Lomography: a mix of vintage and chic

Photo by Wang Yang/Provided to chinadaily.com.cn

"I was fascinated by the dreamlike images as soon as I got the film developed. The lo-fi artworks are anything but perfect, but they created an instant haze of memory," Wang said.

The digital cameras may seem less flawed or simply easier, but they sacrifice warmth, soul, depth, personality, chance and the human touch for their cleaner images. "The newer thing boasts 100 percent accuracy and correctness, but life is nothing like that," said Meng Yalei, chief editor of Holga Freak, an e-magazine that focuses on international lomographers.

"That's why the young people love lomo cameras because they can use them to draw their own reality," Meng said.

They must have a point, because the antiquated creative process has inspired some digital filters on cell phones and computers to mimic lomo cameras' effects.

The Hipsamatic iPhone application is one of them. The filter can make the pictures look as though they were taken with the unreliable plastic lomo cameras.

"Lomo effects are very popular nowadays. The lomography-style pictures can not only created by cell phone applications but also be found in the designs of posters, websites and magazines," Bai Luoman, a 29-year-old photographer, said.

"Lomo has become more of a buzz word than simply a kind of camera," Bai said.

Lomo Wedding Consultant, a wedding planning company at Sanlitun in Beijing, picked the name for the very reason.

"Lomo to us means 'let our life be magic and open' and the lomo cameras are renowned for their uniquely beautiful images. That's exactly what we want to do for our clients— to plan a dreamlike, one-of-kind wedding," said Li Ji, the store owner. "Besides, everybody knows the word."

The store's wall is decorated by hundreds of small photos of the newlyweds. Li said it is a trend to piece together the photos taken by lomo cameras to create a lomo wall. "The young people just love it."

"People always say film will eventually disappear. But I think things do not necessarily have to die out if we keep instilling new and creative thoughts into them and make them a culture trend that is full of fun. Just like lomography." Wang Yang pressed the shutter of his lomo.

"Invention always has its own way," he said.