Featured Artist

Featured Photographer | Pam Stach

This month’s featured photographer is Pam Stach, who posts her work on Instagram as https://instagram.com/jeanne_d_arctique. You may already have come across her spectacular film photos of her home, Greenland. As you’ll see in this selection of work, she uses a variety of film stocks and experimental methods to translate for us the natural beauty of the landscape. As a person born in Greenland she has a unique native perspective on a place that is often viewed as exotic by outsiders.

I have included both her own descriptions of her photographs and her answers to some interview questions I posed.

This is made with a filmsoup with handpicked mixed (arctic) flowers. Among those flowers were fireweed, camomile, and yellow poppies. I have picked this one because I find it to be very delicate with the pink tones and the droplets on the grass.

You live in Nuuk, the largest city in Greenland. Have you always lived in Greenland?

 I have lived in many places. I was born in Greenland, but shortly after my mom and I moved to Sweden and then Denmark when I was 5 years old. When I was 11 we moved back to Greenland to a small town called Nanortalik. After graduation I spent one year in Washington State as an exchange student. Moved back to Greenland, got a bachelor degree and moved to Paris, France and lived there for 3.5 years. After that I went back to Denmark to get my master degree in anthropology and then I moved back to Greenland and have been here since.

When did you start practicing film photography? Do you also take digital photos?

 I started when I lived in Paris. It took me a long time to figure out what I liked to photograph. But when I moved back to Greenland I discovered I loved taking landscape pictures. I don’t take digital pictures - only with my phone. It never really appealed to me.

This was such a cold day and very windy too. It was minus 20 degrees Celsius with a chill factor of minus 40 degrees Celsius. And I was quite lucky that the batteries didn’t die. I was actually surprised how the birds (a mix of ravens and seagulls) seemed to enjoy this rough weather, and the lighting of the tesla II film just adds more drama while the halo from the Daguerre Achromat art lens creates some sort of harmony or balance. Here you also see the sea smoke and snow blowing away on the mountains out in the horizon. 

What are/is your favorite camera/lens?

I think my favorite is the Olympus OM-4 because it is small and lightweight and therefore easy to have with me wherever. But I also love my Daguerre Achromat art lens a lot, but with this is, since it is rather heavy and large, I use this one with more intent.

The photo below was taken on another very cold day, using the Achromat lens and Lomochrome Turquoise film. I was out driving with a friend and I asked him to stop the car to capture this. Sometimes you have to be really quick because you never know if the batteries of your camera are going to die.

You work shows a love of experimentation. You have tried souping film as well as using a range of “specialty” films with color shifting or other altering effects. Can you tell us what makes you gravitate toward using these films to document what is already – to most of your viewers – a very unique landscape?

Yes, Greenland has a very unique landscape, but what I truly like about these “specialty” films and other experimentations is that it gives a fresh and unique view on Greenland from a native point of view. Greenland has always been documented from outsiders and rarely from ourselves. My approach is a fresh take and I would also argue a more playful take on it. I have noticed that the main narrative about the arctic is that it is a harsh and unfriendly environment, but that is very untrue for us to have lived here for millennia and thrived. I think what I am trying to do is to offer an alternative view on the arctic.

In South Greenland we get drift ice from the Northern East coast of Greenland with rather big icebergs. The drift ice is so massive you can see it from space with swirls full of eddies. It is a summer occurrence and they do bring colder air but also very fresh air since they release thousands of old captured air. 

Above left: The spots of the Revolog Volvox film give a sense something magical is going on here. For me, nature is magical. Above right: Double exposure of flowers and space. We are all made of stardust.

Readers would love to hear more about your sense of connection to place. What specific features do you most enjoy photographing in different seasons?

 In the winter it is the ice, the snow, and often the wind I have come to realize. Maybe because it is easier to capture due to the snow swirling around. Spring is really my least favorite season, but I have discovered black and white photography goes well here. Summer is all about the flowers and lakes and other greenery scenes. And the autumn is the crispy weather along with the classic autumn colours. All year is always the mountains, the sea and our sunsets/sunrise.

