Lomography is a style of photography that encourages the use of simple, cheap, lo-fi, analog cameras that often produce pictures with distinct color palettes, which the company Lomography takes to heart. You may know them as the producers of popular consumer films, Kickstarter-produced lenses, and plastic 35mm and 120 film cameras like their esteemed LC-A medium format camera, but do you know how they were founded? It all started like this:

In 1982, General Igor Petrowitsch Kornitzky, right-hand man to the USSR Minister of Defense and Industry, slammed a little Japanese compact camera called the Cosina CX-1 onto the desk of his comrade, Michail Panfilowitsch Panfiloff. Panfiloff, who was the Director of the powerful LOMO Russian Arms and Optical factory, carefully examined the item, observing its sharp glass lens, extremely high light sensitivity, and robust casing. Realizing its potential, the two gentlemen gave orders to the LOMO PLC factory in St. Petersburg, Russia, to create an improved version of the Cosina CX-1 – and the first working sample of the LOMO LC-A was born!

Two years later, in 1984, the LOMO LC-A began mass-production, with 1200 people working on the camera. Starting at 1100 units per month for the Russian market, the camera’s popularity soon spread to then Communist countries such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Cuba. Fast forward through events such as factories in the USSR threatening to stop production and multiple cameras like the Diana+ and the Fisheye camera being developed, they were amassing massive growth and popularity, especially with the experimental photographer crowd. In 1992, as their products gained popularity outside of the former Soviet Bloc, the Lomographic Society International was born, and soon lead to the founding of lomo.com in 1994. Now found at lomography.com, they have built an entire community around their cameras and films that is one of the best places on the web to find inspiration from amateurs and professionals alike.

Over the last 40 years, Lomography has taken the world by storm. What began as a cheap, Soviet-produced camera called the Lomo has now become to some, a way of life. They are now an internationally recognized brand that manufactures film, cameras, and lenses that cater to experimental and lo-fi photographers that love the character of their simple, yet creative products, such as their now popular custom films: Lomography Purple, Lomography Redscale, and Lomography Turquoise stocks. With decades of use, Lomography cameras and film have been used by photographers around the world to create experimental and colorful scenes in both 35mm and 120 formats. Their film and cameras produce instantly recognizable characteristics such as color shifts, intentional vignetting, and dreamy focusing producing optics.

I’ve spent months carefully selecting 20 images from photographers around the world to show you why I love this film and camera company so much. Every time I see a Lomography exposure I get excited, and in just a moment you will see why! These particular photographers and their images were selected because of their creative compositions, beautiful colors, and their experimental representation of everyday moments and scenes that have been turned into a movie all their own. Get ready to be inspired!

20 Lomography Film Photographers You Need to Know!

Artist: Henry O. Head | Location: MI, USA
Links: Website | Instagram

Henry O. Head is a film photographer based out of Missouri. He began taking photos while hitchhiking around America at the age of 20, and from there took his photography abroad to Australia, New Zealand, Europa & Central America. Since first picking up a camera, he’s explored many different types of photography from street photography, to experimental film stocks and double exposures, to fashion and portraiture, to skateboarding and nomadic sub-culture documentation.

Artist: Eric Soucy | Location: NY, USA
Links: Website | Instagram

Eric Soucy is a documentary photographer based out of Brooklyn, New York. His work mainly consists of documenting the social movements in NYC, shooting for nonprofits, and political campaigns. He recently opened a community rental studio in Brooklyn named Waterfront Studios, with the intentions of providing an affordable place for young people in the community to make art.

Artist: Chrystofer Davis | Location: NJ, USA
Links: Website | Instagram

Chrystofer Davis has been a fine art photographer and educator for the past 12 years. His work is influenced by street/portrait photography and contemporary culture. His works are currently archived in prominent institutions such as The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The Newark Public Library, The Thomas J. Watson Library at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Bronx Museum. As a teaching artist, he is currently using his expertise to facilitate workshops to show the importance of keeping film and developing alive; as well as documenting the many faces and architecture of Newark, NJ.

Artist: Martynas Katauskas | Location: Germany
Links: Website | Instagram

Martynas Katauskas is a 26 year old Lithuanian living in Germany. His photographic journey began in 2012 when he experienced the joy of using a plastic Lomography Diana F+ camera. He was instantly hooked! Since then, he has traveled and photographed in over 20 countries, loving the way film photography allows him to explore them. His major focus and ambition with his photography is now centered around documentary photography. He is currently studying documentary photography in Hannover, Germany.

