Writer's Notes: Telling Old Tales with the Lomography Redscale

He walks into curious Intramuros, head full of visions and old beliefs. Book in hand, he ponders, or expects: the parades of yore have felt this bright and humid Manila, too. The cobblestone paths, the drunkenness of summer nights, an apparition or a curse—it all seems familiar: Manila after the May Day Eve.

What awaits an inquiring mind? And is there some sort of marker, a haven for urban legends on the map of urbanity?

The story is set in the Intramuros of old traditions and superstitions: during the midnight before May, young women peer into the mirror for a glimpse of their future husband's face. One such lady sees the face of a "devil" instead, and it is in this very instant that disillusionment takes place.

Young love mired by the passage of bittersweet years, of projections and shortcomings—what price do we pay for seeing inaccurately?

To a young fellow, this visit to the historic walled city serves to trace the footsteps of these forlorn characters, to gauge the scene of the tragedy. Were there truths told in the pages of that fiction that remain relevant to this day?

Last month, we published an In Depth article on the importance of creative projects when it comes to developing our relationship with film photography. For this edition of Writer's Notes, I dedicated two rolls of Lomography Redscale XR 120 to find out what portraits with this film stock and the LC-A 120 could look like.

It's my first time shooting with this film and focusing on portraits. Needless to say, it was quite an adventure looking up Community photos as inspiration for my use of this camera and film stock duo, and being out and about to capture a "vibe" on film!

Redscale & Vignette as Elements of Storytelling

The combination of red, orange and yellow tones from the Lomography Redscale was definitely more intense than I expected. It was a pretty bright day during the shoot (we're currently at the peak of summer in the Philippines), and I set the ISO to 400, which resulted in this strong sepia which I think fits the theme, especially with the addition of the soft but distinct vignette from the LC-A 120.

I think these were important elements for the concept shoot and played a crucial role in establishing the "feel" of this series of photos.

This was quite an immersive experience for me. The feeling of being limited to two rolls of film stock (24 frames in total) never left, but I would like to think that it actually enabled me to play around but also think each shot through at the same time. I have a lot to learn when it comes to doing concept shoots with someone and relaying my ideas, but the whole process remains satisfying and something I would like to do again in the future.

On the Tale of the May Day Eve

I must say, I saw the story in my head only after I got the scans from the lab. As I described the coincidences surrounding this shoot:

On May 2nd, my friend Karl and I did a little photo shoot in sunny Intramuros, Manila to try out portraits with the LC-A 120 and Lomography Redscale. Although we were initially trying to capture the feel of the movie Amélie, the location, the Redscale film stock and the prop we used (a book of works by Philippine National Artist Nick Joaquin) made it reminiscent of an iconic short story by Joaquin instead, called "May Day Eve," included in the book. The events in the story coincidentally fell on the evening before May 1st and took place in Intramuros, too!

Joaquin is known for bridging themes of religion, love, mystery, history and magical realism in his works, and this short story remains iconic for its portrayal of the role of men and women in relationships, especially in a culture like the Philippines'. I wanted to take photos of my friend interacting with his environment in this historic place in Manila, as well as "dreaming" stories.

The in-between period of shooting the rolls and waiting for the scans made me detach a little from my expectations of this shoot, and seeing these photos, it appeared to me as if he was a novice writer trying to decipher what remains of the setting of an old, yet still largely significant story.

I also had a roll of expired Ilford Delta 100 that I wanted to use, and it was pretty interesting to capture the streets of Intramuros with it. This was my first time tapping a model for a concept shoot, so I would like to credit and thank my friend Karl Art for being open and creative with me during the shoot, we had a lot of fun walking around the walled city and telling stories!

It was such a blast working on this fourth edition of Writer's Notes! What stories would you like to translate to film photos?

written by sylvann on 2025-06-03 #culture #people #places #manila #portraits #lomography-redscale #lc-a-120 #writer-s-notes Share Article