I woke up at 3 in the morning to take this picture. I wanted to capture the star and the mountains mirrored on the surface of the sea, but I had no idea that I would also capture the earliest sign of the dawn. Again, light leaks are simply the best.

This was taken during a time where I walked a lot. I was in a midst of a heartbreak and it seemed like the only soothing thing was walking no matter the weather. This was taken during the colder days and the glacier at the bottom of Nuuk fiord had been unusually active that winter.

What things have you noticed changing in your environment that might be related to climate change?

 That the weather has become unpredictable. Even the elders can’t recognize the seasons anymore. The temperatures are also extreme while the average temperature has become higher.  Another thing is that the precipitation has been altered in that sense that our summer and autumn has become a lot more and unusually wet with significant consequences.

 Meanwhile during winter we don’t get as much snow anymore and that is not good for our plants because when the temperature drops  the snow is not there to protect them from the harsh cold and strong winds due to the chill factor. Which leads to a bad berry season among other things. And last year we could feel and see the smoke from the forest fires from Canada and one day we could also smell it. It was a truly bizarre experience.

This is from the early autumn where the nights are cold enough for the lakes to have a thin layer of ice. This is a after a mild storm we had earlier and it had broken up the ice and blown it across the lake to the opposite shore, actually making the lake ice free again.

Film Shooters Collective would like to thank Pam for sharing just a few of her remarkable images, as well as her insights about her homeland. Please take a look at more of her work at https://instagram.com/jeanne_d_arctique and give her a follow. Stay tuned to this blog for more film photographer features!

Mattias Bergstedt : Featured Photographer

This month’s featured film photographer is Mattias Bergstedt. He lives in the countryside outside the Swedish city of Örebro. I set out to discover what drives his devotion to film photography. The following interview is lightly edited for clarity.

When did you start shooting film and why?

I started to shoot film when I was in my teens. When I was in high school between 1996 -1999 I studied photography and film. I acquired knowledge of film photography and darkroom work. From my twenties to my mid thirties I barely photographed at all. Instead I was focusing on playing music, and started a band. The music has always been what I’m most passionate about. A couple of years ago I found my old Olympus XA camera in a box in my garage. I thought it would be fun to test it out. I found some Swedish retailers that had film in stock. And then the ball was rolling. I bought more cameras and started to develop both b&w and color film. I also built a small darkroom so I can get my black and white photos on paper.

What do you love most about shooting film?

The thing I love the most about shooting film is that I have to wait for the result and that you have to take your time when shooting. I can’t go out and just throw away a couple of shots (although I do sometimes). And of course I love the feeling you get out of shooting film with the grain and everything. I know, it sounds cliché, but it seems that I can’t get the same feel or better photos with a digital camera. I think a good photo is always a good photo, but in my case it feels like the analogue workflow makes me more creative. Or maybe It’s just my mind playing me.

The images you provided show that you are equally at home shooting black and white or color. Do you have a favorite film or films of each type? Why are these favorites?

I can´t say I have a favourite film. Each film has its own characteristics and I like to use different filmstocks. With that said I always have some Ilford Delta 400 and Kodak Portra in my camera bag. So I guess you can say that I do have some favourites. When talking about color photography I haven’t found any other negative color film that beats Portra. I just love the colors you get from that film.

Do you like to shoot at random or do you plan your photo expeditions?

I like to shoot at random. I always have a camera with me wherever I go. You know the saying. “You never know when the perfect photo is coming your way”. I have some projects going on as well and for those I plan more or less. When I have time to spare I love to go on road trips alone with my cameras.

You have a good eye for action shots of skateboarding. Are you a skater yourself? What is your favorite type of skate photography – street action or skate park?

Thank you. I guess you can say I’m a skater. Nowadays I skate when I have time to spare. We are a couple of older skaters that used to meet up and skate pools, bowls and miniramps. Skateboarding is a great activity and the skate community is fantastic. Here in Örebro we have a great skate park. I tend to shoot more park skating because that’s what I usually skate myself. I’m a bad street skater. I would love to shoot more street action though.

