Lomography Film Swap Challenge (part 3)

Over the past couple of months we’ve been sharing the amazing results of our Film Photography Day Film Swap Challenge. If you haven’t already seen them, check out part 1 and part 2 now! Here’s the third and final instalment, featuring some of our gifted Lomographers from Italy, France, the UK and US.

Italy - Lomography Color Negative 100

Chiara Fogliatti : I think that for those who love photography, challenging themselves and getting in contact with other photographers is fundamental to gain inspiration and grow personally and professionally. Just try it! Use these opportunities to get involved, have fun, amaze yourself! This is what photography is about.

I am in love with the shots. The results are exactly what we had envisioned: our two souls, our two stories and our two ways of observing came out!

Andrea Alecce : I am always open to new inspirations, ideas, proposals and projects in general. Although my approach to photography is rather formal, I decided to take the opportunity offered by Lomography to discover new forms of expression and put myself to the test. It is not trivial to step out of your comfort zone and try new techniques and solutions, but the beauty of being amazed by the results is priceless. I also find it an added value to be able to collaborate on these projects with other photographers, mixing and contaminating tastes, habits, places and contexts that are difficult to approach. This is the beauty of film swaps.

The results exceeded my wildest expectations. Especially since some of the compositions look studied, when in fact it is all the result of chance! The colours of the Lomography Color Negative 35 mm ISO 100 are spectacular, bringing out the cold colours of the sea, sky and rocks in a harmonious and complementary way with the warm colours of the earth and plants.

UK - LomoChrome Metropolis

Tony Sykes : I’m always looking for new and interesting ways to experiment with photography. I’ve never swapped films with another photographer before and this was the perfect opportunity to try this out.

The challenging part was not knowing shot for shot what Eva had taken photos of. It makes it challenging because you don’t want your photos to be too overpowering and lose your collaborators image, but you also don’t want your image to be lost either, so it’s finding the right balance.

I think the photos turned out quite well, I especially love the dreamy quality of some of the images. Seeing the results I now know what worked very well and what to avoid in the future. It’s given me a lot of ideas, I’m definitely hoping to do another film swap in the future.

Eva Carolan : I love experimenting with film in every way possible. I love abstract photography and I love the thrill of not knowing how your photos will turn out, and with film swaps you definitely get that feeling.

The most challenging thing when doing a film swap is working with the right exposure settings, and also shooting something that is too detailed. Details work well on top of a more simple photo, but details on details can get a bit messy, and because we don't know what the other person is shooting, it's a bit of a game of chance.

I absolutely love the results, I think we both shot a variety of things that went really well together, and Lomochrome Metropolis was definitely the perfect film for our photos. It made me want to get more of it and shoot more landscapes and nature with it.

France - Lomography Color Negative 400

Valeria Schettino : When I take analogue photos, I’m often afraid of “losing” the photos in some way or to spoil them. In this case, I totally let myself think only of the moment of the shot without thinking too much about the final result.

Mehdi and I left everything to chance, letting go into the unknown wasn't easy, but in the end it was very pleasant. I'm very surprised by how some of the images fit together and tell a story despite being completely random.

Mehdi Saadallah : This was my first time participating in a film swap and I didn't really experience any particular difficulties. I was just looking forward to viewing the result, to see the mix of our works and how the film was going to react to two exposures. I think that's the main thing and there's no reason to worry. If necessary define a subject or an orientation with your partner but take your best camera, your favorite film and go for it!

I'm pleasantly surprised with the result. As I said, it was my first time and I didn't know what to expect so I just went for my little photo walk trying to do what I liked.

US - Lomography Color Negative 100

Ida Kreutzer : I love the look of Lomography films and thought this would be a fun project. The most challenging part honestly was to rewind the film enough but not too far so that Nick would be able to load his camera without issues! We live in such different parts of the country so I was curious to see what Nick would shoot, and how that would coincide with my choices. So fun!

Nick Dolhyj : The biggest challenge is having no idea how the roll was shot before you get it. When I've done double exposures in the past, I know exactly what my exposure settings and subjects are and how to set myself up for success. This definitely led to some analysis paralysis when getting started.

One tip is to underexpose more than you expect to and choose shots with deep shadows for double exposures! I was generally trying to underexpose my shots by about a stop or two, but a lot of them were still bright enough to overwhelm the first round of images (sorry Ida!) I think the first half-ish are a cool juxtaposition between the abandoned house and the cityscapes. Some of them turned out pretty striking. I also really like the ones with the bead curtain thing over the dark doorway, I really like that texture.

We'd like to give a huge thanks to everyone who participated in this project! You can find more of each photographer's work at their respective LomoHomes and Instagram accounts.

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written by alexgray on 2022-09-01 #people #places #challenge #experimental #england #multiple-exposure #filmswap #double-exposure #uk #italy #france #film-photography-day