Introducing @filmphotocat — Lomography's Honorary LomoHome of April 2025
5We've seen the talented gems that our Lomography USA team has previously found and featured as LomoHome of the Month. Now we're digging deeper into the Lomography mines and recognizing community members from all over the world!
For the month of April, we're letting @filmphotocat take the center stage at Lomography to tell us all about his burning passion for all things analogue!
When he was a teen in the early 1980s and could not afford a camera, @filmphotocat could only dream of owning the Pentax MX he admired behind a shop display glass. Forty years later, in search of a hobby during the pandemic, he found his way back to that camera, finally able to explore his passion for film photography.
The following words are written by @filmphotocat:
Lomographic Beginnings
Greetings all! I am filmphotocat. In my own humble way, I am here to create and promote beauty in this mixed-up world. Remember: when we make art, we give a bit of ourselves to the world and a bit of the world to each other.
Moi? I am a travel fiend, art enthusiast, and analogue photo nerd. I’ve spent most of my 50+ years on Canada’s West Coast, but it’s when I visit Paris, Rome, Berlin, Barcelona, Kyiv, Warsaw, Buenos Aires, and Mexico City that I truly feel at home. Strolling the boulevards, parks, and museums of the world’s great cities — in my heart of hearts, I feel I’m where I belong.
Growing up, my family was quite poor by Western standards. At that time and place, cameras were sold in jewelry shops! I used to gaze at this beautiful Pentax MX kept under glass and wonder, but there was no way I could afford such a gem. I did use the odd 110, disposable, or generic point-and-shoot over the years, but the results were usually disappointing.
Years later, along comes COVID. I’m unemployed, my fitness centre is closed, even the public libraries are closed! It occurred to me that I needed a hobby. What’s a good hobby for an art lover? What’s something I’ve missed out on in my life? Well, I took a peek online, and that Pentax MX I so coveted was now available for a song. And this time, the goal was not to take pictures but to MAKE pictures!
Living an Analogue Lifestyle
Photography became the perfect cure for my COVID boredom and blues. The technical aspects stimulate my mind, and when my pictures work out well, it stimulates my soul. Not to sound like a shill, but Lomography is a major part of it all — I make my pictures to be seen! Pointing someone to the Lomography site could really open doors for people who need joy and inspiration in their lives.
I first saw the Lomo name on the shelves of my local camera shoppes. That led me to Lomography.com, a world where people are making incredible photos and doing it however they choose. There are so many things a good photograph can be!
I like my LomoApparat loaded with 400 film for 'fast and fun' photos. Not painstaking, but cathartic, you know! As for films, besides funky old slide film for cross processing, Lomo's 120 rolls are all I use in my medium format cameras. I love the color palette of all three speeds, especially through the lens of my Moskva 4.
Digital? I'm a human with a soul and not some lifeless robot! Life and art are infinite, not a finite collection of little squares. The world is not made of ones and zeros. The shades and colours of a flower, the shape of a cloud, the smile of a cat or dog — these cannot be mathematically regimented. Analogue is simply real, and what's real is worth making an effort for.
I can't speak for everybody, but I truly enjoy developing my own film. If you can be methodical and do everything step by step, your developing kit will pay for itself in no time. I will never get tired of seeing the images on my negatives as they come off the reel.
When I make a photograph, I want to show the world in a new way. I can't say I always achieve it, but this is my goal: a new perspective, or a way of highlighting colours, or shapes, contrasts and similarities, harmony and discord — whatever it takes to make the viewer see something they didn't see before. And when I'm lucky, I might even succeed!
Rules? What rules!? Who dares dictate your creation? Lomography's Golden Rule #10: Don't worry about any rules. When you make a photograph, YOU decide what's wrong or right and what's good or bad. This is YOUR creation and art. When your photo does what YOU want it to, that's the only thing that matters.
Do you think the pioneers of photography followed "the rules"? No! They were too concerned with making something good. Rodchenko's wild perspectives, Paul Outerbridge's colourful tableaus, Fred Herzog's drama of the everyday world, Man Ray's use of grain or shadow as building blocks, Brassai's Parisian underworld, Weston's decisive moment, and who could overlook the groundbreaking and beautiful innovations of Dora Maar, Berenice Abbott, Ilse Bing, Francesca Woodman, Imogen Cunningham, Grete Stern, and Ellen Auerbach (aka ringl+pit)... pioneers all!
You don't need to spend thousands on a Leica or Hasselblad with a lens the size of a cannon to do it! I have more cameras than I care to mention, but 90% of my photos are made with a handful of simple old SLRs. There may be a learning curve, but it's YOU who makes the photo and not your camera. Some of the most beautiful and amazing photos here are made with the simplest cameras. I even find a too-fancy camera just distracts me from the important things like making a good photo!
Though classic SLRs form the bulk of what I do, I can't say I'm immune to the allure of holding a piece of history in my hands. How did my Fed 5 or Zorki make its way from a USSR munitions factory to some random place in the world? Through whose hands and homes did it pass, and what pictures were made with it before it came to me?
Note to beginners: don't despair if your images are not immediately perfect. With the free editing tools available, a tiny bit of cropping or other adjustments can make all the difference in the world. Editing is part of the making.
Looking to the Future
The current state of cameras frustrates me. Millions of used ones are on the market at every price point, though whether they work or not is a gamble you can't avoid. The new cameras on the market are either basic or expensive, with little in between.
I'm also sad for all the film stocks that are gone forever. I'd love to make pictures with the over-the-top colours of Kodachrome or Agfa Ultra, but those days are gone forever. As I write this, there are a few firms aiming to produce new colour stocks. In that regard, I'm cautiously optimistic.
On the other hand, limited options can force your creativity. I really like the wild colours of Ektachrome cross processed in C-41 chemistry. My next project will be the opposite: developing negative films as positives! What I'm saying is, though your tools and materials may be limited, the possibilities of art and your imagination are infinite.
I believe that analogue photography is here to stay. Some may consider it a 'niche' pursuit, but as long as art exists, it will be created and appreciated.
Well, I think that's enough of a manifesto, don't you? If you want to know more of how I feel about photography, look up some Ansel Adams quotes. He's more eloquent and concise than I could ever be.
Thank you for making it this far, and thank you for being.
P.S. Slava Ukraini! I hope to see you again. I’ll be the guy with the Kiev 4AM!
If you want to see more of @filmphotocat's work, check out his LomoHome and make sure to read last month's honorary LomoHome too!
written by francinegaebriele on 2025-04-11 #people #places #redscale #museums #lomohome-of-the-month
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