All Through a Lens: A Podcast About Film Photography

Full show notes and photos here: allthroughalens.com

On this episode of All Through a Lens we’re experimenting with a slightly new format – the Odd Episode! These are the episodes that somehow fall between our regular episodes and the Dev Party episodes.

First up is Vania who talks about her project in Santa Cruz. She’s filming on Super 8 in the damn water and shooting 120 there too. It’s for an upcoming film that she’ll tell you all about!

Here are some of her photos, which you can pick up here: https://vaniazask.com/store

We then talk about the new film Godland, directed by Hlynur Palmason. In the 1890s, Lucas, a photographer and priest with the Danish Church, is tasked with establishing a church in Iceland. Rather than taking a boat directly to his destination, he wants to travel across the island on horseback to photograph the people and the land.

It’s a slow, beautiful movie, and the bits about photography are perfectly intertwined in the film and the story. As of this recording, it is only playing in theaters.

Here are some of the random stills that we’ve gathered.

We’ve moved the zine reviews to the odd episodes!

110 By Garon Kiesel – contact him here: @grain_or_die on IG.

Monochrome Mania #9 by Mark O’Brien – Buy it here!

Thank you to everyone who supports us!

Check out our Patreon for bonus episodes, extended interviews, early drops. Tons of stuff!

patreon.com/allthroughalens

www.allthroughalens.com

Vania: IG, Flickr, Zines

Full show notes and photos here: allthroughalens.com

We are back from our long winter’s nap with a wonderful show for you. We’ll be talking with the amazing Kat Swansey (@katswanseyphoto on IG) about her new book, and then sharing with you another story of collaboration and love gone wrong with Lee Miller and Man Ray. We’ve got the answering machine question, and a bit of housekeeping, so welcome the hell back to All Through a Lens!

We first talked to Kat Swansey all the way back in episode 18. We fell in love with her straight forward depictions of small town Texas. But now she’s back with a book called Texas Textures, and we we’re excited as hell to hear what she has to say…

Her book: https://www.katswansey.com/book

Web: https://www.katswansey.com/

IG: @katswanseyphoto

And here are some of her photos:

One of the topics we’ve been exploring lately is the idea of collaboration. We examined the love between Claud Calhoun and Marcel Moore; Talked with Taylor and Kate Miller-Wilson about their water-side photos; and most recently looked at the toxic dependency between Margrethe Mather and Edward Weston.

Today, we’re entering into the intense and desperate four year relationship between Lee Miller and Man Ray. How might a self-centered, aristocratic Vogue model of 22 get along with a short, odd, working class, surrealist photographer pushing 40? As we’ll see, Lee Miller was not your average fashion icon, and Man Ray wasn’t your typical surrealist. In fact, Lee might have fit that definition far better than Man.

Lee Miller and Man Ray shot hundreds of photos together. Some of them we can even share with you.

We also referenced a few other photos by Lee and Man separately:

Thank you to everyone who supports us!

Check out our Patreon for bonus episodes, extended interviews, early drops. Tons of stuff!

patreon.com/allthroughalens

www.allthroughalens.com

Vania: IG, Flickr, Zines

allthroughalens.com

On this episode we talk a bit about the Ansel Method – What is it? Why is it? Does it work? But more importantly, while we dev, Vania tells us all about her trip up north.

Eric (@conspiracy.of.cartorgraphers on IG) shot Agfa APX25, which expired in 2003, in the greatest medium format camera ever made: the Mamiya RB67.

Here are his:

Vania (@surfmartian on IG) shot Fomapan 100 in a Pentax 67 (borrowed). And these are Vania’s taken on her recent trip!

Apparently, Ansel Adams used one particular formula in the 80s for all “modern emulsions.” This formula was Kodak HC-110 in a ratio of 1+90 for 18mins. This means that you’d use 5.5ml of developer in 500ml of water.

For agitation, do 30 seconds at first and then five seconds every three minutes. Stop and fix as normal.

This should be able to develop any normal black & white emulsion

Thank you to everyone who supports us!

