My Lomo Story - On the Rebound
written by halfawakehaiku
on December 16th, 2008
, 7 comments
(3 votes)
Lomography came to me during a very difficult time in my life. I had just broken up with a girl I was with for seven years a lot of friendships on the verge of being ripped apart. My family had just migrated to a different country miles away and had to reestablish themselves all over again. Lastly, I was to live my life completely alone suddenly charged with a truck load of uncertainty and responsibilities to fulfill.
When I was little, I had always wanted to get into photography while my cousins dreamt of houses and fancy cars my dream was to have my very own camera, and I didn’t even want an SLR. For an 8 year old boy, the distinction between a professional camera and a point and shoot 35mm was an alien concept. Maybe I just wanted to take pictures of my crush at school, I’m not really sure. But I never did get a camera of my own. As I grew up my courtship with photography took an all too uninspired turn.I was assigned as the photographer of the school paper for my high school and all I had was a random P&S film camera I took everywhere with me under my often stained school polo. Little did I know, this would be a glimpse of how I carry my LC-A. Sometimes, still with a dirty polo.
It wasn’t till 2007 that we bought our first family digital camera.This rekindled my interest in photography but it wasn’t until five months later that I would fall for the quirky shots with vivid colors and awesome vignettes that was Lomography.
I remember it being a late Sunday evening, between surfing channels I switched the TV just in time to catch a feature on Lomography on a show meant for girls of all things. It didn’t hurt that the lomographer that they featured was cute too. I resolved to learn more about this subset of photography on my own. I stumbled across Lomomanila, the website was quite informative but more than that, the vibe of the group just felt right. I found the solitary activity of taking pictures and coming together to share knowledge and build a communal piece of art known as a lomowall both paradoxical and beautiful at the same time. Shortly after seeing the show I bought my first toy camera, a Fisheye 2 and an Action sampler. A first it was just something to do, a platform to take my mind away from the events that were happening in my life. Little did I know that my mode of catharsis would play not only a part in keeping my sanity, it would also help me rediscover a silly childhood dream and the beauty of the world both silly and profound. More than that, it would allow me to document a new found love that was right under my nose the whole time.Now she is my muse.
Lomography was a rebound girl of sorts. Now it is my mistress.
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