The popularity of Lomography came up on the Azriel Knight discord server the other day.

Here are my thoughts on the matter:

The popularity of Lomography is a bit of a double edged sword.

If back in the days the founders of the photographic processes did not experiment like the new generation of 'holga users' we would never even had anything like photography at all. If nothing else, nowadays, it brings analog photographic processes to a new generation and that my friends helps us more traditionalists stay in business as well. And, besides, a descent stir-up every now and then in a sedated, slumbering community is a healthy thing 

Lomography, in my opinion, can be a very nice playground for 'lucky accidents' in composition that may lead to some interesting art in the making. We all have our own idea of good composition and good photography and nobody is wrong in their choice as long as they like the results themselfs.

Now i come to think of it... I can play by the rules of third and alike, look at old paintings by the masters of the time for colour choice and replicate it in a photograph all my life and never produce a single 'descent' image or i can go 'holga'. Let go of the rules, find my own ways and dead ends and hit the jackpot once or twice ....

conclusion: we all have our own ways that makes us happy and as long as we don't do damage to others along the way, its all good

The carefull reader may have noticed i showed only one sharp edge of the sword. The other one came along a bit later in the conversation. There is some 'frustration' (i have to find a better word for this as 'frustration' may not give the nuance i am looking for) that Lomography is overpowering more traditional styles in 'exposure' to the big bad world.But then think of this:

The more classical styles seem to be pushed into the shadows somewhat. A thought to take the sharp edge away from that: in visual art and music, the old masters are still the old masters and retain their value and audience

 

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Stay safe

Fenna