The Cámara Galletita, or Cracker Cam, is a homemade pinhole camera where the image-forming element is a cracker – yes, the flat, dry baked food, also called ‘biscuit’ in many English-speaking countries. I made it as part of the #CamaraGalletitaChallenge on Instagram – a tribute to Italian artist Paolo Gioli, who made such a camera in the 1980s.

If you’re not familiar with pinhole cameras, here’s a very brief introduction. A pinhole camera forms images not with a lens, but with a tiny hole. It can be fashioned from pretty much any light-tight container. Rays of light enter through the pinhole and form an inverted image inside the camera. That image can then be recorded on light-sensitive film, paper or even a digital sensor.

Crackers have multiple holes, so the Cracker Cam is typically a multi-pinhole camera. Each hole projects a separate image. Depending on the spacing of the holes, the distance from the cracker to the film plane and various other factors, the images may or may not overlap.

Origin of the Cámara Galletita Challenge

I got into pinhole photography two years ago, and since then I’ve made a variety of pinhole cameras from household waste such as cardboard boxes, cake tins and plastic containers for 35mm film.

Most photographers use pinholes created specifically for cameras. For example, I usually cut a piece of aluminum from a soda-can and pierce it with a needle. ‘Good’ pinholes – small, round holes made on a thin substrate – make sharper pictures. Some people even buy precision pinholes drilled with lasers.

Paolo Gioli (1942–2022), an Italian artist and experimental filmmaker, was fascinated by ‘naturally occurring’ pinholes. Gioli made cameras from a variety of objects including buttons, needle-eyes, pepper-shakers and even ant-holes. In the early 1980s, he made the Camera Crackerstenopeica (‘stenopeica’ being the Italian word for pinhole).

[Image sources: Pinhole diagram from Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Still from Laboratorio Gioli (2013), short film by Bruno Di Marino. Pinhole Photography (2008), book by Eric Renner.]

I came to know of Gioli and his work only recently, via Instagram and the Cámara Galletita Challenge. The idea for this challenge originated in 2021, at photography workshops conducted by Sol Mendoza and Daniel Tubio in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

At one of their workshops, Sol and Daniel talked about Paolo Gioli’s experimental creations. In the following class, one of their students – Ana Lourdes Hernández Flores, a multi disciplinary artist from Mexico – presented her own cracker camera and photos inspired by Gioli’s work. Thus, as Sol recounted to me, ‘between experiments and jokes, the idea of the idea of the challenge took form.’

Ana posted her images with the #CamaraGalletitaChallenge hashtag last July. Sol and Daniel planned to publicize the challenge more widely this year, and encourage more people to join in. Unfortunately, Gioli passed away on January 28, so the challenge became a tribute in his memory.

Ana and Daniel’s images

Cámara Galletita is not an individual project but a community effort, so before talking about my own camera, I’d like to show Ana and Daniel’s images which came before (many thanks to them, for letting me share!).

Ana’s camera used Honey Graham crackers with 44 pinholes. The self-portraits were exposed for 45–60 secs (outdoors), and the doll for 93 secs (indoors). The third photo shows her camera made from a box, with a paper negative inside.

Paper negatives are popular with a lot of pinhole photographers, myself included. But a word of explanation may be useful for those who are not familiar with the idea. Enlarging paper, being light-sensitive, can be used like film. It is slow (typically around ISO 3–10), but if you’re using a pinhole camera, speed is probably not a priority anyway. The resulting image is a ‘paper negative’ – light areas appear dark, and vice versa. The paper negative can be contact-printed to get a positive print, or scanned and inverted with software.

Daniel’s image is titled ‘Mate con Bizcochito’ (mate is a tea-like beverage, very popular in Argentina; bizcochito is a salty cracker, frequently eaten with mate, which Daniel used for the pinholes). He made his camera from a cardboard box that came with a 100-feet bulk roll of Ilford HP5 film. The photo was a 15-second exposure in natural light from his studio window (the third photo shows the setup), also using a paper negative.

