Lomo LC-A

a photography journey with the lomo lc-a

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Personalize your LC-A! I'm a big fan of Mijonju. He does a great show about all the different kinds of camera for all the camera lovers among us :)

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Another piece of media that helped inspired me to shoot more with my LC-A.

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Take Your Camera Everywhere You Go

With the LC-A in my hands, I want to use it more. I want to use it everyday. However, I'm having a hard time following the first rule of Lomography: take your camera everywhere you go. I'm a guy who goes everywhere with things in my pocket. I don't carry a man bag nor a bag pack, so for convenience-sake the LC-A doesn't go everywhere with me. I always have my wallet, my phone, house key, and car key with me; and that's all that pretty much fit in my pocket. In the days of cellphone camera (and iPhone), there's even less incentives to carry around another camera--let alone a film camera that needs to change film rolls. Does anyone have suggestions on how they carry around their film cameras for everyday use? A number of times in my life I've tried carrying around a man bag with me but the habit just never stick. After a month or so I just fall back into just having my wallet, iPhone, and keys. It makes sense to have a camera when you go traveling somewhere or on a trip. We all grab a camera when plan to do something special. But because a lot of Lomography is about being random and getting a surprising pictures without plan, I think it's much more about taking shots everyday regardless of where you are or where do you plan to go. I just need to keep the LC-A with me at all times,... but how? How do I train myself to remember and wanting to take the LC-A with me? 

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Some Inspirations

The first film roll that I shot on the LC-A came back from my film lab/drug store. First off, the cost of developing and scanning a roll of film is a little bit higher than I thought it would be. I dropped off my roll at CVS Pharmacy and was surprised that I was be able to pick it up an hour later. I came from the world of medium format and it usually take 3 days to a week for my local film lab to develop and scan my 120 films. I thought that the 135 film would be cheaper to develop than 120 film, but it still costed me $8 just to develop and scan (in low-res, mind you.)

The good news is, my camera is working well with good focus and exposure. The bad news is, however, all of my shots are just average--to say the least. My first roll did what it was supposed to do. I didn't shoot anything interesting but just wanted to see whether the camera that I bought was not broken in anyway.

So, now it's time for some inspirations. For me, one of the ways to learn to shoot better is to see other people's works. It gets me more curious and excited about how to display life in a photo and how to bring a photograph to life--whether the subject is a person or a building or a thing.

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Zone focusing on the LC-A

One of the things that the LC-A is different from most of other cameras is the way that it focuses. The camera is manual focused so the photographer actually needs to choose the focusing distance before taking a picture. But instead of a smooth scroll focus ring, the LC-A has a small knob next to the lens with next to it are markings: 0.8, 1.5, 3.0, and infinity. These are distances in meters.

When you focus, you do not see the result through the viewfinder (as the camera is not a SLR.) You will need to guess how far your subject is from you. 

This sounds like a total guess work for taking a picture, but once you know your camera and the relative distances of how far things are away from you this becomes second nature. And don't forget that Lomography is all about having fun an shooting picture without thinking. You might get great pictures even though the focus is a little off.

For those that are interested in learning more about getting things right with zone focusing, there are also a few tricks that people use to learn the different distances.

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First Week, First Roll

I spent the past week trying out the new Lomo LC-A that I bought. It is quite different from other cameras that I've shot with in the past. I came from the world of large DSLR, then moved on to digital rangefinder, then all the different types of Polaroid cameras, and Hassleblad medium format. In comparison to those, the LC-A is much smaller in size and feel. It's making me feel like I'm just carrying around a toy. Because of its built-in light meter, technically it is a simple camera to shoot with. You basically just aim and shoot. The focus, however, is manual and takes some getting used to. I have basic in "zone focusing" before with street photography but I have to admit I'm no master at it.

I just sent my first roll of film to be developed. Basically, I randomly shot in different types of situation and lighting to test out that the camera is working right. I hope the photos will come out ok.

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What is Lomography?

Ok, Lomography is a brand. It is a company that sells a type of cameras. But for us photographers, it is style of photography as well as a global community with passion in analogue film photography. Being creative and experimental has a lot to do with shooting Lomo style.

"Lomography is about being in the moment, capturing it with your favourite Lomographic tool – producing effects like light leaks, vignette framing and deep saturated colours."

There are 10 Golden Rules in Lomography that was inspired by the discovery of the Lomo Kompakt Automat (a.k.a the Lomo LC-A) in 1991. The rules define Lomography's philosophy and approach towards photography. "Recite them, or break all the rules – whichever way, be ready to throw all your inhibitions about photography to the wind!"

1. Take your camera everywhere you go

2. Use it any time – day and night

3. Lomography is not an interference in your life, but part of it

4. Try the shot from the hip

5. Approach the objects of your Lomographic desire as close as possible

6. Don't think (William Firebrace)

7. Be fast

8. You don't have to know beforehand what you captured on film

9. Afterwards either

10. Don't worry about any rules

Essentially, it's all about having fun while shooting film. "Don't think, just shoot." In contrast to other style of photography, where most of them focus on techniques and acquiring the best and sharpest photos possible; Lomography encourages lo-fi visual photography. Lens vignette, off-color (cross-processing), light leaks, double-exposure, film grains, blurred, miss-focused, are parts of the style. It is an expressive visual art. Being experimental and not knowing exactly what will come out be is part of the fun (in surprising yourself.)

[Please click on each photo to visit the photographers' pages on Flickr. There are many more amazing photos waiting for you to explore.]

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So, What is Going on Here?

So you may be wondering, what is a "Lomo LC-A"? Lomo LC-A is a Russian camera. Some consider it a "toy camera," but it is actually much more than just a toy. While it has a simple function and compact design, it can create unique photos unlike any other cameras. A picture is worth a thousand words; so instead of me trying to explain it you why don't we see a few examples of what we are talking about:

Photos above are by "lomokev," a British photographer in who is prominently known (especially within the Lomography community) for his use of the Lomo LC-A camera. [I'll be talking more about "Lomography" in the next coming posts.]

As a photographer myself, his photos inspired me to explore into the style of Lomography (long before all the digital Instragram-type apps that try to mimic the lo-fi film techniques) and the LC-A camera in particular. I recently just bought a Lomo LC-A camera for myself (the original version, made in 1991.) I'll be sharing my learning process as well as all the different discoveries I'll be making in the coming weeks. In the meantime, you can look through all the interesting photos that people have been making with the camera on Flickr. Browsing through all the photos is making me want to go out and shoot through a few rolls of films right now.