Photography Chat with Merlin

It might be time to check out the mid-west again. Hanging with @ryan_akerberg this evening was a lot of fun. We talked about what got him started, turned out we have a common thread in our photographic inspirations. We got into some pretty deep stuff, it was nice getting to know Ryan more and hear about how he see’s the world. Hopefully this fall we will be able to catch up at PolaCon in Denton. Thanks Ryan for being good people in this crazy world.

“A little about me

I was born in Iowa before escaping to the west for about 22 years. Recently I found myself back in the midwest. Even though the places in my life have changed over time, the way I see these places remain constant. I am lucky in the fact that I get to look back on those different places and that consistent way of seeing through my love of photography.

I shoot with film.”

Follow Ryan at https://www.instagram.com/ryan_akerberg/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/

It was nice to finally chat with @minwoo.films we’ve been trying to get together since I moved down to the lower mainland in 2021. He’s freshly graduated and getting to work on his career in the film industry but he is still making time for film photography. We talked about road tripping, the amazing food options in Vancouver, aspects of Korea, and how awesome it is to drive a car in Langley. Looking forward to catching up with Min Woo in person one of these days.

“Here is some info for a blurb:

First name: Min

Last name: Lee

I'm a recent grad, working in docu-series and commercial production as an AC/DIT/CamOp/Stills photographer

Also working freelance as a TD for multi-cam productions

Local BC kid, shoots a bit of film! Loves feature/documentary/“

Follow Min Woo Lee at https://www.instagram.com/minwoo.films/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/

Melissa was such a fun guest, she was born into photography as her father was a photographer and got her started early. She does rad street photography and is also an accomplished boudoir photographer. It was really cool to her about her practice and how she interacts with her clients. We went on a bit of a tangent on the amazing food to be had in Toronto and how many cool places there are to shoot. Then we got into a vigorous conversation covering various social issues. It’s nice to know people like Melissa exist out in the world. Hopefully, we can all show each other more respect and understanding before shit really pops off.

“Mel’s love of photography all started with a Hanimex 110, the first hand me down camera from her father. As the daughter of a professional photographer, she reaped the benefits of a home studio and darkroom. Shooting mostly film until recent years, she focuses on street photography, boudoir, and being a professional portrait photographer(and hype man) for her cat.

You can catch her on the streets of Toronto, risking getting squished by a streetcar to get the shot(or taking pictures of butts🍑)”

Follow Melissa at https://www.instagram.com/lunamothphoto/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/

A big thank you to Henri for inviting us into his space and sharing his stories. He talked about how he got started with photography and we dove into a few of his man books. He talked about Flapjacks & Photographs, Canada’s Gigantic, Big Stories, Babyland, and Eraser Street. He also showed us his postcard set for the Pancanadienne Gianthropological Survey which was 18 postcards from 1973 to 1984. We talked a little bit about his time as a teacher and stories about some of the greats out there like Robert Frank and Fred Herzog. Big thanks to @bigheadtaco for connecting us. Thank you for tuning it, hope you had as much fun as we did.

“Henri Robideau is a photographer and cultural narrator whose practice is grounded in history and animated by the social dynamics of our times. His lifelong involvement in photography incorporates more than fifty years of teaching, professional production for many of Canada’s leading artists and personal art creation incorporating photographic imagery and handwritten narrative text.”

Check out Henri at http://henrirobideau.ca/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/

Chatting with @andyo7 tonight made me really miss Denton. Can’t wait to make it down this September for the next @instantfilmsociety PolaCon. Andy share with us his inception story into the photo world involving his father Minolta and he shared with us a few of his cameras. We got off into a tangent about microphones and then ride-sharing apps before we circled back into the realm of photo chats. He talked to us about some of the promo photos he shared and where they came from and then we got into some of the reasons why PolaCon is such a rad event. If you’re looking for something to do this fall you should check out PolaCon and maybe we’ll see you in Denton.

"What started out as a general curiosity has morphed into an outright obsession. I began playing around with instant film 4-5 years ago after Denton Camera Exchange opened and Daniel Rodrigue and Justin Goode gave an afternoon talk at a Denton music and culture festival I was volunteering with. Now, I have almost a dozen cameras and a dedicated film fridge. Now it feels weird to leave the house without a camera. I hope one day to actually be good at this stuff.”

