Gui Martinez Creates Psychedelic Scenes of Thailand and Sri Lanka With Medium Format LomoChrome Film

Last time we spoke to Gui Martinez he told us how he creates stories using medium format film. Beyond his commercial work Gui is an avid traveler who loves to capture the world around him. When we heard he would be visiting Thailand we thought it would be the perfect chance to send him three rolls of our 120 LomoChrome film – LomoChrome Purple, LomoChrome Turquoise and LomoChrome Color '92 to see what he could come up with. Check out his marvelous results below and read about his impressions!

Hi Gui, can you start by telling us about these photos?

Lomography gave me three rolls of film to shoot as an assignment at the end of last year. A LomoChrome Purple, a LomoChrome Turquoise, and a LomoChrome Color '92.
Both the LomoChrome Purple and the Turquoise films were shot in Thailand at the end of 2023 but unfortunately, my camera broke towards the end of the trip and I couldn't shoot the third roll. So we put a pause on the assignment until I had to go to Sri Lanka in January/February where I managed to shoot the LomoChrome Color '92 roll.

Can you tell us more about your time in Sri Lanka? How did you end up going there?

I went to Sri Lanka for a couple of months intending to shoot a few personal projects and also to look for assignments while I was there. If work doesn't take me somewhere outside Japan, then I take myself and generate work whilst I'm there. This is something I do often, especially in places I haven't been before. There I get inspired, photograph, explore, meet people, and come home with work I can sell.

In the end, I had two main assignments in Sri Lanka, one being my original personal project idea of photographing flowers around the country (Flowers of Sri Lanka) and the other being an ongoing collaboration with Sambol Foundation, a beautiful Sri Lankan/Swiss NGO promoting the protection of women and children affected by violence in Sri Lanka. I also think these two projects will end up crossing over somehow. These photos were taken around the central and southern areas of Sri Lanka whilst exploring the country by motorbike.

What was unique or interesting about shooting in Sri Lanka?

Shooting portraits of the people I encountered felt so easy and natural. There was zero animosity whatsoever. Everyone was so kind and genuine. Every time I wanted to photograph a stranger, not only were they very keen, but also proud and excited about it.

How did you find using these LomoChrome film stocks, and what did you like about them?

It was a lot of fun! It was nice to shoot with a less predictable film where you don't exactly know what you'll get. It pushes you to be more experimental with the photos too, which is great.

The images feel very psychedelic. When I first saw the developed photos, it seemed like a dream-like or alternate reality compared to the moment and place I captured them in.
They make me feel good and weird at the same time, like a dream, mixing art, beauty, and strangeness.

You also used our latest film, LomoChrome Color '92. How was your experience shooting with it?

It was great. It was the first time I used it so it was a pleasant surprise to see such nice results, so different from the usual film stocks I generally work with.

We thank Gui for his trippy pictures. You can keep up with his latest projects on his Instagram and Website. Where would you want to take our LomoChrome film? Let us know by commenting down below!

written by rocket_fries0036 on 2024-05-13 #gear #culture #people #places #nature #portaits #lomochrome-purple #lomochrome-turquoise #apac #lomochrome-color-92 #gui-martinez #medium-format-120