Check out our Patreon for bonus episodes, extended interviews, early drops. Tons of stuff!

patreon.com/allthroughalens

www.allthroughalens.com

Vania: IG, Flickr, Zines

Full shownotes and photos here: allthroughalens.com

On this episode of Dev Party we’re developing film and talking about the ethics of photographing abandoned places (sort of, you’ll see).

Eric shot some Kodak TMax 100, expired in 1991. And because of this, we talk a bit about what we were doing that year. We’ve forgotten a lot.

Meanwhile, Vania shot some Portra 160, also through the Mamiya RB67. Vania lets slip her complete lack of memory when it comes to 90s game shows.

Eric developed his film in 510Pyro 1+100 for 11.5mins. Here are a few of his:

Vania went with C-41. And here are her shots:

Right in the middle, we play a few minutes of an interview we did with Taylor (@taylarlar on IG) and Kate Miller-Wilson (@katemillerwilson on IG) about the “ethics” of moving stuff around for a better photo when visiting abandoned places.

Thank you to everyone who supports us!

Check out our Patreon for bonus episodes, extended interviews, early drops. Tons of stuff!

patreon.com/allthroughalens

www.allthroughalens.com

Vania: IG, Flickr, Zines

While we don't have a regular episode for you because we're on a much-earned winter break, Vania and Eric are doing a bit of a check in.

This is a very scaled back, low key show with zero edits. We'll see what you think about that!

Thank you to everyone who supports us!

Check out our Patreon for bonus episodes, extended interviews, early drops. Tons of stuff!

patreon.com/allthroughalens

Music by Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers

Vania: IG, Flickr, Zines

Full show notes and photos here: allthroughalens.com

On this Dev Party - the first episode of the newest of years, Vania and Eric try some old and some new. There's also quite a bit of graveyard talk, which makes a bit of sense.

Vania developed some old ass Ilford Delta 400. It was long ago expired and absolutely looks it. Of course, she shot them while in the water, using her Pentax 645 and waterhousing. She developed it in Rodinal because why not?

Here are a few of her pics:

Eric tried out the "new" Kentemere 400 in 120 (it's new in 120, but has been in 35mm forever). He shot these with his Mamiya RB67 in a cemetery on Christmas Day. His main question was "is it Ultrafine Extreme 400? And the answer is... probably?

Here are some of his pics:

Thank you to everyone who supports us!

Check out our Patreon for bonus episodes, extended interviews, early drops. Tons of stuff!

patreon.com/allthroughalens

Music by Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers

Vania: IG, Flickr, Zines

For full show notes and photos, go here: allthroughalens.com

On this episode of Dev Party, Vania has a something to share with the class! She got her hands on a Widelux panoramic camera and refuses to give it back! She shot some TMax P3200 around town and let’s see what they look like.

Meanwhile, Eric developed the last seven sheets of expired Tri-X that he shot on his trip in July. Is 1981 too expired to work? Probably not, but let’s find out!

Here are the shots Vania devved in HC-110:

And here are Eric’s, developed in FA-1027:

Thank you to everyone who supports us!

Check out our Patreon for bonus episodes, extended interviews, early drops. Tons of stuff!

patreon.com/allthroughalens

Music by Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers

Vania: IG, Flickr, Zines

We’ve got a family show for you today! It’s just Eric and Vania for this one. And we want to tell you have Photography Changes Everything. Everything!  We also want to tell you about some projects we’ve got coming up and a camera mystery we solved. 

Luis Azarraga, a photographer from the Philippines moved to the states in 1914. After a slew of inventions, he became known for his “Camerara” – a mystery camera that could quickly and easily shoot 160-degree panoramic photographs.

Using an 18 foot tall tripod, Luis would crank the Camerama skyward, flick a switch and then lower it back down.

Arizona Highways Magazine wrote in their Jun 1956 issue:

In this episode, we dig deeper to unravel the mystery of the Camerama!

A few of his photos were featured in Arizona Highways. Here they are:

And here’s as close to the camera as he’d allow anyone to get:

Vania and Eric discuss the various ways photography has changed everything in their lives, including:

-Delayed Gratification

-To Appreciate and judge light

-Seeing everything as a composition

-Weather

-Social anxiety (both good and bad)

-To appreciate solitude

-To collaborate

Thank you to everyone who supports us!