Making my Cracker Cam

My own Cracker Cam was made from a cardboard box that came in the post. The box is bigger than the 10×10cm paper I planned to use. I generally use smaller containers as they are easier to make lightproof and carry around, but in this case I just used the first box that I could find. In fact it’s a pretty slapdash build in general, because it’s not a camera that I plan to use regularly. I made it mainly for this challenge, and I will recycle it soon.

I painted the inside black with watercolor and a thick brush. On one side, I cut a rectangle for the pinhole. On the opposite side, I pasted a strip of paper as a guideline. When I ‘load’ paper in the darkroom, the strip acts as a reference, helping me align the paper so that it’s roughly centered. I’ve made other pinhole cameras with a paper holder, which is more convenient for repeated use. But with the Cracker Cam, I simply tape the paper to the inner wall.

The ‘focal length’ of my camera (distance from pinhole to paper) is about 8 cm. The box I used is a bit frayed and not very lightproof. So after loading, I wrap it in a red plastic bag, which seems to work well enough (photo paper can’t ‘see’ red light, so red is almost as good as black).

I generally make a proper cardboard shutter, but I didn’t make one for the Cracker Cam. Instead, I manually cover the pinholes with the Nikon lens cap shown in the photo. (Anything can serve as a shutter as long as it blocks light, but I thought it would be amusing to use an actual lens cap.) I remove the cap to make an exposure, and cover it again to end it.

Finally, I had to choose a cracker. We had three varieties at home. The small square cracker (McVitie’s 5-Grain) has rather large holes, which would make for blurry images. The large square one (Britannia NutriChoice) has weird elongated holes – it’s like cracker companies spare no thought at all for pinhole photographers. Anyhow, I went for the round cracker (Britannia Marie Gold) which has small, round holes.

Using my Cracker Cam

I built the camera in about one hour on a Saturday evening. I wanted to test it as soon as possible, so in the absence of daylight, I decided to use flash. Next question: how much exposure would I need? There are various ways to determine the effective aperture of a pinhole, which I’ve described in another article. But for the Cracker Cam, I just decided to use trial-and-error.

I set up the camera and my model, a Japanese doll, in a dimly-lit room (the behind-the-scenes photo was taken next morning, which is why it looks brighter). For illumination, I used a Rollei E15B flash, fired 8 times at close range.

I popped into my darkroom and developed the paper negative immediately (instant feedback, almost like using a digital camera!) The resulting image showed me that the camera was too high and too far, and also that I had underexposed. For my next attempt I repositioned the camera, and fired the flash 17 times. This produced an image I was satisfied with.

The photo of the Buddha figurine was taken the day after, in daylight. I used a 30-second exposure, with a dark cloth serving as a (partial) backdrop.

Final thoughts

If you are intrigued by the Cracker Cam, I would encourage you to try and make one (and to share your images with the #CamaraGalletitaChallenge hashtag). You can think of it as a community activity, a craft project or a science experiment, but it’s also artistically rewarding. Equally or perhaps more importantly, it’s a lot of fun.

The materials for a Cracker Cam can be found in almost any household (you can even bake the cracker yourself). For loading and developing, it’s probably easiest if you have access to a darkroom. But a very basic, makeshift darkroom will do – like a bathroom or closet. Nor do you need bulky, expensive equipment such as enlargers. You don’t even need trays; small paper negatives like mine can be developed in a jug.

Without a darkroom, a Cracker Cam might prove challenging, but you can still try other forms of pinhole photography, both film and digital. If you’re not sure where to start or have questions, just leave a comment and I’ll try my best to answer. Pinhole photography has given me endless enjoyment, so I love to see more people getting into it.

Evidently, pinhole cameras are not designed for sharp, technically perfect images; a Cracker Cam even less so. But as Henry Carroll says in one of his books, there are ‘human qualities that are hard to express through photography if everything is correct.’ The problem, he says, is that ‘cameras are perfectionists.’

