Lomography: for a Fantastic Vintage Look

When people hear the term Lomography, they quite often think about a medical procedure. However, Lomography is a special form of artistic photography. It’s a specific technique of analogue photography that has spread across the globe and become very popular. This form of photography has been around since 1992.

Images created with Lomography are characterised by their rich colours and retro style. Staged pictures do fall under the category of Lomography. Snapshots are what make Lomography unique and perfectly imperfect. The characteristic style of photos is based on small imperfections on the analogue film such as dust grains, spots and light rays. A Lomo camera will not offer you perfect photos. This means that each and every picture will be a small work of art. Blurring, vignetting and vibrant colours are what makes these wonderful photos stand out. Photographers that are interested in Lomography will rarely use a viewfinder. So-called ‘hip shots’, where the camera is simply held freely on a subject, lend the images a flair of spontaneity. Some photos even make it look like the subject was photographed by mistake.

In the Soviet Union a replica of a Japanese camera model was produced, which was known for its bad image quality. Overexposure, bright colours, errors and light streaks characterised the photos taken with this type of camera. While the unexpected photo results were little appreciated at the time and initially gave the camera a bad reputation, its spectacular flaws are legendary today and are considered artistically creative.

It was only decades after the replica came onto the market that students at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts started using a 35mm camera again. For their art projects, they founded Lomography and shortly afterwards established the Lomography Society. Since then, Lomography has continued to develop. There are now a wide variety of cameras with add-on lenses and special features, which are sold in special Lomo stores around the world. Today there are more than 60 Lomography societies and stores around the globe. Click here to find out more about Lomography

Lomography is more an approach to life rather than just a creative art form in photography. It’s all about appreciating the imperfections and the unpredictable. This is why Lomography has always stuck to an analogue style.

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Do you like photos with a Lomo effect, but you don't have an analogue camera? Thanks to various apps, you can edit your photos and apply a Lomo effect to any digital image. Some photo apps have filter options that turn a normal digital photo into a Lomo snapshot. There are also Lomo apps that specialise in a Lomo style, for example, Lomograph - Retro Photo Editor for iOS or the Lomopola app for Android.