South Foreland Lighthouse
I’ve seen plenty of photos on my Instagram feed from this film. What attracted me to try this film out were the surreal colours that it can produce. Phenomenal photographers like Hayden Williams also shoot on this film, his digital work is very similar to what this film can produce. In short, if you ever wanted to shoot like Hayden Williams for a day - try this film.
The first time I shot this film was in Dover. The white cliffs is the ideal place to give this film a test run. The vast fields of greens and browns, the beautiful white cliffs, and the deep blue ocean gives this film plenty of room to play around.
The White Cliffs of Dover
Shooting the Film
The Lomochrome Purple from Lomography is a unique film, not only in the way it processes real life colours but the dynamic range at which it can be shot at. The film is rated at 100 - 400 speed, so it can be shot at either ISO 100 - 400 depending on your preference and the lighting conditions. To decide on what film speed to shoot at, I spoke with Lomography on Instagram, and they recommended shooting at ISO 400 for softer colours.
What I discovered while shooting this film
The scans I received from the lab came out a little bit too purple for my liking. Before shooting this film, I had in my mind the photos would be a mixture of cyan and pinkish tones. The scans I received were mostly purple (hence the name) and darker blue tones. After tweaking the colours a bit to my liking - to make the purple more of a pink - I finally got it to the tones I had in mind.
I initially thought it might be wrong shooting an iconic landscape for its green fields and white chalk on this film. Would the Cliffs lose its charm if it were seen in different colours?
No. I think in a way this film creates an alternate universe, or a wonderland. It transforms a scene that would’ve been photographed hundreds of times a day into something that is beautiful and just a step out of reality.