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In an era where Nikon and Canon are in a never-ending battle over megapixels and HD video, an ever-expanding market is emerging for the limited technology of film.

What makes this style appealing? It is an approach to photography that makes cameras as simple as possible and uses interesting lenses and coloured flashes to make pictures that have a vibrant feel to them. The cameras are often made of plastic and are very simple. These pictures often have an energy about them that is hard to replicate, due to the Lomography (a major lo-fi camera manufacturer) motto: “don’t think, just shoot.”

To outline this philosophy, there is a set of guidelines for lomographers. They include taking your camera everywhere you go, using it any time, using it as a part of your life rather than an interference, trying shots from the hip, not thinking, being fast, not worrying about what you are capturing on your film, and not worrying about any rules. Photographers are encouraged to try new things all the time, and whatever ways they find will help them approach photography with fresh eyes.

The original Lomo camera was called the Lomo Kompakt Automat and produced in the early 1990s. Students in Vienna who admired the artistic potential of the unconventional photographs the camera produced discovered it. Since its origins, there have been several lo-fi cameras developed including the Diana+, Diana mini, Fisheye, Holga, and the Lomo LC-A.

Hipsters everywhere have been drawn to Lomography by its inexpensiveness, and retro designs. Most appealing of all, however, is the lifestyle that comes along with Lomography. It is promoted as being for photographers with passion, spontaneity and a hunger to document everything around them in artistically expressive ways. These photographers create exciting and wacky ways of capturing the little moments in life and use their cameras to view the world with a new creative edge. Clothing store Urban Outfitters has heavily backed Lomography and promotes all sorts of these cameras in their shops all across the world.

Lo-fi photography is a strange concept, in an era that is advancing exponentially towards a more technologically advanced age. Thankfully there is still a place for the lo-tech innovations of yesteryear.