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(CRI)
Updated: 2005-01-31 10:27

Lomo refers to a new style of artistic experimental photography with a unique camera, which was discovered by couple of students in the early 1990s. The cheap, and most importantly, free way of taking pictures, which ignore the established rules of "good" photography, soon got popular among young people in the world. In China, many young people are taking up the camera and join in the club of lomograhers. This week, a gallery in Shanghai holds a Lomo exhibition with snapshots from a dozen young.

It is a bizarre world of snapshots: a boy's own feet, a bare wall with a bell, and a broken pencil… All of the pictures are taken from a strange position, some, at impossible situations. Tang Xiaoshuang, a girl studying in senior high school, is decorating her picture wall.

"My pictures are what I see everyday and how my life is going on everyday. This is a closestool, I saw it at a friend's, and I wanted to shoot it, and I just shoot it," said Tang.

The basic Lomographic idea is be fast, don't think, be open-minded towards your environment, absorb everything, collect and enjoy being communicative. Most people might get shocked at the first sight of the pictures because of the unrestraint shooting angle, and also the unfamiliar colorfulness, diversity and strong self-expression.

"The shooting is undertaken at quite unserious manner, so young people would rather use the word "play" to dub the special photography. Lomography subverts the traditional photography, it cares nothing, there's no picture composition, no worry about focus or exposure. It's a record of their personal life," said the curator of the exhibition Ding Dawei.

And the special camera which gave birth to lomography, is simply a low-technology camera equipped for the spies of former Soviet Union army. The camera has no electronic exposure program, and the lens are rather rough. Ding Dawei says this gives the pictures unique colors and the fact that you'll never know what the picture would be like before it is developed fascinates people most.

Ever since the experimental photography was discovered, it becomes a new toy for young people. Today the community of Lomographers has over 800,000 members world-wide. In China's big cities like Shanghai and Beijing, online lomo club has been set up, with a steady growth of fans.

But the unconstraint and alternative photography decides it is an art belonging to the world of young. Of all exhibitors at the show, the oldest is 24, and the youngest is 18. And to Curator Ding Dawei, years' of traditional photography education has grabbed his inspiration, all the works remind him of his childhood. He doesn't belive he could shoot anything like those any more.

But at the same time, will today's lomographers lose their passion when they get mature, will they indulge themselves in the bizarre vision world for good? Tang Shuangshuang is to welcome her college entrance examination this year, and she is not sure about that.

"I don't know how far I could go. My hobby on photography will not change, but not necessarily lomo. When I grow up, my ideas may get mature, and I may care more about the photographic techniques," Tang said.

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