For some photographers, such perfection is worth aspiring to. I myself have written reviews of superlative lenses and high-definition films. But not everything is about perfection. Sometimes, on an idle weekend, you want to sit down with some cardboard, scissors and tape. You want to make your own camera – imperfect, inconvenient, yet somehow still functional. At its heart, photography is simple; photography is fun. Sometimes, you want a Cracker Cam.

Want your own Cracker Camera? Go to the Grocery Store

Want a boring regular camera? Find one at F Stop Cameras

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Enjoy!

Talya Adams

Thank you for taking the time to chat with me! Could you start us off by giving us a brief introduction to yourself?

Talya Adams, I am currently an LA-based writer/photographer, living in KoreaTown, which has been a town I have been documenting since the pandemic. It’s always interesting, every single day! I’m originally from Florida. I moved out here to pursue the Arts, and I continue to do so everyday.

What specifically got you into film photography and what keeps you shooting it?

It’s a journey. In 2016 I went to Mexico for my birthday with some friends. One of my friends, who is a director and really good at photography, took photos while we were down there. Mine looked like crap while hers looked really good! I didn’t understand what was happening. And she told me about this photography class she had to take at NYU, and what she learned. So then I got some books and started learning.

At the time I was working at a film school, so I had access to digital cameras but I could only check them out for so long. I also had a friend whose parents had given him a digital camera which he never used, so I would always borrow it. Then one sad day, I went to Venice and fell into the ocean. Never stand on rocks! I got his camera all messed up, so I wanted to fix it before he found out because I felt so responsible. So I took it to a camera shop in downtown LA. I ended up just talking to some of the workers there. One of the guys was an editorial photographer and he asked me “why are you shooting digital?” I just said “well, cause that’s what I have!” He said “That’s so boring! Everyone shoots digital. It doesn’t really matter what kind of camera you have because you can mimic anything in post production. You should get into film.”

Man, I didn’t know anything about that. But the cameras are cheaper and easier to get into. So I went to a thrift store and found a camera for $7. It was a Rollei 35S. I was so ecstatic. I took it to the camera shop and asked them if it worked. They checked it out and confirmed it worked. I don’t think I even had it a week. I took it to work to show my coworkers. One of them wound it too tight and broke the advance! And because the 35S is made out of plastic, it couldn’t be fixed. So I went back to the camera shop and asked them to help me. And they told me there wasn’t anything that could be done. I was so sad. I hadn’t even finished a roll in it. But they had a Rollei 35B which is metal. He pulls it out and asks me, “how much can you give me for this camera?” I don’t even know how much this stuff costs, and I didn’t want to insult them. He just said, “Make me an offer!” So I asked to give them $40 and he said “It’s your camera. Don’t let anyone else touch your camera.” I still have that Rollei 35B and that’s how I got started. 

That’s amazing! Do you think that’s a bit of camera karma seeing as you broke your friend’s camera and then your camera gets broken by someone else?

It’s true! I couldn’t even be that mad! It’s so devastating especially since I spent so much money to fix my friend’s camera since it had saltwater damage. Yeah, it makes sense. And then because I found that camera thrifting it really got me into thrifting cameras. I think for a year afterwards I was thrifting heavy. I think I had something like five or six Canon AE-1’s [read our review here]. That was my first SLR camera.

We have some really good flea markets and thrift stores in the Greater Los Angeles Area. I would just take a day, call up all the places and ask, “What do you got??” And most places don’t know what they have when you’re talking about cameras. I would have to ask, “Does it take batteries? Does it take film?” and often they’d say “Oh, we have some really old ones!” So I’d go to all these different places and get these great hauls. Resell them and along the way, I’d use them and learn them. So, that’s really what kickstarted me. Every camera I picked out, there was something new and interesting about it. I just fell in love with it.

I feel like it’s a very similar story for me too! I randomly found a Canon AE-1 at the thrift store one day. And just like that I got addicted to thrifting cameras. It was just so fascinating to learn about different cameras!