Artist: Martin Martinsson | Location: Germany
Links: Website | Instagram

Martin Martinsson is a Germany-based Swedish architect and photographer, who lives, works, and commutes between two different countries. He along with his large collection of cameras, spend most of their time in Germany. For him, photography has become a way to get away from the perfectionism associated with his professional work. Analog photography has become a way for him to relax, use his hands and senses, document his life, and add unexpected and unpredictable beauty to an otherwise mundane reality.

Artist: Samantha Muljat | Location: WA, USA
Links: Website | Instagram

Samantha Muljat is a multidisciplinary artist with a heavy focus on photography. Using both analog and digital techniques, Samantha crafts otherworldly and surreal landscapes including the deserts throughout California, the mountain ranges of Norway, and the Pacific Northwest. She occasionally involves a human presence in her aesthetic. She received a B.A. in Photography and her M.A. in Design and Fine Art from the University of Art And Design Offenbach am Main, Germany.

Artist: Hodaka Yamamoto | Location: Japan
Links: Website | Instagram

Hodaka “Hodachrome” Yamamoto is a freelance photographer who was born in Gifu, Japan in 1974. He first came into contact with the Lomo LC-A in 2007, and soon became obsessed with the infinite and magical possibilities of this small 35mm film camera. Not only does he experiment with multiple exposures, and various types of film, including using his own homemade redscale, and cross-processing slide film. Hodachrome also specializes in other experimental techniques such as exposing both sides of the film (EBS), filmsoup, and wingshot etc. Having built up a worldwide following for his sublime images, he also teaches his techniques to others through a photography school and workshop, and sells his own photo books and prints.

Artist: Jodie Cartman | Location: England
Links: Website | Instagram

Jodie cartman is an experimental film photographer and designer based in the southeast of England. Focusing largely on portraiture, the bulk of Jodie’s work lies in experimenting with 35mm film to recreate painting-like portraits and an ethereal aesthetic. Jodie develops all her own work in her kitchen sink.

Artist: Mitch Walker | Location: CA, USA
Links: Website | Instagram

Mitch Walker is a retired portrait photographer who's been interested in photography since the age of 10. He graduated from using his family's Kodak, to Nikon and Hasselblad camera setups. Trained as a photographer in the military, he had the chance to enjoy photography on travels around the world. He loves photography and is inspired by not only well-known photographers, but also up and coming ones who’s work he continues to discover. He is interested in the manipulation of color and creating something more abstract than making an accurate reproduction of the world.

 Artist: Willie Schumann | Location: Germany
Link: Website | Instagram

As a filmmaker, Willie Schumann is grateful to have the chance to tell stories from all over the world and sometimes from beyond. His visual language has always been very organic, so analog photography with all its rich properties and limits, has always been his favorite tool of expression. He seeks to create an intimacy of sorts - emotionally and with the camera, but from a journalistic perspective, yet always takes a step back to complement the whole picture.

Artist: Yoshitaka Goto | Location: Hong Kong
Links: Website | Instagram

Yoshitaka Goto tells us this about his work: “I don’t express the real world in my multiple exposures, I always create my fantasy (crazy) world in them by using some pieces of the real world. I transform shapes, place things that should not be there, and think about addition and subtraction for my multiple exposures. I think my acting is not shooting photography, it is drawing paintings.” His images incite the blunt contradictions of the world around us, and it’s through his lens that gives us the hope that even exact opposites can beautifully coexist in harmony.

Artist: Beth Maciorowski | Location: MA, USA
Link: Instagram

Beth Maciorowski is a self-taught film photographer from Western Massachusetts. She loves to experiment with light and film manipulations, long exposures and double exposures, and home development. Nature is her biggest source of inspiration and most of her work is autobiographical. She notes that the “Film photography online community has been a wonderful outlet for me, with constant inspiration and connection.”

Artist: Ryelo Ren | Location: OH, USA
    Links: Website | Instagram

Based in Cleveland, Ohio, African-American photographer Ryelo Ren creates work that brims with emotion, focusing on the humanity and subtle nuances of his subjects. As a self-taught photographer, the 23-year-old never received any formal education in photography, but through trial and error, and self-initiated study. Despite having no formal training, Ren manages to display technical skill and signature style. After concentrating on portrait photography for two years, Ren continues to capture vivid and dynamic portraits.

