Undoubtedly the WORST commercial match up since Polaroid started fraternising with lady Gaga... Lomography head honchos... shame shame on you, i think we all thought you had more sense than that.... and what are you smiling at Polaroid... you are just as bad...Surely someone in your marketing and strategic planning dept KNOWS that the reason we love you is you have little to do with corporate mainstream - and then you go sleep with the enemy... I don't know about you guys but I don't feel like taking photos today... This just makes me sad.
Would love to know what you all think! Would you buy one?
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no i would not.
ReplyDeletetotally agree with you Sophie.
go girl!
Dani
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteoh, god. i feel so cheated.
ReplyDeleteAll comments from Anonymous humans will be deleted. if you dont have the strength to put your name to your opinions then you dont get one.... This is a community forum and you are by all means entitled to your opinion, I just ask you take ownership of it... feel free to repost with your name anon and thanks for reading!
ReplyDeleteTo me, Lomography IS the corporate mainstream. They've taken the whole analogue photography and "shoot from the hip" style and corporatised (hah not actually a word) it, charging at least a 1000% markup for cheap plastic cameras for nothing more than their marketing and branding.
ReplyDeleteI know they've gotten a lot of people into analogue photography and made it much more accessible (apart from the price point), which is great, but they've also managed to give many people the impression that if you use one of their cult cameras you will come out with art. I'm sure you know that is very far from the truth. I love my Polaroid and Fuji instant cameras and my old school fold out medium format and TLR cameras, and the looks that expired film give, but I am under no illusion that they make me a great photographer.
I know a lot of people think that Lomography is an awesome company, but you don't need their cameras or their rebranded crappy expired film to make great photos. You'd do just as well picking up a plain bones Holga (they existed before Lomo, and they are sold by people separate from Lomo as well) and a load of expired film from pro photogs who used to shoot film, your local camera shop (who are probably dumping them) or Ebay equivalents--lots of people clean out their film fridges every once in a while-- and get results that are exactly the same.
Sorry I ranted off topic, but my main message is that Lomography is not the little mum-and-pop independent business that a lot of people seem to think it is. This partnership with Ripcurl doesn't really come as a surprise.
totally agree with teresa although I re-entered analog photography through lomography.
ReplyDelete(nice blog sophie)
wow teresa i find myself agreeing with you too! all very good points... I guess i still have this image of lomography from 10 years ago when it wasnt cool and everyone didnt know about it... you are right about what they have become... but they are still promoting and inspiring creativity... thats not a bad thing anyway you look at it... but yeah why they had to go team up with rip curl i dont know... at least pic a brand like RVCA that actually supports and promotos artists!
ReplyDeleteor wesc!
ReplyDeleteit's sad how companies like lomo (or perhaps even rip curl and all those other surf labels - I don't know much about them) start out cool and indie, but as they get bigger and bigger they turn into the complete antithesis of what they were about in the first place.
I'm inclined to agree with Teresa a little bit. But hey if lomos or even ripcurl branded lomos help some 13 year old kid start his or her photography journey , then really people, there are worse things! Besides if lomos are mainstream now, so what? The question for you creative cats is, what are YOU doing right now that's original and real? Who cares what ripcurl are doing, they're not pitching to you anyways. Pick up that camera dudeness!
ReplyDeleteKris: agreed! Best to go out there and actually create stuff rather than rag on Lomo/Ripcurl :)
ReplyDeleteim not ragging on them guys... just drawing attention to the fact it is disapointing.. I "create stuff" as you put it daily and am constantly working on new projects while most people sit in front of the TV talking about it!
ReplyDeleteHello people:) i do agree with teresa too! but i also know that before ripcurl, lomography tried other partnerships and no one wanted! :S In bad times like these they had to go commercial! :)
ReplyDeleteBtw Love your blog!
To be honest this isn't that surprising.
ReplyDeleteLomography branded and other toy cameras are everywhere, always being marketed as different and individual, in every media source.
Just look around, almost every blog features lo-fi photography, as do magazines such as Monster Children, Frankie, Yen (the latest issue has a 2 page article on lomo cameras) and even Cleo and Cosmo has at least mentioned them and they sure as hell aren't small and unknown magazines.
Now I work at City Beach (for those who don't know, a surf store) and we stock holgas. we have them displayed right at the front of the store and we sell at least 1 a day. General pants stocked the same disposable cameras you are using in your project Sophie, and every one of my friends owns a handful of lomo cameras. We need to stop thinking that we are the elite, and that no-one has caught on to our plastic revolution. It's everywhere and people need to get used to it - it's a good thing.
Now, this Ripcurl fisheye? I will boycott it. Not because it's Ripcurl, but because we do not need another expensive (and ugly) rehash of the same camera!
What is the problem here? Ok, lets pretend that Lomography is the same unknown camera style as it was back in ye olde day. Why not put a logo on it? Are you that scared of other people experiencing something that you find unique? Shouldn't it be about what it means to you?
ReplyDeleteThey aren't putting a BP logo on it or something. Is a surf brand and if you look at old photography that somewhat inspires lomography, its surf. Look at the amazing photographers that are surfers who don't use lomo camera, but other ones that truly create the effect seen in lomo.
Its just a logo, don't be scared of it.