Thank god it got so expensive, or else I’d have a lot more! Today you go to a thrift store around here and cameras are $100, but it’s broken and the sales people will just say “That’s how much it costs!” Now I end up leaving way more than I pick up.

Yeah the stores are catching on! So what would you say in all these thrifting adventures, what was the coolest find?

I’m gonna say it wasn’t a thrift store, it was a guy doing a garage sale.

He lived in Beverly Hills and he was selling off some cameras. I used to have to work on Fridays and Saturdays, so I could never really get into garage sales, so I often had to call people ahead of time and try to get in on a Thursday morning before I had to go to work. So I called him up, told him my situation and he invited me to come on by. I drove out there to his house (of course it was a nice house). I walked in through the kitchen to his huge den. He had this massive table and it had film cameras all over it.

I remember being so overwhelmed, thinking “Oh, I didn’t bring enough money!” I used to give myself a $40 budget so I could make a profit. He had literally every brand, and said he had been shooting for over 40 years. I think I picked up two Canon AE-1’s with the cases, which he was selling for super cheap like $10. Also a Nikon FG which was a mistake [see our review here]! I should have Googled while I was there. He also had some Nikon FM’s [see our review here] and FE’s [see our review here]. But I just didn’t have the knowledge at that point. But that was definitely the one that caught me the most off guard. It was like a dream come true. If that happened today, I would absolutely kill it.

Now that you’ve found film, what is about film photography that makes you want to keep shooting it?

I think it’s the process, I feel more engaged when I’m shooting film. Each shot needs a little bit more. I know that I’m going to get an image that probably won’t be as easily replicated as it would be if I were shooting digital. It’s funny because just last month I decided to start shooting both film and digital as I build out my portfolio because I went on a paid gig recently. I talked with the Creative Director and told him I shoot film. He said that’s fantastic! I ended up giving him a variety of shots, wide, medium, and close ups of the subject. He did an extreme crop of my wide shot and then he said “You know, it’s not as sharp as I would like it!” And I was said, “Sir! We’re dealing with grain, not pixels here. You just can’t do things like that. It felt like violence against my work!”

I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t just use the close up of the subject. But it turned out it was because there was a computer in the wide shot he liked, that was the only reason. It was painful. So I decided, from now on I’m just going to shoot both, just in case. As I’ve been doing it and comparing the two I find that I do still prefer the finished images that are on film. And what I’m doing is I edit my digital photos to look like the film shots. I feel much more satisfied with that. The finished photos still feel like mine. 

I’m the same way, when I do digital I’m often trying to replicate my film style. 

Yeah, when it’s just for me, I’m just shooting film. When I’m walking around, or shooting when I travel it’s just film. But if it’s for the portfolio or a paid gig, I do both just to be sure.

So at what point in your photography journey did you start doing portraits?

I feel like I started with friends. People always say to start with friends because they’ll be the most patient with you. So it started, I used to go to the camera shop a lot (well still do). I’d go there so frequently because I had so many questions, and they knew all the answers! And one of the guys I became friends with, his name is Henry and he was a working photographer. He said he used to mentor students, so I asked him to give me a shot, an assignment. He actually assigned me to go shoot some people; he gave me my first portrait assignment. So I shot three of my friends and two coworkers. And that’s how I got started shooting people, shooting people that I knew.

It was a bit easier for me in the sense that I know a lot of actors and models, people who have profiles so there’s a lot of people who always need pictures. I literally did a shoot with my friend so she could put the photos on her Tinder! She has a boyfriend today though, so I totally take credit for that. As I got more comfortable, walking around, I gravitated towards Venice Beach. I’m drawn to certain scenes and people, and I’d work up my confidence to go up to strangers, start a conversation. Take pictures of them and people I didn’t know, to find things that were unique and interesting. 

That’s awesome! As you mentioned before we got started, you are now starting to explore this as a career. So what are your long range goals with portrait photography?

Long term goals. Man, I don’t do that right now! Only because COVID really messed me up.

That’s true! 2020 really laughed at all our goals.

