Chapter 2: The Ten Golden Rules of Lomography

New to Lomography? Well here are the Ten Golden Rules that every serious Lomographer should know by heart.

1 TAKE YOUR CAMERA EVERYWHERE YOU GO
Like any passion, you can never plan or predict Lomography. It´s like your inner voice and your deepest desire working at the same time. Lomography is waiting around the corner to say “Hey good looking, wanna go for a ride?” You might be at a garage, in the woods, on an Airbus or in a saloon, in the Hammam, at work, at a boulangerie or on the Fujiyama, at dinner with King Charles or in bed with breakfast, and suddenly it strikes you. Your hands (your trigger finger!) start trembling, your eyes become hungry, your soul is burning for Images, images, images and you grab your LOMO LC-A, click, ahhhhhhh, click, click, click, now It’s better, and another click, it happens and it’s real; the unstoppable Lomographlc desire to document your surroundings is overwhelming you and will never let go. And nor will you: you’re feeling Lomography, you’re pulling the LOMO LC-A and life starts pulsating. It’s the best addiction in the world. Did you know that the best photos come out of spontaneous, extreme and impulsive situations and that they are therefore rarely taken due to the lack of a camera at the time? Your LOMO LC-A however is so compact and fast that it becomes an integral part of your body and soul. Hence, it touches photographic spheres that other cameras hardly come close to: the unexpected, spontaneous and sudden moments; the most vibrant sides of life! Therefore open your eyes and have your LOMO LC-A always and everywhere with you.

2 USE IT ANY TIME – DAY AND NIGHT
Every second is special for you and your LOMO LC-A; every moment is monumental! When you are Lomographing you’re not only living your life in the present with more intensity and excitement, but you’re also conserving the present for your future. All with the help of your bright, dark, moody, blurred, sharp, colourful, grey, indefinable, straightforward, romantic and fully packed Lomographs. Your feelings, your memory and your Lomographs; they all mix up to a new, complete, more authentic view and perception of your.;elf and your life. You don’t only perceive in sunshine, daytime, on holidays and on Aunt Frida’s birthday, do you? So keep shooting in any environment, every day and every night. be aware, and create yourself, your being, your design. Shoot restlessly and give your memory a kick in the ass with your lovely, beautiful, artistic and silly Lomographs. Esse est percipi est lomographi. Use your LOMO LC-A whenever you’re alive!

3 LOMOGRAPHY IS NOT AN INTERFERENCE IN YOUR LIFE, BUT PART OF IT
There’s no chance of relationship phobia: the LOMO LC-A is what you’ve always wanted in life; your new best friend, drinking buddy, spiritual leader and lover all at the same time. You work with the camera, you drink with the camera, you sleep with the camera. Lomography becomes a natural and communicative part of your life, just like talking, walking, eating, thinking, laughing and loving. As a Lomographer you are not only photographing a situation, you are an essential part of the situation itself. Life inhales Lomography and Lomography inhales life. You laugh and you Lomograph, you cry and you Lomograph, you walk and you Lomograph, you talk and you Lomograph, you think and you Lomograph, you love and you Lomograph, and you Lomograph and you Lomograph. Lomography is a powerful sign of your existence, a constant confession of your lust for life and a magnetic field of your most intense feelings.

4 TRY THE SHOT FROM THE HIP
A normal photographer’s point of view – looking through the viewfinder – is somehow always physically finite; it’s happening somewhere between 1.1 metres and 2.2 metres above ground. But what happens down below and up above, from our dog, cat, baby, bug, slug, bird and insect perspectives? Don’t hide behind your camera; break free from nonsensical conventions. Don’t look through the viewfinder; forget about safety margins and unnecessary shyness! Hands up, hands down, hands forward, Lomograph from up to down and down to up, from the front to you and from you to nowhere, shoes, socks, toes, hips, buttons, belts, butts, aloha! Your LOMO LC-A is as handy as a glove and equips you with deadly fast zone-focusing abilities that let you capture a situation in a split second. Try the shot from the hip to experience absolutely free and boundless dimensions of sight.

5 APPROACH THE OBJECTS OF YOUR LOMOGRAPHIC DESIRE AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE
An essential part of your Lomographic existence is to get right to the bottom of things and investigate the world from the inside. Just as with people, you have to be sweet, nice, comprehensive and interested to get to know the very inside of your subject, As soon as you feel the right moment- take a picture! Try it and you’ll see that the deep affection for your Lomographed subject Is strongly reflected In your Image. Get In contact with your subject and build up a relationship. Smile, hello hello, the LOMO LC-A Is part and mediator of your relationship, good morning, click, the camera helps you to get to know your motives and Is, after all, a good reason to talk to someone at a boring party. Click click, that’s gonna be a nice picture, click, can I send It to you by emall?, cllck, wonderful, click, I love you, click, communicate, talk! More communication equals better Lomo. Get close, even closer, don’t be afraid; laugh and everyone will not only love you and your LOMO LC-A but will also realise that Lomography Is the most natural thing on earth!