Artist: Patric-Pablo Eller | Location: Germany
Links: Website | Instagram

Patric-Pablo Eller is a full-time creative mind who has owned a marketing agency for 20 years. He is a Graphic Designer, Filmmaker, Photographer, and Artist who took up Lomography in 2007, to create work that wasn’t directly related to his profession. His image above, The City in me (Paris), is from this series "The City in Me" which is his main long-term project, began in 2014. This work explores the cities that shape our communities and well as our own lives.

Artist: Naninca Lemmens | Location: Netherlands
Links: Website | Instagram

Naninca Lemmens (1991) is a professional photographer and visual artist, born and based in Maastricht, the Netherlands. She graduated with two bachelors degrees (photography & visual arts) from LUCA School of Arts in Belgium. In March, 2020, Naninca started her first analog photo atelier in Maastricht, which led her to start her own business. Since January, 2021, she founded ARTOPSIS, a visual content creating business focusing on (analog) photography.

Artist: Melyssa Anishnabie | Location: Canada
Links: Website | Instagram

Melyssa Anishnabie is a Toronto-based film photographer who specializes in exploring and documenting abandoned homes. Finding the beauty and human element in the decay is something she strives for in all her work. She is drawn to the remnants of those who have lived and built their lives in these now-forgotten structures that hold centuries of stories. She develops and scans all her work at home, another passion of hers.

Taylor ‘Togg’ Jones: | Location: NY, USA
Link: Instagram

Taylor ‘Togg’ Jones is a Buffalo, NY-born and raised photographer. While his full-time career is in medicine, he has developed a passion for photography and video in the last three years. While he’s always had some affinity for photography, his inspiration for photography really began as his grandfather’s dementia became advanced. He realized the importance of memory and the fact that without documenting the moment, it is easily lost forever. “Since his passing several years ago I have felt I’m constantly chasing memories, and using film photography as my outlet to capture them.”

Artist: Franklin Ruiz | Location: FL, USA
Link: Instagram

Franklin Ruiz is a 27-year-old Florida-based travel photographer. Though he had shot film before, he really took the dive into analog and film photography during the start of the pandemic. Over this short time, he has developed a unique style of making anamorphic triptych stories that capture the essence of the landscapes and cities he travels to. We are looking forward to seeing how this photographer further develops his unique take on the image stories with his Lomography Sprocket Rocket!

Artist: Carlota S.A. Caldeira | Location: Portugal
Links: Website | Instagram

Carlota is a filmmaker and photographer from Portugal. She currently works as a freelance Director's Assistant and creative researcher for production companies around the world. An avid adventurer, she's a published travel writer on Passion Passport, Lodestars Anthology, and Lomography Magazine. She notes that “There is something both wonderful and terrifying about traveling: you just can't stop. My work is born out of that, an insatiable curiosity to see this world that surrounds us.”

Artist: Ty Cooperman | Location: NY, USA
Links: Website | Instagram

Tyler (Ty) Cooperman is a New York native with a passion for blending business and fine art. By day, he is the director of TW Fine Art, a hybrid art agency and gallery with spaces in New York City and Palm Beach. Ty is a film photography enthusiast in his spare time (his photographs have been featured in a variety of magazines such as Surface, Dazed, Crack, V, and Papertrail and have also been exhibited by the Leslie Lohman Museum). However, when he’s not behind a camera, Ty can be found chugging cold brew coffee and curating exhibitions.

ABOUT THE CURATOR

Michael Behlen is an instant film addict and the founder and publisher of Analog Forever Magazine. For the last 6 years, Behlen has become an obsessive community organizer in the film photography world, including launching the independent publishing projects PRYME Magazine and PRYME Editions, two enterprises dedicated to the art of instant film. Through these endeavors, he has featured and published 200+ artists from around the globe via his print and online publications.

He has self-published two Polaroid photobooks -“Searching for Stillness, Vol. 1” and “I Was a Pioneer,” literally a boxed set of his instant film work. His latest book, Searching for Stillness Vol II was published in 2020 by Static Age. He has been published, been interviewed, and been reviewed in a number of magazines and online publications, from F-Stop and Blur Magazine to the Analog Talk Podcast. He loves the magic sensuality of instant film: its saturated, surreal colors; the unpredictability of the medium; its addictive qualities as you watch it develop. He spends his time shooting instant film and backpacking in the California wilderness, usually a combination of the two.

Connect with Michael Behlen on his Website and on Instagram!

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