Testing Lomochrome Metropolis (2019 ver.)

As I've written in a handful of previous posts, I had a Lomography film in the back of my refrigerator just waiting to be shot. This time, it was Lomochrome Metropolis 100-400, an alternative color film with a desaturated look similar bleach bypass. For those curious, bleach bypassing is skipping the bleaching part of color negative development - the step that removes any undeveloped silver halide crystals. As a result, a black and white image is left on top of the color image.

While it has a similar color profile, Lomochrome Metropolis doesn't have quite as grungy and contrasty look as true bleach bypass, but looks great regardless. The film can be rated between ISO 100-400, and after looking at their samples, I decided set my roll at ISO 200 for a good middle ground. Latitude was pretty wide on both ends and the grain was just right.

I wanted to try this alternative film in an abnormal location, and Little Island floating over the Hudson River seemed like the perfect place. I've watched its construction from the time I moved to New York to its completion last year. Although free to the public, it being the newest thing in New York meant one had to order tickets in advance for timed entry. No thanks. Now that the newness had worn off, it was a better time to check it out.

I didn't stay very long. Little Island has nice landscaping and some whimsical interactive fidgets, but not much else in the middle of the day. It sort of reminds me of Telletubbies. It has a nice overlook of lower Manhattan, where I had the most fun taking pictures of people taking pictures.

I spontaneously thought of Veniero's lobster tails, took a trek to 11th St, then finished the roll and my afternoon there. Transitions be damned.

In summation, I really like the look of Lomochrome Metropolis. I could honestly envision a world where this becomes my main color film for a season or two. Really, the only thing holding me back from this are current film prices; Lomochrome Metropolis costs about the same as Kodak's Ektar and Portra. I'd rather stick to what I know, but will definitely shoot more Metropolis in the future.

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Featured photos were developed by Photodom in Brooklyn, NY.

For the gearheads: these photos were shot on my Olympus OM-1 and lenses in my kit.