Geo Cabral on Creating Analogue Scenes With LomoChrome Color '92 and LomoChrome Metropolis Film

Geo Cabral, @scenesbygeo, a digital marketer from the Philippines, is a passionate photographer with a love for both digital and analogue photography. With a focus on creating evocative scenes, Geo's journey began with Lomography in 2015, and he has since embarked on various projects, including making zines and exploring different art forms. Through his work, Geo encourages others to experiment, have fun, and maintain a sense of wonder in the world of film photography. Recently, we invited him to shoot with LomoChrome Color '92 35 mm film and LomoChrome Metropolis 120 film. Let's check out his photos!

Hi Geo Cabral! Welcome to Lomography Magazine! Can you introduce yourself and tell us what you do?

Hi! I’m Geo. I’m a digital marketer from the Philippines. I usually like to say that I have “digital work, analogue hobbies” because of my equal appreciation for both modern and older mediums of art.

Can you tell us how you started your analogue journey?

It’s actually super tied to Lomography! Back in 2015 I was really getting into photography but had no means of buying a digital camera for myself. I heard about the Holga and Diana F+ cameras that were famous at the time, as well as this company called “Lomography”. I got really intrigued, got myself a Holga 135BC, and sort of just tried it out from there. The rest is history.

What are you working on at the moment?

This year I’m really looking to go out and shoot more in general. I do have a zine that I’ve been putting off for the longest time called “Middle Earth”, containing a series of film photos about my trip to New Zealand back in 2019. I’m also slowly building up a zine called “Spaces / Places”, focusing on still life photography and finding ways to evoke emotion in people-less sceneries.

Other than that, I also love other art forms, and so I’m looking forward to exploring those as well, and see what different creative projects I can come up with.

How would you describe your style of photography?

I try my best to create a sense of space, and to really create a moment with my photos. That’s really why I use the word “scene” a lot. For me, whether it’s a portrait, street capture, or even just still-life, I really want to evoke a feeling from the photos that I take. If not for anyone else, even just for me. I want them to become moments made memories. It’s a continuous learning process for me, but looking at it in this light is something I’m super passionate about.

What kind of gear do you mostly use?

I mostly use my Canon A1. This has been my daily driver for years, and is what I use to shoot film most of the time. Other than that I have a few digital cameras, one of which is a small digicam that I typically use for just a no frills documentation of my daily life.

Could you tell us where you went for this shoot and what you decided to photograph?

For the LomoChrome Color '92, I definitely knew that I wanted to take it through the city streets, partly because this is usually the type of photos I take, but also because my relationship with photography is that I do it in my daily life.

I was super happy with the look of Color '92. It had this sepia-like muted vintage tone to it that I expected it would have, and it really highlighted a lot of the neutrals, making the photos look so cinematic. I was happy to find that even with portraits it held up well.

For LomoChrome Metropolis, I knew that I wanted to only take portraits with it. Partly because I had an amazing opportunity to borrow a Rollieflex so I could try out the film (shoutout to @kenguevara for lending it to me), but also that I knew Metropolis to be typically associated with street photography, so I wanted to see what portraits would look like on it. And safe to say I quite liked the results. While my typical color palette leans on warmer tones, I really enjoyed the cooler tones and grunginess this film had, and the way it made the portraits look. It brought such a character to the photos that I think I wouldn’t have seen with my typical work.

What features did you like most about our LomoChrome Color ‘92 film and LomoChrome Metropolis 120 film?

As I mentioned, with Color '92 it’s definitely the sepia overcast that the film has. More than bringing a vintage look, it gives such pleasant neutral tones, especially in good light. For the Metropolis 120 film, it’s the grunginess and almost intensity of the blacks in the photos. It gives such a character to portraits that I didn’t expect.

What do you like about 120 film?

The thing I love the most about 120 film is definitely the increased quality it brings due to the bigger negative. Especially paired with great glass, it really shows more depth in photos that you sometimes just can’t get with 35 mm.

What is your favorite photo from this series and why?

For the Color '92 film, my favorite photo is this photo I took of my friend Erica in Cubao Expo. While I mentioned that I like how Color '92 highlights neutral tones in good light, I was surprised how nice it held up even when the photo was underexposed. It sort of aligned that the tone of the film perfectly matched the vintage setting, helping set the scene for a really good portrait. It’s a photo I’m super happy with.

For the Metropolis 120 film, my favorite photo was the portrait I took of my friend Ella. I had a hunch that the tone of Metropolis would make the photo look cinematic but the result was even better than I imagined. The grunginess and intensity of the blacks really helped create that mood, and it matched her outfit, creating a really cool portrait that I’m so excited about.

Anything else you’d like to share with the Lomography community?

I really recommend trying out Color '92 and Metropolis! I tried a lot of different film stocks over the years and that’s usually how I found what I liked. It’s always good to experiment. Safe to say that Color '92 is a film stock I’ll be adding to my roster from now on.

And to anyone that wants to try out film photography, just shoot and have fun with it. Don’t lose your sense of wonder for the world. The reason I love this medium so much is that the shooting and results that come from film photography just has this character to it that makes the experience of doing photography feel so tactile and involved. Experiment, keep trying, and keep learning. And don’t lose that sense of wonder.

Thank you Geo for sharing these wonderful photos! We can't wait to see more from you. Follow his Instagram to keep up with his work!

written by nikkicheung on 2024-03-14 #gear #people #places #philippines #120 #35mm #lomochrome-metropolis #lomochrome-color-92