Lomography

The winner of our Shoot Your Prophecy competition from North and South America, Jorge Sato was given the opportunity to visit Lomography Headquarters in Vienna – Read about his experiences here!

My Vienna Diary by jorgesato

The start to the trip was pretty crazy – I had some problems with the customs because I was carrying too many rolls (and analogue cameras) on my Lomographic adventure! But it turned out fine; I started to explain what Lomography is and so on…The customs officials got really interested which was absolutely awesome! By the way, they love the Fisheye No.2!

Friday

When I arrived at the hotel, there was a cool Lomography bag with a Diana Mini, some Lomographic film rolls and the Lomography Vienna City Guide in the room, cool! It was a memorable surprise, I got really excited. After that, I met Will (one of the other competition winners) and Bastian (who works for Lomography) at the lobby and we all went out to have some drinks. There we met Sabine (another Lomography employee) and some Russian fellows who were the winners of another Lomography competition. After talking and laughing a lot, it was time to go back to hotel. In other words, time to get lost. The first day was just amazing and yes, it wasn’t a dream or my imagination; I was there in the land of Lomography, Vienna!

Photos by jorgesato

Saturday

On Saturday we met Bastian in the morning and we went to the flea market to check out some nice old stuff. There were tons of unusual things to see, it was really cool! After that we met Tom (who works for Lomography) and walked around the city shooting as much as possible. In the late afternoon, we went to Donauinselfest (a free music festival in the city) which was amazing. There were lots of stages and bands, and guess what? More photos to shoot! It was the paradise…

Photos by jorgesato

Sunday

Sunday was a free day so Will and I had a walk around the city. In the late afternoon we met Tom again and returned to Donauinselfest to see some more music.

Photos by jorgesato

Monday

Monday was the great day; the moment when we go the chance to visit Lomography HQ. I and Will met Germacia (the 3rd competition winner) in the hotel lobby and we all went together. As soon as we got there, we saw ‘Lomo Land’ written on a red wall and I remember saying ‘WOW! We are at the Headquarters!’. Walking through all the rooms was an unforgettable experience. There were tons of cameras, rolls, photos and of course, Lomowalls. When we reached the processing room we were kindly allowed to have our rolls developed by Lomography and met Mandi.

It was time to build a small Lomowall with our photos, yeah! I had no idea how laborious it was to do that and then I returned to the HQ on Tuesday and Wednesday which was absolutely awesome. Mandi taught me and helped me to do it. Despite making some mistakes, I believe it has not ended up so bad.

Photos by jorgesato

On Thursday it was time to leave Vienna. I decided to travel around Europe for some weeks afterwards; after all, it was my first time there. I could say for sure it was my best trip ever. I will never forget all the good moments with Lomography. Really thanks guys for this unique opportunity and Lomo on forever!