A Family LomoChrome Film Swap With Toby Mason and His Son Felix
1 4 Share TweetRegular film shooter and analogue expert Toby Mason, AKA fotobes, has teamed up with his 12-year-old son Felix for a thoroughly family-themed film swap project using some LomoChrome Purple 35 mm film and LomoChrome Turquoise 35 mm film. In this interview we talked to Toby and Felix about the collaboration, the pleasure in passing on knowledge to the next generation and the joy that comes with a little creative serendipity.
Hi Toby, how have you been since we last spoke?
I’m well thank you – 2024 was a busy year with work as well as some travel to exotic lands, including Hawaii and Sicily. Add in a big birthday celebration, plus a few hospital visits towards the end of the year (all okay now) and it’s been a full-on time. This photo-swap with my son Felix has been a highlight though, and something that we loved working on throughout the year.
Tell us about these photos. What's the story behind them?
Felix had been showing an interest in analogue photography and so we gave him a 35 mm SLR (Petri GX1) for Christmas in 2022. He has really enjoyed using it, and I’ve loved to see how his creative eye has developed. Around the start of 2024 Felix suggested that we do our own film swap, which seemed like a great idea. We loaded a roll of LomoChrome Turquoise and LomoChrome Purple, with me using my Olympus OM10. It took us nearly a year to complete the two rolls each, and the results covered some of our travels and adventures from the year.

How did you both find the results?
Toby: I was delighted with the results – I suppose I was a little worried in case anything had gone wrong with either of the films. So firstly, I was pleased that a lot of the frames had worked out. But the exposures had worked well, and it was brilliant to see some of the combinations. On my first roll I had shot a few portraits, but other than that we left it to the Lomography gods, and luckily, we had some serendipitous results!
Felix: I really enjoyed the process of learning how to do a film swap, having seen my dad do other swaps in the past. It was interesting learning about lining up the frames when we loaded the films, to get everything in line. I wanted to take my time with the rolls of film to get them as good as possible. I can see how I can learn to do some things better next time with the exposure, but overall I was really pleased with how it came out.
What tips would you give to someone wanting to try a film swap experiment?
It’s always really important to mark up the film really well when loading them, and then taking your time when reloading it a second time so that you ensure the frames are completely lined up. It can be fun to do one set of portrait images, and then the second exposures of anything random – this can create some interesting results and silhouettes. Equally it’s sometimes two fairly mundane photos that when combined with each other in one frame can create a really cool image. So, just give it a try and have some fun. If some images or a rolls don’t come out, don’t be disheartened – it can be one or two amazing images that can make a roll worthwhile.
What's next for you and your son?
Felix: I’m really keen to do a film swap with myself, using LomoChrome Turquoise (this is my favourite film). I want to work on some more portraits and silhouettes, combined with some random things that I see. I’m hoping to start learning more about photography at school, as part of my art classes.
Toby: I’d love to do some more film swaps with Felix, it would be good to experiment with some different films and concepts so we will come up with some ideas. I’ve exhibited in the past as part of Brighton’s Open House Festival – it would be rewarding to be able to show some images that we’ve created together. My stepson Spencer is into digital photography – I’m also working on ways in which we can start a project together.
Thank you to Toby and Felix for sharing their fantastic photos with us! Follow Toby at his Instagram page to see more of his work.
2025-02-02 #gear #people #film-swap #brighton #double-exposure #lomochrome-purple #fotobes #lomochrome-turquoise
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