Follow Andy at https://www.instagram.com/andyo7/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/

Technical difficulties aside it was rad chatting it out with @nicolemarsden13 tonight. She has such an incredible eye for capturing abandoned places and her style with predominantly expired film lends to creating photos with lots of emotion. She shared with us some of her other creative outlets such as music, sewing, and candle making. If you’re looking for some cool candles check out her Etsy Foxy Empress Potions. She also hinted that a book may be in the works, which many of us are 100% down for. Keep an eye on Nicole, she's going to be making some pretty rad shit!

“Nicole Marsden is an analog photographer from Toronto. Her style is grungy with a focus on urbex, spirituality, and anything expired.”

Follow Nicole at https://www.instagram.com/nicolemarsden13/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/

It was rad to get to know @cactuskillerr a bit more tonight. Kris has been working on building up the @lonestardarkroom in Dallas Texas and also has a budding tattoo practice that you can find out more about on her profile. We talked about the joys of the dark room, what is art and she shared with us some of her camera collection. If you are in the DFW be sure to stop by and say hi to her.

“Kris Wright is an interdisciplinary artist from Dallas, Texas. They work as a tattoo artist, specializing in illustrative line work tattoos, and own Lone Star Darkroom, a community darkroom in the design district of Dallas that offers film developing and darkroom rentals.”

Follow Kristin at https://www.instagram.com/cactuskillerr/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/

Back in the before times, Alicia the proprietor of @queensshophair hosted my first solo exhibition and release of my first book. With the pandemic easing, she has started gallery programming in her space and invited me back. This time I figured it would be more fun to put together an exhibition with a few of my favorite degenerates in Toronto. Debased Depraved Degenerates features the work of Becca, Leslie, David, and myself. The exhibit will run till the end of June at Queens Shop and all of the photos are available to purchase. There will also be a book coming soon showcasing all of the work. I thought it might be fun to do a quick special episode during the opening so here it is :)

Check out Becca at https://www.instagram.com/becccashootsfilm/

Check out Leslie at https://www.instagram.com/frontoparietal/

Check out David at https://www.instagram.com/filmstreeter/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/

We got weird on this episode and it was a lot of fun. @octaviasharpphotography shared a bit about how she got started with photography and then we got into life stuff. We talked about food quite a bit, different kinds of foods, fav foods, and what food looks like on the other side. We talked about the hilarity of kids swearing. We got into ghosts and aliens and politics. Peppered in the mix we talked about camera and film. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much in an episode before. I hope you have as much fun listening as we did making this episode :)

“Octavia Sharp started taking pictures at the age of 15 with a Pentax K1000 cutting her teeth as a photographer on the high school newspaper. She went on to study photography at Atlanta College of Art, then after three years working in a local lab in Atlanta, went back to school to gain her MFA (again in photography) at the University of Memphis from 1997-2000. Since then photography has fluttered in and out of her life, sometimes taking a backseat to daily life and various fleeting interests. Then in 2020 came the pandemic. Desperately needing to find some sort of joy within all the craziness, she decided it was time to dust off her trusty Hasselblad and get back to seeking solitude in a project started many moons ago, the interiors of mausoleums.”

Follow Sara at https://www.instagram.com/octaviasharpphotography/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/

All hail West Texas :) It was so nice to reconnect with @sarabutton who joined us from Marfa Texas while hanging out in her newest venture the @marfafilmshop before she headed out for an Instax Photowalk. Sara has had a long history with film photography so it makes a lot of sense that she has launched a film shop. Sara shared with us how she got started and some of the adventures that she had since she started shooting in the mid-’90s. We got a little silly at the end with some TV jingles and talked about hopefully getting together at PolaCon later this fall. If you ever need film and film accessories and you’re in Marfa hit up Sara. Thanks for hanging out everyone.

“Sara Button is a photographer living in Marfa, Texas. She started & runs the local camera shop, Marfa Film Shop, which is housed in a cute micro adobe on San Antonio Street. The film shop provides a large variety of different film, cameras, film equipment, and more to people living in or traveling through Far West Texas.”

Follow Sara at https://www.instagram.com/sarabutton/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/