Yeah I had plans for 2020, and I can tell you not one happened. I still find making long term goals difficult to this day because it feels like at any moment something might change. So right now my goals for the end of September is that my portfolio should be fully flushed out. My website should be updated. I have shoots scheduled through the end of September. By then I plan to start submitting to different magazines and publications and reaching out to people, so that they are aware of me and I can start building up relationships. That’s what I can see for right now!

So I noticed when looking at your portrait work, I love that you are often shooting outside in natural light. How did that preference come to be? Why do you prefer shooting outside rather than in a studio?

That’s funny. On my YouTube channel I’ve started a series, where I’ve been shooting in-studio stuff more because I don’t do it. I need to be a little more well rounded and it’s been such a struggle. I guess the biggest reason why I shoot outside, is because I love the way the California sun is here. I really love summer light because starting at like 5AM to 8:30AM it’s gorgeous. It’s super super vibrant and the way skin interacts with this light, it’s beautiful to me. And just being outside, whether I’m hiking or I’m at the beach or downtown, and the light is being cut and reflected off of glass and buildings I love the way it interacts with people. So I think just me paying attention when I’m out in the community really makes me want to go outside shooting, I want to go out anyway. If I can bring someone with me, it’s even better because that’s really just what makes me happy.

I’m a very active person. When I started this journey of working on my portfolio, I reached out to a photographer I know and they gave me some great advice, “look at the agencies, look at the photos that they have on their websites and make sure the photos you show them are on par.” I ended up reaching out to another photographer I know who does a lot of editorial work, like Time, Vogue, stuff like that. We had coffee and she literally gave me all the steps of what I should do and then had me come out to a photo shoot and assist so I could get the experience. The most important thing she told was, “Shoot like YOU. Don’t shoot like anyone else. Don’t try to shoot in a way like you’ve seen in magazines.”

So as I’ve been doing my in-studio work it has been a struggle. Sometimes when you’re finding studios to book, they totally lie. They’ll claim they get great sunlight but when you go at the advertised best time with clear skies you find there is no sun in the studio. Barely a sliver of sunlight on the wall. And the lights they give you aren’t always that great. So ultimately you’re spending A LOT of money for the good studios, and I’m on a budget. I’ve been having to do a lot of trouble shooting, creative fixes. So far with the studios I’ve used, it’s just made me realize I prefer sunlight, so much more than being in-studio.

I talked to a technician while I was on set for a magazine shoot. We really broke down the lighting. I wanted to get an understanding of how we were creating this sunlight look. He broke down constant light vs. flash photography vs. sunlight, expectations, and what’s possible and what’s not, and what you need to have for these things to happen. For where I am right now, I think it’s best if I stick to sunlight. I don’t have a car, I ride a motorcycle. It’s LA. I don’t want to sit on the 405 and just hate my life. I’d rather zip through traffic and get there on time. So until that changes I don’t think I’m going to go out and buy a professional flash kit because I have no way to haul it, and I have all this sunlight so I want to take advantage of it. 

I think that’s a testament to minimalism and how artists can create so much with minimal gear.

I think a lot of this just comes down to studying light. When I was getting more into portraiture, I studied a lot of photographers that utilize a lot of light. That really helped me as well. There was one I gravitated towards. She was British, Jane Bown. She worked for a news publication. She was known for shooting on an Olympus OM-1 [see our review here] with an 85mm lens, and using natural light. She would find light. If she was in an awful room or something, she would find a lamp, take the shade off, bounce it off a wall, position the person where the light was falling. She has these iconic portraits of celebrities, politicians, all kinds of people using that OM-1 camera and natural light and just figuring it out. I decided, if I could figure out light and how it works and light people properly then I can make some pretty good images. I just try to do my best to find the light. 

Since you’ve mentioned YouTube, that’s actually how I first discovered you! Could you tell us a little bit about how your YouTube channel came to be?

