The Problem of the Lomograph

With the camera malfunction in Toronto and presenting at the conference, I took the downtime to reflect on this project.

My original concept was to shoot photos every day; don't think, just shoot. It seemed shooting at least a photo a day would be the hardest part, but since I have the camera almost everywhere I go, it has been quite simple. By far the most difficult part of this project is to not think. The impetus to take a photo comes from seeing a photographic moment. I react, reach for the camera, and shoot. Granted I do not carefully compose the images, but typically I have a good sense of what the composition will look like. I blame my years as a cinematographer for that. Setting the camera up on a tripod, and knowing how the angle will look is part of the cinematic process. Looking through the lens once the camera is set becomes a formality, primarily to block action, dress the set, adjust lighting, and check for distracting compositional elements. Composition is already there.

So the question becomes, how can a photographer make a true lomograph if you constantly think like a photographer. Self-awareness is inherent in the process, and you can only hope that the accident outweighs your own photographic tendencies.

In reviewing the photos on this blog, I see how my instincts tend toward shape and light. A great deal of my other photographs use both to create an image of texture and dramatic impact. Here, the angles are more pronounced, and the limited lighting contrast from the camera frequently changes the use of light into a graphical element. I have always been strongly affected by a graphical sensibility, but now lighting is transformed into that.

So this blog will move forward with the question, when is a lomograph not a lomograph. The name may end up transforming into The Daily Photograph.