A Lomography International Film Swap (Part 3)

This year to celebrate Film Photography Day, we organised an ambitious international film swap, pairing up Lomography community members from all over the world and challenging them to create combined works of art while making intercontinental connections.

Our film rolls traveled thousands of miles, from one partner to another, resulting in some stunning, unique, and completely unpredictable creations. Today we bring you the final results from our #lomoworldfilmswap!

Taiwan X Iceland

Shu: My shots were all taken during walks in Taipei, including Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park, 228 Peace Memorial Park, the road to Shimen Shell Temple by motorcycle, and the small fish pond in Taishan District.

The most challenging part was the correct tolerance of exposure. The person taking the first shot should pay attention to giving exposure a salvageable default value to avoid seriously affecting the next photographer.

I was surprised by the non-logical interlacing of images and the strong contrast with the other person's scenery. Most of my images are urban walks, but the clash with the nature of Iceland made me feel wonderfully surprised. I like the uncertainty that film swaps bring. The collision between the symbols of Taipei City and the natural language of Iceland fascinates me.

My favorite photo is the one in the pavilion of 228 Peace Memorial Park, where the red blanket of the homeless and the pillars become more vivid in the purple-toned film, and the double exposure adds surface texture to this image.

Indonesia X Germany

Alvin: It was challenging to combine the light and the object that we want to shoot, but I liked the elements of coincidence and surprise. Expect the unexpected.

I like the results very much. Some of the pictures let me time travel to a place that i’ve never been visited. My tips for newbies would be – don't think, just shoot!

Erdalito: After so many filmswaps I would say the most challenging aspect is a willingness to embrace unpredictability. Of course mostly the exciting part is the element of surprise. Sometimes both frames together tell a story or complete each other without planning. To blend my style with the style of someone else. This to me is like using samples in music and creating something new. Bringing together different places of our separate lives in one frame. I like this aspect of togetherness a lot.

It felt like a blind date not knowing anything about the other collaborator and unfortunately this is a roll where many secondary exposures didn't make it through my images. There are some that work really well like the kids vs dolce vita, and the dog vs the streets. I like when this happens. I like the appearance of humans on the other exposures.

My favorite shot is the kids and the fire and my Dolce Vita (the sweet life) neon sign. It feels simple and is such a good example of coincidence. Usually we associate childhood with a good life as certain problems are ahead of us in the future.

Another favorite one is this. The wordplay on the wall means togetherness in German, and you see on the second exposure the gathering of friends – how nice is that! Also the silhouette of my husband in the window making space for the other image to come through – those kind of swaps make me happy.

Philippines X Italy

Sunshine: I decided to shoot a normal day at work. The results are clumsy but interesting. It can be quite difficult to get the exposures right, to make sure the double exposures are distinctly visible. But I like the weird and funny results that you get from a film swap.

My tips for film swaps? It takes a lot of trial and error, so go easy on yourself if you don't get it right the first time!

Jacopo: My idea for the shooting was to take spontaneous photos, remaining true to myself and my vision of photography. Also, I wanted the photos to contain the beauty of the place where I live.

I’m really happy with the results, our frames aligned in a beautiful way and the colors are vivid and vibrant.

The interconnection that is created between the two people who shoot the roll is certainly the most fascinating aspect of film swaps for me. It is a union of multiple stories, multiple times and, ultimately, multiple lives that overlap in a casual manner: it is precisely this casual union that generates a completely new story, resulting from the fusion of the images and which acquires its own meaning.

Make sure to set the ISO properly (one stop of light less than necessary to prevent the film from burning) and be careful, if you are the first to shoot the film, to mostly take photographs without excessive presence of light, so that the second photographer can also have space to imprint their photos. But above all, have fun without thinking too much!

Thank you to our talented Lomographers for participating in this international film swap! See all of the results from their swaps at #lomoworldfilmswap and on their LomoHomes – @SPIDEY27, @ERDALITO & @JACOCATALDO.

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written by alexgray on 2024-07-12 #culture #people #places #taiwan #film-swap #indonesia #filmswap #double-exposure #germany #iceland #film-photography-day #international-film-swap #lomoworldfilmswap