Like I mentioned, I moved out here for the arts. I came to California to finish my higher education in screenwriting. When you go to film school they don’t want you to just have one specialty, they want you to be well rounded. So I had to take editing classes, production classes. Because of that I was in a New Media class which was basically about anything online. One of our projects was to write a web episode. I did and I really liked the storyline so I continued to do about seven episodes of that. I put them on YouTube. I entered them in some festivals and won some stuff but I couldn’t keep that up. It took too long, and the turnaround was so slow. So I was wondering what I could do to still be uploading and creating content, keeping my tools as sharp as possible.

Once I fell into photography I had another Instagram page called the Narrative Nook. I would write out stories and then take stills of the scenes to go along with the prose. I would do little behind the scenes video clips so I decided to put that on my YouTube channel. It started getting tougher and tougher to coordinate with people to keep the stories going. At the same time I was shooting photography more and more, and thought I could take people along with me so they can learn as I’m learning. When I started it I had really only been doing photography for a little over a year, so I was still pretty green. In that space there was no one who looked like me who was doing this. And no one was sharing the experiences I was having. I still feel like to this day I’m one of the only people who share all of my fails. I’m a trial and error kind of person. So that’s how I got started. I just thought, I’ll just share what I’m going through and along the way get some tips from people who know more than me.

I love that you do share everything, even the mistakes!

Well that’s what happens! I don’t have a guru that follows me around. 

Yeah and that’s how you learn! You don’t learn if you don’t make mistakes.

Exactly and I think it’s important to show people that. It’s fine to make mistakes. If you’re not making mistakes then you’re not pushing yourself and you’re not learning. If everything is just always perfect, then you’re not advancing. That’s why I try to normalize it on my channel, because this stuff happens no matter what level you’re at.

The other thing I love about your channel is the variety of videos that you create, whether it’s a camera review, a head to head comparison, or behind the scenes of a photo shoot. How do you find inspiration for your videos and how do you decide what video you want to create next?

It’s very organic, tailor made to what’s happening in my life. If someone asks me if I want to try out a camera, I’m like heck yeah! I have a friend that owns a camera shop so I have access to try out a lot of new cameras and I have another friend who owns over 100 cameras that I can use too. So for me it’s very organic, just trying cameras out for the first time. And if I’m doing a shoot, I’ll show the behind the scenes because it’s fun. The head to head video came about because I was looking for a 645 camera and didn’t know which one to go with. I had two friends who had the Mamiya [see our review here] and the Pentax [see our review here], and I figured the best way to decide is to do a head to head cause you can only do so much research online. It’s a good starting place but ultimately I need to see how they’re going to work with my workflow, so that’s where that video came from.

But what’s funny is I didn’t end up getting either of those cameras! They were great cameras but neither spoke to me or felt like my camera. I think that’s something a lot of people ignore when buying cameras. They just think, oh my favorite photographer shoots this camera, so I NEED this camera. They force it on themselves. But I don’t do that anymore. When I first started everyone wanted an AE-1. I got several but I could never fall in love with it. It never got me super hyped to shoot it and I was never over the moon with the results.

Utilizing different cameras and not being a brand groupie is more conducive to you as an artist. You can’t treat these cameras like they’re the holy grail. They’re just tools. You’re the artist. They have to work for you. So I think it’s good to try out different tools and see if they fit you. So that’s how my style came about on my channel. Just trying different cameras, seeing if they work for me, telling people about these cameras. Also I wanted to show people the money behind photography, because photography can be expensive but you can get into it relatively cheaply and still produce quality images while you’re learning and working your way up. So I made a lot of videos that showed people how to go about doing these things and not get overwhelmed trying to keep up with other photographers. So that’s what I try to do on my channel. Get people excited, help them get their foot in the door.

When I first discovered your channel last year you were in the middle of doing a social media detox for a full year. What did you feel were the benefits of taking that year long break and what do you feel are social media’s effects on the film photography community, for good or bad?

