Capturing the World

By Adeline Loh · Urbanwire
email reporter · email story · printer friendly version

Lomography is unleashing a quiet revolution. This nifty range of ingenious Lomo cameras stashed in a small number of stores around the island has shown people a novel way of taking pictures. ADELINE LOH shows you how.

all pictures taken from www.lomography.com

Forget rules. Forget the neurotic obsession with extravagant titivating while a patient passerby waits. Forget the constant need for poise and readiness to snap a good picture. Forget, even, the notion that taking photos should be confined only to special and heartfelt moments. The Lomography, or Lomo, cameras herald a new age of aesthetics in photography. Break the rules and capture whatever catches your fancy because Lomo cameras make even the most ordinary of things stand out.

"It's really amazing when I discovered Lomography. The colours were really great," enthuses designer Alex Koh Song Wen, 28, who carries his Lomo camera everywhere he goes. "I'm not into photography which needs adjustments to make the pictures sharp, but when I started using the Lomo, I really liked the effect of the pictures."

The oft-heard phrase to "think out of the box" is epitomised in the wonder of the tiny Lomo camera. The camera throws the traditional rules in photography out the window, making the rule of thirds, composition and adequate lighting a thing of the past. The cameras are able to achieve these effects by virtue of the lenses they use and how they are made.

This little gadget of ingenuity has endeared itself to Singaporean Lomo Ambassadors and co-partners of design firm, ffurious creative communications, Melvyn Lim, 29, and Little Ong, 32. They've sustained the local Lomo embassy, a non-profit organisation, for almost 2 years, all out of a passion and love for lomography.

"Even before ffurious was set up, Melvyn and I were already fans of lomography. The embassy came about because of our initial interest and we felt ffurious would be a good platform for the embassy," reveals Little. What drives them also "is the same thrill [they] get out of shooting".

Lest you think this is a hobby of a few crackpots, the Lomo Embassy has a mailing list of around 3,000 people. Members of the embassy receive periodic e-mails about new products, invitations to exhibitions and competitions, and other Lomo-related news. On top of that, the embassy organises 2 to 3 lomography exhibitions a year, gives advice on cameras and repairs, and sources for potential retailers.

Despite rave reviews from lomographers, Lomo has yet to jump onto the commercial bandwagon. The advertising of this art form has been acutely lacking.

Melvyn explains, "The whole ideology of Lomo is we don't practice advertising. Everything is through word-of-mouth, friends and our shared passion."

"Lomography has exposed a lot of people, who otherwise wouldn't have picked up photography, to an unconventional way of capturing memories and special images on film," adds Little.

Behind the growth of Lomo are people, whether the ones in the photos or those you share your pictures with. Lomo encourages people to take any- and everything and to leave their inhibitions at the doorstep. The allure of Lomo is the ability to chronicle everyday life, and in a surreal way, connect your life with that of an absolute stranger's.

"The fun aspect of lomography just supersedes the whole idea of conventional photography. With the Lomo, you can achieve results you might not with a traditional camera," offers Melvyn.

For more information, visit the Singaporean Lomo Embassy located at 32A Sago Street, or log onto www.lomography.com and connect with lomographers worldwide.

Proudly presenting the lovely Lomo Cameras!

1. The Lomo Kompakt Automat (LCA): The first camera to earn Lomo worldwide recognition. According to Melvyn, "[The LCA] has such a wide angle lens you get a vignette effect around the corners where the image corners are really dark. It has a saturated lens so by default you get pictures which are very saturated and very colourful." The LCA works wonders when shooting artificial neon lights and is the only camera which can take pictures in-and-outdoors without the need for a flash." 2. The Colour Splash Camera: The latest offering from the Lomo society, this revolutionary device can splash 15 different colours on your pictures, allowing you to create the effect of having the foreground in 1 colour and the background in another. Another notable feature is the night mode. Pressing the shutter release changes the mode to a bulb mode, which allows you to keep the shutter (window of the camera) open for as long as you like. Little enthuses about the fascinating possibilities of this feature, "Imagine you are at a club where there are a lot of lights flashing. When you depress the button, it captures all these lights in streaks and when you release, the flash goes out. That's when the foreground is captured in sharp bright colour, while at the back there is a myriad of lights."

3. Action Sampler: You can view a wide selection of photos taken by the Action Sampler at the art section of Kinokuniya. The Action Sampler is a tiny, toy-like structure and can only take pictures in bright daylight. Melvyn explains the novelty of the Action Sampler lies in its ability to "shoot 4 quarter shots and was invented by a golfer to capture a golfer's swing". In layman's terms, the camera will take 4 pictures in a millisecond and the photo is divided into 4 sections. 4. Cyber Sampler: Similar to the Action Sampler, this nifty device captures 4 landscape shots in a second, but only its pictures produced are arranged horizontally. Pictures can also only be taken in bright daylight. 5. Pod 9: The Pod 9 takes pictures, which have the feel of optical art because it takes 9 similar shots in 1 photo. Its built-in flash allows pictures to be taken indoors. 6. Holga: Melvyn explains the main feature of the Holga is the leakage of light which gives pictures a very old feel, "as if they have been kept in the house for the longest time". All Lomo cameras are manual and use ordinary 35 mm film.