Please share anything else you’d like our readers to know about you and your film journey.

 I’m not really seeing my film photography as a journey. It has more become my way of working with photography. In the end it´s about catching a moment, and you can do that with a digital camera as well. I really don’t know why but it feels like I’m taking better photos when I work with film. I hope I can afford to go on shooting film. The price of film is mad nowadays and I have to charge more for my photo jobs. I have plans to make some exhibitions and hope to be able to put together a photo book in the near future.

Our final selected image is really beautiful, and Mattias provided this poetic description:

Swedish summer night at its best. All the people are gone and you are sitting alone with your thoughts, watching the sun go down in the west and the moon rising.


Connect

We at FSC hope you’ve enjoyed this feature, and will take a closer look at Mattias’ work. You can follow him on Instagram . Mattias also sells some of his prints at https://printler.com/sv/print-shop/8510-mattias-bergstedt/

Angela Marlaud : Film Photographer

This feature is designed to introduce you to some of the interesting film photographers whose work we have been noticing. Each feature focuses on just one photographer and highlights their work and their relationship with film.

This month’s featured photographer is Angela Marlaud from Oakland, California. Her work is colorful and instantly interesting. She prefers to shoot with plastic or “toy” cameras because they let the photographer focus on the moment and not the mechanics. In this interview, Angela will tell you in her own words what she loves about film, and how she achieves some special effects like double exposures.

When did you start shooting film, and why?

I was born at the end of Generation X and film was the only way to take photos. There was the ritual of getting your film developed, excitedly flipping through the prints, and putting them into an album. I’m still drawn to the ritual, anticipation, and surprise that comes with film. Instagram has replaced the photo album, but it’s amazing that I can mutually share photos with so many film enthusiasts around the world.

Chinatown Birds

Do you shoot both digital and film?

I started shooting only film in August, 2022. I’ll keep going this way until it gets completely unaffordable. Digital has the obvious time/cost benefit and I’ve learned ‘never say never.’

Fire field

It appears that you’re fond of plastic “toy” cameras. Why do you like them? Do you have a favorite?

I always carry 2 toy cameras around: my Holga and Lomo LCA+. I love both for their multi exposure function. They are also cameras that I don’t have to be too precious about, which helps me be more carefree and experimental with photography.

Concrete River

Much of your work features double exposures. Do you have a specific method for creating these?

I have many methods for creating double exposures. The general rule is to layer the brighter image over the darker one. For example, I’ll take a photo of a black car and then take a photo of bright flowers so that they appear painted on the car. You can also do the film swap method of shooting an entire roll of background/textures and then reshoot the roll with your subjects. Taking the same photo at slightly different angles also makes an interesting psychedelic effect.

Where are the most common locations for you to take photos? Do you especially love particular types of places?

I love places that have been abandoned and taken over by nature and/or graffiti. Most of my photos are from my daily routine: corner stores, neighborhood walks, train stations, parks. My favorite thing about photography is that I’m always looking at my surroundings with curiosity and fresh eyes. Finding a photo op in a place I’ve been to countless times is exciting. You don’t have to go far to take great photos.

What aspect of film photography would you like to learn more about?

How to use natural light and space to improve my photos. Sometimes, I’m so focused on the object itself, that I forget the magic intangible elements can bring to a photograph.

What is your “dream photo shoot”?

My dream photo shoot would be documenting a travel adventure. I recently went on a road trip from California to Arizona and saw so many great photo ops through the car window – I’d love to do a longer American road trip with Portra and Fuji 400. Nighttime adventures in Tokyo/Shanghai/Hong Kong with Cinestill 800T is also on my wish list. Take me anywhere new with a film camera, and I’m a happy camper.

Don’t forget to head over to Angela’s Instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/fantastikplastic/ to see much more of her work and give her a follow! Thank you for being our featured photographer, Angela.