Lomography Store Visit - Newburgh Street, London

With my current obsession for photography, combined with a spare hour or so in London, I felt it would be a good time to make a trip over to visit the Lomography store on Newburgh Street. This is a company with a motto of "The Future Is Analogue" - and that pretty much sums them up.

I have to say that I felt a little stupid taking photos of their store with a digital camera, but I quickly forgot my shame and lost myself in their products and displays.

So you know for when technology rises up to rule us all - Skynet style - this is the place you should go to if you want to take awesome photos of explosions, robots and shit. That is if your digital camera hasn't already killed you, of course.

These little wonders had me entertained for quite some time, being the owner of a Micro 4/3 camera (Lumix GX1). I can get a standard 24mm lens, a fisheye lens, and a 12mm wide-angle lens, all for £79. (Find them here) 

Granted, the quality won't be National Geographic worthy, but they're fantastic to play around with because you don't have to be too precious with them. Especially in comparison to a lens that you might spend upwards of £150 on. 

Fact: 'Selfies' are acceptable with a fisheye lens.

The style and visual merchandising of the place is greatly fitting and enticing. I couldn't help but stare at the walls and the ceiling, tiled in stylistic, artsy, astounding and even clumsy photographs - not necessarily in that order. It made me wonder why no other camera/photography shop has done this before (that I know of).  

This store made me yearn for lens-flared; under-developed; out-of-focus and generally shitty photos of days, events and people that I'd otherwise forget in years to come. It makes me want to capture a badly-taken candid shot to laugh about once developed, rather than delete once uploaded to my laptop.

There's something about the physical photograph that makes the bad good, and I believe that Lomography has taken that idea and ran with it. If you have the time and you're in London, I implore you to take a little detour to Lomography. You will not regret it.

At the very least, check out their website (here) and browse their rather awesome goodies.

Cheers guys,
O&U.