Once I learned about LomoChrome Purple, I had this idea in my head of using that film to take a photo of the famous “Lego” house in Zaandam. It’s this wonderfully unique building that looks like various traditional Dutch houses stacked on top of each other. More significantly, the facade is mostly green. People who visit Zaandam usually take the normal touristy shot of this funky hotel and I knew I wanted to add a purple twist to it.
On a spring day that was forecasted to be sunny (Dutch weather can be quite unpredictable), I got my film roll out of the fridge and into my trusty Canonet for an adventure outdoors. I cycled all the way from Amsterdam to Zaandam, riding a ferry to the north and passed the sleepy Dutch countryside to my destination. I arrived at Inntel Hotel Zaandam with hardly anyone in sight since tourists were still scarce and shops were still closed. One of the challenges was finding an angle that would fit the entire building into the shot.
Afterwards, I figured I could also stop by and photograph the nearby neighborhood of Zaanse Schans. It’s a well known tourist attraction because of their collection of well-preserved historic windmills and Dutch houses. I usually avoid this area because of the buses full of tourists all over the place but like the Lego building, it turned out empty that day.
I read that metering Lomochrome Purple at 200 ISO or lower would bring the purples out more so I metered at 100 ISO, wondering the whole time how it would turn out but I think it did the trick! The photos were developed and scanned by the wonderful people at Key Color Photo Lab in Amsterdam.
I was amazed when I got my scans back, the film certainly adds a level of surrealness to the photos, like falling into a parallel world. It was certainly a fun springtime experiment, all in all, a great novelty film that will break you out of your comfort zone every once in a while.
~ Joan
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