Just holding these cameras make you look hipster. Forget the attire, the handlebar, the hat, just hold these little beauties and you’ll be transported to the vintage 60s. Lomography is a movement that’s taking the goodness of film cameras and repackaging it in these cool looking objects. So what are these cameras?? To put it one word – quirky. These cameras have a mind of their own. So, you can’t exactly say what picture you’ll get from these. Some might be under exposed, some over exposed, a few with two exposures, but every picture you click will have a cool retro vibe to it. It’s just the way it is. There’s something off with them, and in turn that’s what’s right with them. The joy of the unknown, and discovering wild creative results still brings joy that our new-age cameras never will. Everything now is a click away, but with these cameras, time steps back and builds intrigue and curiosity in your photography again. I’ve owned two of these little beauties, both having their own idiosyncrasies.

SPROCKET ROCKET: A HOLE NEW EXPERIENCE
Imagine a beautiful panoramic shot, but with the sprockets of the film imprinted on them. That’s Sprocket Rocket for you. A 35mm compact camera with a super-wide panoramic lens that captures everything, including the sprockets. This rocket flies sideways. And it gets wilder. You can manually wind the film backwards and forward, which effectively means you can have multiple exposures on multiple photographs, anytime you damn please. This isn’t your standard point and shoot. No sir. It was never meant to be. It was born to be cool. It was born to give you a ‘yowza’ effect, every time you clicked. It was born for crazy.

DIANA MINI – THE ORIGINAL ‘MADE FOR INSTAGRAM’
This camera was built for Instagram. And that was long before Instagram. This classic homage to the 60s lets you capture images in a square format. And with a simple toggle switch, you can split that in half and get great 72 half-frame images. This pretty little thing also comes with a flash and some filters. Yes, physical filters, multicoloured strips that you hold in front of the lens or the flash for some retro goodness. You still have the freedom to go bonkers with the multiple exposure or even fancy a long exposure if you like. Diana is one pretty girl who loves to show off. And trust me, she pulls it off like a charm.  

The truth of these cameras is, you wouldn’t take them seriously. But that’s the entire point of Lomography. It’s not a serious photographic tool, though some may disagree, for me it was a plaything. It was a challenge to go back to the film days, but with it, it also brought back nostalgia and simpler times, when you focused on having a great time, and took a photo or two to remember that time, compared to 100s we take of a nothing moment these days. Lomography as a movement has become massive in the west, and refuses to die in this digital age. Slogans of ‘I LOVE FILM’ are still paraded by hipsters on their t-shirts or totes alike. And that’s what Lomography cameras are - Retro. Cool. Classic. There may not be enough takers for film these days, but that doesn’t mean film will die. As far as I know, Lomography will continue to funk up many generations to come. Long live the film.