Discover the art of "Colorsplashing" with new book

A rather innovative take on photography

7 July 2008 19:16 GMT / By Verity Burns

The Lomographic Society, in case you haven't heard of it, is a globally active organisation that is dedicated to experimental and creative analogue snapshots.

For over five years, Lomographic photographers (aka “Lomographers”) have been aiming the lenses of their small Colorsplash cameras (just one of the rather innovative products the Lomographic Society offers) and firing a coloured flash burst at any and every given opportunity.

So much so in fact, that this act of “coloursplashing” is becoming a bit of an artistic movement in its own right. But this begs an important question: where does the motivation and inspiration for all of this color-drenched hyperactivity stem from?

The Lomographic Society & Staple Design therefore teamed up to find out. Over the course of the past year, they’ve collected images, bits of research, personal testimonials, ancient truths, and wholly unscientific tidbits to discover and put them all into a book entitled “Chakras of Colorsplashing”.

To commemorate project, The Lomographic Society have also released a Chakra Limited Edition Colorsplash camera. Its patented colourwheel system puts several tinted flash filters at your finger tips for instant selection; with an additional 9 filters included for exchanging.

It's pretty easy to use - just select your colour, put it in front of your flash, and fire a burst of coloured light at your subject. Long exposure capability creates streaked backgrounds behind crisp, colour-flashed foregrounds. Take a look at the images section to see what we mean.

This special limited edition has been customised with a rubberised surface and uses good old fashion 35mm film.

As for the book, the 384-page hardcover edition details the philosophy and story of the Colorsplash Chakra project and showcases thousands Colorsplash images by hundreds of Lomographic photographers from around the world. Eleven commissioned professional photographers also got involved with their own galleries, shot expressly for this book.

Both are available this month direct from the Lomography website.