CASE #04
Altered Reality
When film transforms the colours before us, what is left of reality, and which version do we believe?
About the Theme
The camera records what stood before it, but the film remembers it differently.
Photography is often treated as evidence, yet every image is an interpretation. With these films, that transformation becomes impossible to ignore as shifted colour and glowing light make familiar subjects appear strange.
The result may differ from your memory, creating a reality of its own while revealing details or feelings you missed in the moment.
This case explores the distance between what you saw and what the photograph became. Rather than asking whether the image is true, consider what kind of truth the transformation reveals.
How to Participate
- Shoot using one or more of the three Investigation
- Partner filmsObserve how film transforms familiar subjects and environments
- Select images that respond to the case theme
- Include a short written reflection with your submission
Your interpretation matters as much as the image itself.
Submission Deadline: 7th January 2026
What You Might Photograph
This case has no fixed subject—photograph any person, scene, or object while considering the difference between what you saw and what the image became.
The Familiar Made Strange
- Everyday places transformed through unexpected colour
- Ordinary objects given an unfamiliar presence
- Recognisable landmarks that no longer resemble themselves
- Portraits in which colour changes how a person is perceived
Light Reshaping the World
- Neon signs, streetlights, or illuminated windows
- Reflections that blur the boundary between real and imagined
- Night scenes altered by artificial light
- Highlights that glow, flare, or create their own atmosphere
Nature Reimagined
- Foliage shifted into purple, indigo, or magenta
- Skies and landscapes rendered in unexpected colours
- Natural scenes that resemble imagined or otherworldly places
Layered Realities
- Two scenes combined through double exposure
- A person layered with a place, object, or memory
- Different moments made to coexist in one frame
- Reflections, movement, silhouettes, or transparent surfaces that complicate what is real
If you are comfortable with double exposure, layer two scenes, moments, or versions of reality to discover what new meaning appears between them.
What You Might Photograph
Observe how the film changes:
- Colour
- Light
- Atmosphere
- Familiarity
- Meaning
There is no right or wrong interpretation; every photographer brings a different idea of what is real.
You may submit:
- Any subject, scene, or object that explores altered reality
- Work shot on any of the three Investigation Partner films
- Single or double exposures
1- The Night Interpreter
CineStill 800T
Cinematic, electric, and unstable.
Balanced for tungsten light, CineStill 800T turns artificial illumination into atmosphere. Its cool tones and glowing red halation around bright light sources can make the night feel less observed than imagined, transforming streetlights, neon, and reflections into part of the story.
Ideal for: Neon streets, artificial light, night portraits, reflections, cinematic scenes.
2- The Colour Switcher
HARMAN Switch Azure 125
Surreal, contradictory, and unfamiliar.
HARMAN Switch Azure rearranges the colour world: blues can become orange, yellows turn azure, and reds move towards purple or blue. Familiar subjects return wearing colours our eyes never witnessed, making the everyday appear strange without changing what stood before the camera.
Ideal for: Bold colour studies, familiar landmarks, still life, portraiture, visual contradictions.
3- The Otherworld Witness
LomoChrome Purple XR 100–400
Psychedelic, dreamlike, and transformative.
LomoChrome Purple shifts greens towards purple and indigo, yellows towards pink, and blues towards cyan or green. Landscapes and everyday scenes become places that seem remembered, dreamed, or discovered elsewhere, while its flexible ISO range offers different levels of colour intensity.
Ideal for: Foliage, landscapes, colourful streets, surreal portraits, imagined worlds.
