@shootitandsee's Impressions of Lomography Medium Format Films

Lorenzo Martinoia, aka shootitandsee, is a photographer and social media manager from Rome, Italy, who just over a year ago started his own YouTube channel where he covers everything about analogue photography. In this interview he gives us his impressions of our medium format films Berlin Kino B&W 120 ISO 400 and Potsdam Kino B&W 120 ISO 100, as well as LomoChrome Purple 35 mm.

Hello Lorenzo, welcome to our magazine! Could you please introduce yourself to the readers?

Hello to you, thank you for inviting me to answer these questions! My name is Lorenzo, I am 31 years old, born and living in Rome. I am an analogue photographer and a social media manager. I am trying to start a freelance career in these two fields.

Tell us about your photographic background. When did you start your journey in the world of photography?

The first photographic memory, the one that "started it all" dates back to an 18th birthday party of a friend of mine. She asked me to take a posed photo with other people, and I took her small Nikon bridge, a Coolpix, shot and looked at the result. It was no big deal, but I remember something in my head went "wow, I want to do this all the time." From there I bought my first Kodak bridge, and then moved on to the Nikon D3100 and the Sony A7, which I still use to shoot video, and then focused on analogue. To be fair, however, I was shooting since childhood with an analogue compact camera, the Pentax Espio 738S, somewhat randomly and for fun. When I was growing up, digital still did not exist or at any rate was not widespread on the market, which makes me feel rather old! I used to play with a couple of analogue cameras that were around the house, which I use now that my focus is on film photography.

In an undeniably digital world, why the choice to shoot primarily on film?

In my case, the motivation has a name and a surname: Willem Verbeeck. I remember coming across some of his videos in 2018, and I was first puzzled because I did not understand his photographs, but then I don't know how I began to be drawn to them. So I first started to emulate what Willem was doing with my digital Sony, and then used the film cameras I had at home, along with a Leicaflex SL2 given to me by a friend, until I bought my Mamiya M645J medium format.

The fact that I could not see the result of a photo, for me who always had anxiety about the result, was a big challenge, but so fascinating. It allowed me to stay closer to the subjects of my photos, who are very often people. So on the one hand I couldn't wait to see the result, but on the other hand it was really the medium telling me, "you've got to slow down, there's little you can do. What if I thought about talking to this person?" I've encountered a ton of stories since I've been shooting analogue, and that's what captured me. Not to mention, by the way, the fact that analogue photography helps you slow down, focus on creating, and count your shots. Before you press the shutter, you think about it. Quality over quantity.

You started a super interesting and fun YouTube channel (@shootitandsee) where you talk about film photography. When did you start it and how did the idea come about?

Thank you for the compliments! I started the channel in March/April 2022, but I had been wanting to do it for years. The more I watched videos of Willem and the YouTube analogue photography giants (Vuhlandes, Matt Day, Kyle McDougall, Grainydays, Negative Feedback) the more I thought "I can do that too." And so after some reflection I took the plunge. For a year I published few videos, because my full-time job did not allow me to focus properly on video production and post-production, but after losing my job earlier this year I decided there was little to lose: I had to jump in full-time.

For your latest videos you tried some Lomography films for the first time, including the LomoChrome Purple. What were your impressions?

I will be honest, I had never tried such a film, or anything from Lomography, as I considered it outside my photographic tastes. A friend of mine forcibly took me out of my comfort zone by gifting me one LomoChrome Purple film and I was completely surprised, in a positive way!

I did a bit of research on how and where it would be optimal to use it, and I was ultra happy with the results. It's really cool to have a visual idea of how a photo should come out and then find yourself completely surprised or displaced by the results. It adds another level of surprise to the initial surprise of film photography. I can't wait to try it in medium format, because I'm really curious to see how it renders in a more qualitative format than 35 mm.

You also took two series of photos with medium format films Potsdam Kino B&W 100 and Berlin Kino B&W 400. Is there a particular feature of these films that you preferred? What kind of shots would you recommend them for?

For my taste I really liked the Potsdam, particularly in the harsher light of the morning. I love contrasty black and white, and if I had to pick one feature in particular I would tell you this: it rendered beautifully the contrasts that a bright sunny morning can have on the skin of a subject portrayed in black and white. As for the Berlin, I appreciated its flexibility that comes from its ISO 400, and I was really surprised at how capable it actually is of deep, marked contrasts as well.

Not that I don't love a balanced photo, but when it comes to black and white I like it to lean more toward the extremes. So I absolutely recommend them for portraiture as well as fashion shoots, but in my opinion they would also be great for architectural and urban shots, maybe even without human subjects. With the Potsdam I would try some lowkey shots, considering the higher base contrast, and I think it's perfect for mountain and snowy scenes, while the Berlin just strikes me as the versatile film that can be used even if the outdoor lights are less powerful than spring or summer light.

Do you have any upcoming projects that you would like to share?

Let's say the main project is really YouTube, so if anyone reading this article would like to subscribe to my channel, I would be super grateful and happy. I actually have a lot of ideas buzzing around in my head, and in the future I would definitely like to try to publish two or three zines of which the draft design already exists but only in my head. I hope to have a way to make them soon so that I can document the process on the channel as well!

Follow Lorenzo on Instagram and YouTube.

written by ludovicazen on 2024-02-15 #gear #people #videos #black-and-white #video #portrait #b-w #italy #lomochrome-purple #potsdam-kino-120 #berlin-kino-120