Lomography

most recent articles

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 71: Worldwide Development

  
  As the Germans were trying to top each other with annual new inventions in the 1930s, foreign markets kicked into gear. So it was in 1930, our friends at LOMO PLC in Russia were producing their first camera, the FOTOKOR. But this camera was still quite a big hunk of metal and couldn't be considered a compact camera.
  March 17, 2011 1 like

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 69: A Warm Welcome to the Leica

  
  Kodak well and truly announced its active presence on the German market. The Brownie had immense success there before US products disappeared from Germany during the First World War. During this time, German producers decided to develop and promote their own products and seriously combat the models from overseas.
  March 15, 2011 8 likes

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 67: The Kodak No. 1

  
  The first compact Kodak camera is considered to be the Kodak No. 1 of 1888, which used roll film. At first this film was still based on paper, but with later Kodak models was replaced by the use of a celluloid base. Consisting mainly of a rectangular wooden box, the No. I didn't have a viewfinder and therefore necessarily required "shooting from the hip" a technique well known and promoted by we Lomographers nowadays.
  March 10, 2011 3 likes

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 66: Early Years of Photography

  
  The first steps towards everyday life snap-shot photography were taken when Kodak, a young optical company from Rochester, New York in the USA, introduced the first flexible negatives coated on paper in 1884. Thus presenting an alternative to the fragile and inconvenient glass plates that had previously been used.
  March 09, 2011 2 likes

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 63: A Very Short History of Analogue Compact Cameras

  
  Have you ever wondered what's historically behind the LOMO LC-A+ and Lomography? How it came to be that daily snap-shots and photography are more popular than ever before and why cameras can be found in every pocket?
  March 04, 2011 2 likes

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 62: Interview with LOMO PLC General Director Aleksandr Mikhailovich Aronov

  
  Aleksandr Mikhailovich Aronov has been with LOMO PLC for more than 30 years. He has worked for the company as a manager and an expert in financial affairs before being elected as Chairman of the board of Directors. He is now the Director General of LOMO PLC, has written two doctoral thesis and when he finds the time, he likes collecting books.
  March 03, 2011

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 61: Thank You LOMO PLC

  
  LOMO PLC represents, for many, a lifetime of hard and inventive work and most of its employees, Director Generals, PR managers and many Lomographers would agree with Efim Kaufman, the 68-year old friendly guide of the LOMO PLC-intern museum, when he says: “Earth is the best planet, St Petersburg the best city and LOMO PLC the best company in the world.”
  March 02, 2011 1 like

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 60: Back to the Roots: Military Production and Expansion

  
  It was not easy for LOMO PLC to enter the free market. Previously its products had always been in demand as there were no alternatives on the market. No marketing was ever needed due to the precise planning of the Five Year Plans. The Ministry of Defence and Industry even had a waiting list for LOMO PLC’s products as demand always exceeded supply. Now these days were over.
  March 01, 2011 2 likes

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 59: The Tragic End of Photo and Cinema Production

  
  The termination of the unproductive segments of photo and cinema production immediately showed its effects in more economic freedom and probably saved the company. The range and quantity of products were scaled down from a list of 700 to 150. In 1990, the last cinema projector - which was used in all 150,000 cinemas in Russia - ran off the conveyor belt.
  February 28, 2011 1 like

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 56: The LOMO Kompakt Automat

  
  As the young LOMO LC-A’s hit the shops and supermarkets, the production of the little camera was constantly increasing and the building of the “Filiale”, a 100,000 squaremetre extra-building for LOMO LC-A production purposes, was finished in 1985/1986.
  February 23, 2011 3 likes

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 54: Lubitel 166, 166B and Universal

  
  In 1976 and 1980, the Lubitel 166 and Lubitel 166 B were introduced to the market. The 166 was basically the successor of the long-serving Lubitel 2 and featured a more light-weight thermoplastic body and an automatic shutter cock.
  February 21, 2011 3 comments 6 likes

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 53: Eight Shots in a Row: LOMO 135 BC and LOMO 135 M

  
  In 1975, the LOMO 135 BC and some years later the LOMO 135 M saw the light of the day. They were the improved, cheaper and mass-produced successors of the famous “Leningrad” camera. The Leningrad had two drawbacks: firstly, it was not ready for automatic film development, as it left no space between the frames, and secondly its spring was often too strong so that it disrupted the film when winding on.
  February 18, 2011 2 comments 5 likes

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 52: Smena Rapid, Smena SL, Smena 8M and Smena Symbol

  
  Most of the camera models that were released between the 19605 and the 19805 were models of the Smena. So came the introduction of the Smena-Rapid (1968), the Smena SL (1970), the Smena SM (1970) and the Smena Symbol (1970). The most extraordinary models are probably the Rapid and the SL, as they used a new kind of film format.
  February 16, 2011 4 comments 5 likes

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 51: In the Name of LOMO PLC: the Corporation, Panfilov, and Social Life

  
  It is quite a tall order to unite 3 companies that have been operating independently with their own set of rules and traditions. The task is made a whole lot worse when two of these companies are used to competing with one another.
  February 15, 2011

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 50: The Largest Telescope in the World and the Order of Lenin

  
  LOM0 PLC was later honoured with the rare and prestigious Order of Lenin for the achievement of constructing the gigantic astronomic telescope. This honour remains a memorable event in the lives of many workers.
  February 14, 2011 1 like

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 49: The Leningrad: Award Winning Rangefinder Camera

  
  The “Leningrad” (that was actually developed by German war prisoners in St Petersburg) first rolled off the GOMZ belts in 1956 and was the most professional and expensive camera ever produced by the works. Besides its premium optics, a typical feature of all-things GOMZ, it bore a robust silver-top case and had all the attributes that made it a professional range-finder camera: a coupled range-finder, focal-plane and interchangeable lenses.
  February 12, 2011 2 likes

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 48: Komsomolets and Lubitel: Medium Format Twin-Lens Reflex Cameras

  
  In the prosperous years of the post-war era, another camera fought its corner, right up to the late 1980's. The "Komsomolets", which means " Young Communist", saw the light of the overcast St Petersburg's day in 1946 and was an easy-to-handle twin-lens reflex camera. The Germans provided, whether they wanted to or not, the 1938 Voigtlander "Brilliant" an exact model for the robust Amateur-cam.
  February 11, 2011 3 likes

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 47: The Smena: A Camera for Everyone

  
  The Smena, which roughly translated means "Young Generation", was the one camera that was clearly designed for mass production, and has bravely accompanied millions of photographers throughout their lives.
  February 10, 2011 1 like

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 46: War and Post-War Years

  
  From September 1941 until January 1944 St Petersburg was besieged by German troops. Hardly anyone or anything could get in or out of the city for around 900 days. lt was one of the harshest times in history for the people of St Petersburg. Food supplies could only be transported under great danger by plane or trucks, which took the route over the frosted Ladoga Lake. The situation became dramatic in 1941, as winter fell unusually early and temperatures dropped to -40° Celsius. ln December 1941 approximately 53,000 people died as a result of starvation and cold.
  February 09, 2011 1 comment 1 like

• LC-A Big Book Chapter 45: The Bloom of Photo Camera Production

  
  Nevertheless, no honest communist wanted to miss the opportunity to document his surroundings with a big camera in his hands and so the number of amateur photographers in the 1930's was quite large. These photographers were mostly developing their images themselves in their own home bathroom laboratory, as public services that offered photographic treatment such as development and printing simply did not exist.
  February 08, 2011