History of the Lomography.

History of the Lomography

1982 St. Petersburg
The Lomo PLC factory goes into production with the Lomo Kompakt Automat using Prof. Radionov's famous lens.

1992/93 Vienna
Matthias Fiegl and Wolfgang Stranzinger, two Viennese students, discover the Lomo Kompakt Automat and found theLomographic Society International. Today the community of Lomographers has over 500,000 members.

1994 Moscow And New York
The first international LomoExhibition is held in Moscow and New York simultaneously.

1995 Berlin And The Rest Of The World
Starting in Berlin, LomographicEmbassies spread around the whole world. There are currently approx. 60 embassies on all of the continents.
The Society organises LomographicTours, expeditions to various destinations.

1996 Moscow
The two founders of the Society negotiate with Mr Vladimir Putin to guarantee the continued production of the Lomo Kompakt Automat, and sign a contract for the world-wide distribution rights with Lomo PLC.

1997 Vienna
Lomography goes online. The continuous development of new features at www.lomography.com facilitates innovative projects and interactive communication within the Lomographic community. The society presents the first lomo film project Lomo TV.

1997-2001 A Series Of Global Events And Competitions
The first LomoWorldCongress is held in Madrid in 1997; the second LomoWorldCongress is held at the Cologne Photokina in 1998. The first ActionSampler WorldChampionships in 1999; the Lomolympics 2000; the LomographicSamplingGames 2001.

1998 Cologne, New York
At the Photokina the Lomographic Society International introduces a new camera: the ActionSampler. An incredible, 4-lensed, photo-photo-photo-photo-camera that dissects a second into four parts and then puts them back together to create something totally new. In October of the same year the Lomographic community meets at the new Embassy in New York for the 2 week MarathonEvent with the aim of finding the ActionSamplerWorldChampion.

A guide to Lomography2000 Milan, London
At the Salone Del Mobile the Lomographic Society International presents the first camera to have been developed, designed and patented exclusively by a team of Lomographers: the SuperSampler. The queen of multi-lens cameras.
In April the first Lomo Gallery opens in London.

2000/2001 Vienna, Mittenwald
In the wake of many in-house publications (Moscow New York 1995, Lomo On 1997, The Big Lomo 1997, Ferrari Lomo Project 98, LomoViennaGuide 1999) the Lomo-Mauritius image catalogue is released in co-operation with the German image agency Mauritius.

2001 Vienna, Kunsthalle/ MuseumsQuartier
In summer 2001, on the opening of the new Vienna MuseumsQuartier, the Lomographic Society opens the very first Lomography Shop in the world. The excessive range of products on offer and the design of the shop provide the contents of the culturequarter with a whole new facet. The autumn of the same year heralds the launch of the new Lomographic FashionLine: Only Naked Is Better.

This article was provided by Suzanne Ebeid , Communications of the Lomographic Society International