Check out our Patreon for bonus episodes, extended interviews, early drops. Tons of stuff!

patreon.com/allthroughalens

Music by Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers

Vania: IG, Flickr, Zines

Full shownotes and photos at allthroughalens.com!

On this episode of Dev Party, we ask the musical question: Why Is Lint? We also sort of somewhat answer it!

Even though you didn’t specifically ask for it, we’re giving out unsolicited advice on how to deal with lint!

Meanwhile, Vania @surfmartian developed some Fuji Acros in HC-110. She shot it in some Leica she’s borrowing. Eric @conspiracy.of.cartographers, however, developed the old standby: Fomapan 100 in FA-1027!

Here are a few of Vania’s shots:

And here are a few of Eric’s:

Thank you to everyone who supports us!

Check out our Patreon for bonus episodes, extended interviews, early drops. Tons of stuff!

patreon.com/allthroughalens

Vania: IG, Flickr, Zines

All Through a Lens: IG, Website, Patreon, Spotify Playlists

For full show notes and photos, head here: allthroughalens.com

We’re talking to Travis Cannady (@travis_cannady on IG), photographer and publisher of Better Off Zine. For our main feature, we’ll tell you the story of the nearly-forgotten, yet wildly influential Margretha Mather (@betteroffzine). And that means we’ll have to talk about Edward Weston too, so… apologizes all around. We’ve also a zine review and maybe even the answering machine. 

Along with being a film photographer and lab technician, our guest today, Travis Cannady is a zine maker. He creates and publishes his own, but he also does something pretty remarkable. He puts out a zine called Better Off. Each issue, the entire zine is dedicated to a single photographer. It’s the zine equivalent of a solo-show. Or really, it’s how some early photography periodicals used to do things. We’ve got him here, so let’s talk his ear off.

IG: @travis_cannady

IG: @betteroffzine

Web: traviscannady.com

Buy Better Off Zine: betteroffzine.com

Here are some of his photos:

The story of Margrethe Mather is not a simple story to tell. She was not a simple woman, nor a simple photographer. She was an anarchist in every sense of the word and held neither gods nor masters above her. Though wildly creative, she had little ambition for self-promotion, once telling Edward Weston, to leave her unremembered, to “pretend that I didn’t exist.”

In biographies of Edward Weston prior to the 1980s, if she is mentioned at all, Margrethe Mather is hardly more than a footnote. She was thought of as a woman, often naked, who posed for the great Edward Weston. The story of the two of them together had been consumed into his story alone. And it is our job to separate them. But that is no easy task.

However, by Imogen Cunningham’s reckoning, “in artistic matters Margrethe was, of course, the teacher. Edward, the pupil.” Margrethe’s influence upon Weston can hardly be overstated. He followed her lead, and sometimes flat out copied her style.

They were friends, companions, lovers, collaborators and ultimately estranged. Their relationship was in many ways mutually toxic. But since humans are always complicated, it was also mutually essential to their growth as artists.

Here are some of Margrethe’s photos:

And here are some of Weston’s photos taken of and with Margrethe:

The Center for Creative Photography issue we reference is available here: https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/641064

You can borrow Artful Lives by Beth Gates Warren online here: https://archive.org/details/artfullivesedwar0000warr/page/n7/mode/2up

We also recommend: Margrethe Mather & Edward Weston; A Passionate Collaboration also by Beth Gates Warren.

There are no other books about Margrethe Mather. There are a shit ton of books about Edward Weston.

Fool Me Once, Fool You Twice by Tee Ferguson

This is highly saturated, full color, 88 page perfect bound zine made up entirely of double exposures, all of which happened in-camera. She’d shoot an entire roll, re-roll it and shoot it again. This allowed for happenstance and serendipity to work their magic. 

IG: @tee.ferguson

Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/teeonfilm

Thank you to everyone who supports us!

Check out our Patreon for bonus episodes, extended interviews, early drops. Tons of stuff!

patreon.com/allthroughalens

Music by Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers

Vania: IG, Flickr, Zines

All Through a Lens: IG, Website, Patreon, Spotify Playlists