Fine art of the snapshot
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E-mail China Daily, July 13, 2012
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The images are odd, maybe a bit bizarre, they show none of the finesse of professional photographs, yet for all that, they're art. They are the creations of lomography. Kane Wu reports |
"My first LC-A was brought to me by a friend who studied in Russia," said Mimi Sun. When studying film at the Hong Kong Baptist University, she worked on as many visual devices as she could get her hands on. Lomo cameras caught her eye because "they look simple and easy to operate". The cameras, made mostly of plastic, weigh no more than a cell phone. They are designed in iconic colors and shapes. Users don't need to bother about aperture setting, shutter speed or any of the other settings required when using DSLR cameras. All a user needs to do is frame and snap.
Sun's maiden efforts failed. She kept on trying, exploring the distinctive features of lomo cameras. "You are allowed to make mistakes with lomo cameras," said she. "It actually enables you to capture the twisted moments that might be deleted immediately in digital cameras."
Sun is a private student of Alain Yip, one of the most celebrated photographers in Hong Kong. Sun shoots weddings, corporate campaigns and magazine photos. Adept with the most advanced DSLR cameras, she finds the allure of the lomo cameras irresistible. "It makes it easier to express the users' feelings deep down inside. Unlike digital cameras, every shot you take with a lomo camera requires more careful preparation, because you can't see the immediate outcome," said Sun. "which, in turn, can actually result in better pictures."
"The most interesting thing is the expectation," Sun said. "You never know what you are gonna get until you develop the film, which might be a long while after the pictures are taken. Sometimes the mistakes you make turn out to be great surprises." Her Russian-bought LC-A, for example, once got the film jammed inside. She had to set it back in place by hand. The accidental exposure to light, however, created a pleasant pinkish halo effect around the objects in her frame. "There is nothing more surprising than this," said she.
The exhibition that started August 1 and will remain open until end of this month has attracted hundreds of visitors. They crowd into the little cafe that covers an area no more than 20 square meters including the outdoor yard.
"I admire how Mimi can create such splendid visual effects," Jill Yao, a visitor and also a lomo user, commented. The multimedia producer owns seven lomo cameras. She loves to experiment on different lenses and accessories that Lomography offers to. "Splash, for example, can adjust the color of the camera flash, while Holga enables multi-exposure," she said. "I can find pictures taken with all those cameras at the show. It's a great show!"
The latest trend, according to Sun, is to take along a lomo camera to wedding shoots. "I have shot wedding pictures for a couple from England, using 'Black Birds, Fly', a Japanese made camera that imprints the sprocket holes on the film rolls on the images," she said. "They loved it so much."
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