6 DON’T THINK (WILLIAM FIREBRACE)
Your brightest and clearest insights are always your very first impressions. They happen in between the moments of sensual, visual perception where information is delivered from your senses to your brain and remains unfiltered. Milliseconds later it’s already too late: your big, clumsy and party-pooping melancholic reasoning has put an end to the fun and divided your former beautifully pure perception into boring concepts/ abstractions, ideas and problems. That’s life, sorry…Not! We found a wonderful and easy way to get rid of this convention: Don’t think! Throw your intellectual socialisation over board, let the unfiltered flow of information circulate freely, untreated and unrated in your mind. Shoot, feel, perceive and shoot, have fun, shoot whatever catches your eye/ whatever attracts you/ astounds you, excites you/ seduces you. Lomography is a surprising diversion to your egghead-life and will enlighten you with true, simple and wonderful revelations.

7 BE FAST
Our world moves like a high-speed train without brakes and is entangled in ultra-complex systems that most people, in fact all of us, just don’t understand anymore – how exciting for the Lomographic eye! Movements, actions and Lomographic moments are not reading the paper and waiting for you to take pictures of them…the pool attendant with the big belly, the dance champion with the tight dress, the dog with the pink tie, the bus driver with the thick glasses, your dad In the shower. Believe us; they are not crazy about you taking pies of them – but you certainly are! So cowgirls and cowboys, calmly hold your finger towards your LOMO LC-A’s zone focusing meter, trust In yourself and In the automatic exposure, grab your guts and be quick to catch the wink of time and accidental destiny. Hold your breath, be brave, take a chance, move, shoot, run, have fun, act fast- that’s Lomographyl

8 YOU DON’T HAVE TO KNOW BEFOREHAND WHAT YOU CAPTURED ON FILM
You can never foresee the results of what you’re getting with the LOMO LC-A, as you find yourself in constant interaction between Russo-Chinese mechanics, raw (and quite often expired) film, chemical emulsion baths, the goodwill of your lab technician, natural and artificial light, your artistic guidance and many other factors that can’t be relied on. Moreover, Lomography is often an unconscious act that can’t be controlled at all. Lomographs always emerge from a plethora of different and unexpected situations, ideas, views and intentions. It’s always up to you. Your subtle play with the outside world and its related coincidences make the choice- to Lomograph or not to Lomograph? You do it because it’s great fun, because it makes you curious, because it’s very exciting to know that you never know what you’ll get and because it allows your creativity, intuition and inspiration to soar to heights you never imagined! Living with the LOMO LC-A means always living with unpredictability, uncertainty and coincidence; it is therefore living in freedom.

9 AFTERWARDS EITHER
A few days later you get your Lomograplls and can’t believe your eyes: Who’s that? What’s that colour? When did I shoot that? Whose hair is this? Is that you? No it’s Sabrina… interesting, and Hansi’s feet too… bewildering, your butterfly collection, what a shame, II. bottle of schnapps, II. huge head, blurs, smiles, teeth, accidental double-exposures… Oh well, you’ll never completely understand the world; you’ll understand your Lomographs even less. Don’t try to analyse them! Look at them In a different way and let them tell you their story, which Is also automatically your story. Your Lomographlc actions are 11 constant
record of your existence that Illustrate the adventures of your life In all Its anomalies, moods, shapes, colours, faces and blurs. You don’t need to know afterwards what’s on your film – just read between the lines, between the Lomographs, learn to look In a different way and read their forms, feelings, expressions, their swings, their grooves, your life!

10 DON’T WORRY ABOUT ANY RU LES
Don’t listen to others; remain true to yourself, follow your inner Lomographic voice and never forget that not all that glitters is a golden rule. Discover your own Lomography, forget about your education, Socialisation, indoctrination, knowledge and everything you’ve learned and not learned about photography. Set free your innermost desires, never stop moving, never stop Lomographing believe in yourself, focus on the important and not so important things, enjoy life in all its variations, forget about the camera in your hand and shoot ’til your eyes are glowing!

WHO THE HELL DID THESE DRAWINGS?
The artwork you see here are the drawings of Alexander Djikia. The Georgian artist, who lives and works in Moscow, used the LOMO LC-A exclusively as his inspiration for this book and takes you on a trip through the veritable history of the camera and its users. Needless to say Alexander Djikia himself was also one of the first Lomographers on Earth – he therefore knows what he’s drawing about and you should do nothing other than let yourself be guided by his skilled hand through the wonderworld of our favourite Russian camera.

Have the full glory of the book

written by gabysalas on 2011-01-07 #library #10-golden-rules #lomography-books #lomo-lc-a-big-book