"Possibly inspired by the Hello Kitty sticker-photo booths from Japan, they put forward this small camera making cute, small photos. Targeting teenagers, they spent huge money hiring the Spice Girls to speak for the product and put up promotional campaigns everywhere," Brachet said.
"It soon went out of fashion as fickle teenagers ... daunted by the high price of film, quickly turned their attention elsewhere."
The Lomo society's marketing approach instead is to avoid the spotlight and keep the medium tribal, doing most promotions on the society's banner-free Web site.
With three exhibitions going on in Taiwan at the same time, and two more scheduled for next month, Taiwan's Lomo society seems to be doing quite well. Previous exhibitions have shown a creative freedom seldom seen in photography.
Will this freshness prove a trendy fetish, as in it did in Hong Kong or is it just another fashionable brand to embrace, as in Japan? Perhaps it's here to stay as an accessible art form. One needs to see what Lomo can do to find out the answers.
Current Lomographic exhibitions:
Cruising, by the Lomo Society, at Eslite Bookstore, Core Pacific Shopping Mall; 138 Pateh Rd., Sec. 4 (八德路四段138號), until tomorrow.
Most F**ked Up, by the Lomo Society, at Cafe 2.31; 27, Ln. 86, Hsinyi Rd., Sec. 2 (
Lomokao, by Jason, Vodka and Yue, at La Strada Cafe; 67, Chungcheng 2nd Rd. Kaohsiung (高雄中正二路67號); Dec. 20 to Jan. 25.
Moving Target, by the Lomo Society, at Dish, Eslite Bookstore; GF, 245 Tunhua S. Rd., Sec. 1. (敦化南路一段245號); from Jan. 7 to Jan. 26.
Photos courtesy of the Lomographic Society
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