Making a Magazine with Lomography

It was a stormy day in September—I mean, really stormy. A storm that almost turned into a hurricane. But despite that, twenty photographers gathered at the Lomography store in New York’s West Village. We were there for a photo walk, and we were there to make a photography magazine.

Most photo walks end with the participants showing each other the LCD screens on the backs of their cameras. Not here. This walk ended with us putting our film canisters in a bag. We wouldn’t see results that day. We’d have to wait while the folks at Lomography had the film developed and scanned.

Most photo walks end with the participants showing each other the LCD screens on the backs of their cameras. Not here.

In case you don’t know, Lomography is a company that believes photography should be tangible and real. Online and in stores around the world, they sell their own brand of creative cameras—most are plastic—and specially formulated film: 35mm, 110, 120. Their most popular camera, the LCA, is modeled after a classic Russian camera.

I’ve been wanting us to to get together since the day I started at Blurb. I’ve been shooting with their cameras for the past 18 years. Lomography and Blurb have a lot in common. We believe in real, physical, tangible books. I thought it was a match made in heaven.

We believe in real, physical, tangible books. I thought it was a match made in heaven.

So we ended up in New York, dropping rolls of film in a plastic bag.

Back at Blurb headquarters, I assembled the magazine with the scanned photos using Blurb BookWright. The result is beautiful: a collective experiment that brings together the world of film and the world of print. Everyone on the walk got their own reminder of a stormy and creative afternoon. We hope it inspires them to make photo books or magazines with their next rolls of film.

Keep checking our events page. We enjoyed it so much, who knows, we might be coming to a Lomography store near you.

Are you into Lomography? Do you shoot with analog film? Tell us in the comments section about your analog experience and why you love it!