A Sunny Day in Scotland with Lewis Baillie and the LomoChrome Color '92 35 mm Film

Director and photographer Lewis Baillie fully embraces the lo-fi aesthetic of film photography and manages to bring together studio fashion photography and his work documenting the streets of Scotland to create a body of work that makes the mundanity of the every day seem slightly more glamorous. We love Lewis' work and sent him a roll of the LomoChrome Color '92 35 mm film to test out, which he shot on a sunny day in Scotland with model Megan Wrigglesworth.

Hi Lewis, please tell us a bit about yourself.

My Name is Lewis Baillie, I’m a Scottish director and photographer. My focus lies on the people and places surrounding me. I like to show people who can initially be perceived as unassuming, have incredible stories. It’s a really rewarding process.

I grew up in a town called Kirkcaldy, just north of Edinburgh and I’ve always been interested in the local industry which was left behind; fishing, mining, linoleum. It was all pretty much abandoned by the 80s, leaving behind a lot of history that wasn’t particularly well documented. There’s loads of folk in the area who were put out of work, so I started chatting with them and learning about it all. I’d been interested in photography for a while by that point, and whenever I’d head out, I started lifting an old Pentax I’d been given by my dad’s pal. Photographing these people and places was exciting, and it resulted in a zine documenting the de-industrialisation of the area. Peter Mitchell and Tish Murtha were both big inspirations.

My most recent film focuses on Gordon Hush. A local from Kirkcaldy, who’s spent 30 + years digging up Victorian bottles from the ground. I met him through an antique shop on the high street and he took me out digging the next day, he’s great. It’s quite an obscure passion, but through his love for bottles, you start to learn more about him and it gets a bit easier to understand and appreciate. They’re beautiful bottles. I’ve stuck to these local narratives for a while. It doesn’t tire, and I know that’s the kind of documentary I like to watch.

What got you into shooting with film and why do you enjoy it?

I left school to study photography when I was 16. It was around then I was given a Pentax. I didn’t know a great deal about it, and started going into the darkroom most days, trying to figure it out. I’d go out with my camera at night and be in processing during the day. We had a good darkroom there, and it became really addictive. When Covid happened, I got hold of a cheap enlarger on Ebay. I built it up in the attic at home, and spent a lot of time there. Being able to make the prints, and give them to whoever I’d photographed felt like a collaborative exercise, and I began carrying prints with me all the time. Learning with my makeshift equipment and janky techniques made it a bit easier by the time we came out of lockdown and I could get back to a proper setup.

What did you choose to shoot with the LomoChrome Color '92 35 mm film and how did you find the results?

I like the saturation of the stock. Scotland was looking rather dull in March, so we needed to balance it out somehow. We got pretty lucky with clear weather, unfortunately that didn’t make the water any warmer. The results were great, the colors worked super nicely. It would be good fun to shoot some documentary stuff with it. I’m hoping to make a film about karaoke soon, it would be good to get some before making that.

What tips would you give for anyone wanting to try out film photography?

Don’t be too precious. And try to get access to a darkroom if you can. It’s such a rewarding process and I found it goes a lot further than sending your film away to get scans back on a screen. Having that final physical print makes you really appreciate the work that went into it.

Thank you to Lewis for sharing his photography with us! Keep up with his work on by following him on Instagram.

2024-11-07 #gear #people #portrait #color-negative #uk #scotland #lomochrome-color-92