PIKCHURS/

A friend commented that I looked FAT on the pic I posted (Ok, she didn't say I was fat but no matter how someone says it... "put on weight, chubby, finally have meat on you etc. it alway adds up to FAT FAT FAT). Admittedly, I'm a big porker on that pic. Not the best angle to hide a growing double chin. Luckily, it's not a recent pic.

It was taken several months ago by my friend Mahk. I was showing him around quintessential Cubao and he brought his LOMO camera along. From that entire roll of film, that pic was the only one that came out great. I kid you not.

Even then, I still look FAT. But enough of that.

LOMO photography is interesting. I think it could be the anti-thesis to the glamour lust brought about by the digital camera. Before the digital age came about, we used to rush to get our film rolls developed just to see how good we look posing in front of the generic monument... smiling with our friends... sticking our fingers out with a peace sign. Some pictures were good, but a lot of them were just so-so. Some came out over-exposed. Others were badly angled. Most would catch you with an awkward half-smile that made you look like you were talking to the camera and asking, "eh?".

But with digital cameras, those days are over. You can be drop dead gorgeous in every single photo you own. You have no excuse to have ugly pictures , because you can view your shot instantly. From there, you dump it or keep it. You can also adjust the settings to give your skin tone a little more of an orange hue. Maybe, you look better in black and white. The options go on and on and so do the fantastic shots. I personally have thousands of digital pics, all great, but very seldomly do they make it to print.

With all this digital perfection, why do people bother with LOMO? Mahk said it's a mood thing. Maybe. But I think it's also because there's still an element of hit and miss. You know that 99% of the shots will be terrible, but there is still that 1% chance that you can take a stunner. The kind of picture no one else has taken.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/your_best_lomo_shot/pool/

Mystery and excitement is back in photography. Not to mention, those squiggly lines, off-center shots and crazy angles can make you almost pass as an "artiste"