FLASHBULBS FLICKER and heads turn as Pan Chan and Martin Cheung dart around an exhibition opening at the Fringe Club's Fotogalerie, popping up with cameras in front of half-startled, half-bemused guests to take surprise snapshots. The photographers' tactics owe more to guerilla warfare than paparazzi hustling as they randomly take pictures of people's shoes, backs and ears, or a beer bottle in hand, without even looking through the lens.
But this is not a press-spots-celebrity free-for-all. This is lomography, an art form inspired by a Russian spy camera, the Lomo Kompakt Automat or LC-A, which has spiralled into a craze in Hong Kong and around the globe. The compact camera gained cult status after two Austrian students stumbled across them while in Russia in 1992. With a 32mm lens, ultra-sensitivity to light, and a shutter that can open for up to 60 seconds, the Lomo camera takes incandescent pictures rich in colour and possessing a blurred surrealism. Lomo-mania has hit Hong Kong in the past 12 months with thousands of happy-snappers buying original Lomos or cheaper, funky plastic versions sold by the Lomo-marketeers. The photographers are drawn not just to the equipment, but the philosophy: 'Don't think, just shoot'. With the craze moving into mainstream arts, Chan and Cheung are taking this basic modus operandi to extreme limits for a new exhibition. The duo have spent the past three weeks taking thousands of random photos of Le French May events. The images will be used to create a mosaic at the Fringe Gallery next week capturing the essence and spirit of this year's streamlined festival. 'People don't see us when we shoot,' says Chan. 'We want to catch them off guard. It's natural, more accidental.'
In keeping with the Lomo's espionage roots - the camera was designed as a clandestine tool for secret agents - organisers of the French arts fest handed Chan, Cheung and several other lomographers a mission: 'To capture the unexpected and surprising details from behind the scenes and to offer a different perspective on this year's performance and preparation work.' With access-all-areas passes the results promise a unique overview.
'I have been using a camera for a long time, looking through a lens and pressing the button,' says Cheung, who graduated in fine arts from Melbourne and is a recent convert to lomography. 'This exhibition is very different, I can shoot without looking and only need to use one hand. I've never done this before.'
Chan says there is no theme to the pictures as images from different events will be mixed up. They will probably be displayed according to dominant colours - streaks of red, yellow, blue or green. Several frantic late nights lie ahead until the opening on May 22, but whatever the result, the exhibition suggests lomography's place in Hong Kong and the arts may be more than a mere fad. Arnaut Castel, who runs Lomography-Asia, the sole trader of LC-As in Asia, says the Lomo craze began in Hong Kong after trendy stores such as GOD and PageOne began stocking Lomos last year. The Wonderland exhibition of Lomo pictures held at Central MTR last summer also piqued interest.
'That was the first big event and we had a lot of people coming into the office afterwards,' says Castel. But he is anxious to steer the Lomo's image away from an accessory of students and fashionistas. 'For some people it is still very trendy to have Lomo cameras,' he says. 'We do not want that. I want everyone to have access to Lomos.'
Cheung enthuses about the egalitarian Lomo spirit. 'I was interested in pin-hole and plastic 'toy' cameras,' he says, but began using an LC-A about a year ago. 'It's not so much the camera as the attitude which attracts me. They're telling people that everyone can be a photographer. You don't have to be a professional and spend a lot of money on equipment. I like using a Lomo because it's an unconventional way of taking photographs. You can use the same attitude with a Nikon, but this camera suits it much better.'
