% increase in price the Lomographer’s could no longer afford to pay what the company was asking for. The Lomographers weren’t going to go down without a fight and arranged meetings with the vice mayor of St Petersburg – Vladimir Putin. Putin convinced Lomo PLC to reassess the production costs and finally all party’s came to agree that the LC-A should remain in production.
Lomo PLC continued production of the camera right upto 2005 when they decided that the camera no longer fitted the direction the company was taking. The lomographic society have since started reproducing the camera themselves, the LC-A+, outsourcing its production to China.
Since moving production to china, the Lomographic society has continued to create more photographic products which force you to be creative with the photos taken such as camera which take four successive photos on one negative, and low priced fish eye cameras. (Lomographic Society n.d.)
The society today has grown into something of a cult with some photographers such as Simone White (BBC4 2006) who says since she found the camera it has become a way of life “It changed everything for me as a photographer”. The small size as opposed to a full sized SLR means she can easily follow the golden rules and take the camera anywhere she goes taking photos of things she wouldn’t have thought to before.
Online the society has a mass following with members being able to upload their photos for criticism from fellow members, although not as objective and constructive as other photography websites. There are daily themes and keywords for which hundreds of photos are uploaded each day.
The style of photography has also become very popular outside of the community, a quick search will find a plethora of online tutorials, software filters, even iPhone apps all with the intention of recreating the Lomo effect without the right photographic equipment.
It is clearly evident that the Lomo LC-A is not just a piece of soviet engineering, but has become something of a lifestyle and philosophy for those in the Lomographic Society.
Bibliography
The Lomo Camera: Shoot From the Hip. Documentary . Performed by BBC4. 2006.
Lomographic Society. LC-A+ History. http://microsites.lomography.com/lca+/history (accessed September 25, 2009).
Lomographic Society. Lomography.www.lomography.com (accessed September 24, 2009).
