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faq - frequently asked questions
please be aware this text has been created in 2001
Who are you?
Without going into details, I am a Russian computer guy, now living in Silicon Valley,
California. I like photography; I have been an amateur photographer all my life.
During late 80s and early 90s I participated in a lot of group exhibitions. I also
had several one man shows. At the same time I put together several exhibitions of
modern art in the university where I was studying. Nowadays I mostly take pictures
for myself and for family and friends left behind in Russia, to try and to give
them a feel for what life on this side of the ocean looks like.
What is LOMO portfolio?
LOMO portfolio is a collection of several hundred photographs that were taken
10 to 15 years ago. "Conceptualism" was the buzz word among the crowd dabbling in modern
art then. The objective was to beat a theme to death: you fill a wall or a book with pictures
on one topic and after that there was nothing anyone could do with this subject matter.
Later it became mainstream and no one was much surprised by a book of
portraits of people with milk mustaches.
I think I was one of the first in late 80s to do a collection on passers-by shot from
behind,and lots of people did that after me.
Landscapes and what I called "urban pop-art" (unusual objects in urban
surroundings) were my tribute to traditional photography.
Some photographs on this site are related to lomography only through the use of the
same instrument. They were taken with a LOMO-compact. Also not all of the negatives are scanned yet,
even some of those that I would like to show, so please visit my News page from time
to time, or e-mail me and I will send you an updates notification.
What is lomography?
Lomography was sort of an artistic hoax created by two ingenious Austrian students
who made millions on it :) Here is how it works: follow 10 peculiar picture-taking
rules, take pictures of everything that catches your eye, print them all up, even
the blurred ones, and arrange them side by side on a wall. Quite a lot of people
around the world got involved with the technique.
Why are some of your pictures so blurry? Why do you still display them?
With LOMO you often take pictures from your hip, without aiming or looking
through the viewfinder. The camera sets the speed automatically, and when there is low
light it is quite slow. If camera or the object you are shooting moves, the
picture will come out blurry. Whether to think of them as garbage
or as a "piece of art" is your personal choice. In the lomography philosophy
blurry images are not garbage.
Who were your teachers?
There is an Influences page that talks about my teachers.
What cameras do you use now?
[Well, this text is from late 2001...] I am happy with the Leica-minilux working with film. I often don't feel like
spending time developing images through wet process, so I use digital technology
instead. I own a Sony DSC-70. I don't like its reverie much. It is extremely
slow, but lets me indulge my laziness. :)
[Late 2006 update:] I currently shoot digital only. Instead of Lomo-compact I wear on my pants belt
a small Canon SD400 (also known as IXUS 50). When I care about image quality I shoot with Nikon D2H with
either Nikkor 17-35/2.8 or Russian manual focus fish-eye Zenitar 16/2.8, or few other lenses.
Check lomowalls page of this
site to get an idea of how the results look like.
And what about LOMO?
I own a couple of LOMOs. I use them for off-line exhibitions as displays, and I
recently bought a 35 mm Minox for everyday use. :)
What scanner did you use?
Film scanner Nikon Coolscan III (LS-30 in Europe).
Which camera can you recommend as the first one?
[As of 2001:] Yashica-T5. It called Yashica-T4 Super in US. If you can afford it, Contax T3 or
any digital. If you're sure you need SLR, I'm not the right person to ask.
My huge Nikon has been collecting dust on a shelf for many months already.
[2006 update:] I really don't know. It doesn't matter. My priorities are: digital, quick, and
long battery life. Not megapixels.
Where do you publish your works?
Old works are displayed here. Other culturally provocative works of mine are displayed under
different nicknames on many Russian photo sites. Photographic work on the themes
of my life is on my personal site, just for friends.
What are you doing now?
[2001:] When I first came to the US, I discovered that it was not allowed to show pictures
of people without their permission. This surprised the hell out of me. I even had
a few conflicts (resolved without serious consequences). But then I got myself
in line with the local customs: I started working on panoramas and on some
funny projects on Russian photo sites.
[2006:] Not much artistically. Sometimes I take people portraits when asked: individual or families.
Few times a year I take pictures of strangers during public events (like street fairs) without
asking permission. Some of them ends up on a about/lomowalls page.
What about off-line exhibitions?
I do them sometimes. Visit the News section or e-mail me and I will keep you informed.
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