I’ve had a lot of time to think about this! I took my break because I felt like there was too much noise in my life. I’m a creative that is very intuitive, and I need clarity to be able to create. I’ve been working on a novel for three years. I was getting really frustrated. I was on my fourth or fifth draft. Unfortunately I’m a perfectionist so I know where it really needs to be for me to be satisfied. I reached out to one of my mentors, I asked her about how it was taking me so long and how I was having a hard time sitting down and hearing my characters’ voices. She told me that every artist’s process is different. Every artist’s path is different. She mentioned she had been working on a book for five years which made me feel better but I still like to put myself on deadlines so I feel like I’m progressing.

My writing is very important to me. And that clarity is very important to me. So I needed less noise in 2020. I also knew we were entering the election year and I didn’t want to hear any of it since I was already tired of all the noise leading up to it in 2019. I thought it was bringing the worst out of people. I just needed quiet. I wanted to read books. I wanted to learn from people who had lived longer lives than me and had more experiences than I did. So that’s pretty much what I did during my social media break in 2020. I read about 70+ books. I studied a lot. I took some workshops. I learned how to copyright through a workshop. I took an online business class. I was just really trying to become more well rounded. I got a lot of photography books. Looked more into artists I really like. I studied light. I walked around outside. Took photos. I meditated. Just tried to get really quiet so I could hear my voice across my arts, and not be influenced.

I think often as people we don’t realize how much we let outside forces influence the art that we produce. I listened to this podcast called Entrepreneurs on Fire, and they had this guest who had this fantastic quote, “How can we be creators when we’re always consuming?” That really resonated. We’re consuming daily. You go on Instagram, you’re consuming other people’s content. You go on Twitter and you’re consuming other people’s words and viewpoints. Go to the news you’re consuming whatever side that news organization represents. You’re always consuming. How often do people just sit with themselves and journal or meditate or ask themselves questions? I didn’t want to be afraid of stillness.

For some people, being off social media for a year was incredibly frustrating because I couldn’t talk about pop culture, memes, or television. I couldn’t engage on those levels but I could engage on different levels and I could get people to talk about things they’ve never thought about talking about before because it’s not a part of their normal consumption. I feel like social media forced people to actually call me and have conversations. A lot of people don’t call people anymore, they just message on social media. And that’s cool, but it’s not very personal or as intimate as calling them and asking how they are. I feel like those connections are being lost which is funny since social media was created to connect people.

I feel like my year off social media got me to reconnect with people and got me more excited about shooting people. It was an interesting year. I definitely grew and changed in that year. The biggest thing I learned was how important communication and connection is, and finding your voice and filtering the amount of noise in your life.

You’re a very artistic person. Outside of shooting film you’re also a writer and went to film school. What do you do to nourish your artistic soul?

I like to go to museums. I’m a big museum fan! And luckily LA has a lot of museums, and a lot of them have free days. I also like hiking and being out in nature, I’m big on that. Like a good hike in the Santa Monica Mountains. I like going to the beach, and on long motorcycle rides. I love traveling which I find is really conducive to creativity. And music! More instrumental, a lot of classical stuff I’ve been listening to lately.

As we’re winding down here, any other big projects you’re working on or excited to tackle in the near future?

This year I should be done with the sixth draft of my novel, so I’m looking forward to that! I probably won’t know what to do with myself after it’s done. I’m more than halfway done with it at this point. So I’m looking forward to finishing that and sending it out to some agencies for representation. So that’s the next big big project I’m working on that’s finally winding down. If I finish that by the end of this year, I’ll probably feel like I can float!

That’s exciting! What’s the novel about?

It’s a coming of age story about a young woman who grew up in the foster care system in Oakland. Her mother dies while in prison but she leaves her this novel that has this inscription from a Pulitzer prize winning author who teaches at an East Coast school. So she works really hard to get into that school to meet that author and learn about her mother, and they end up forming a relationship as she uncovers the story of her mother.

That’s amazing! Well I’ll keep positive vibes this will be the final draft for you. I’m sure we’d all love to read it. Before I let you go, is there anything else you’d like to share or where can we find you?

You can find me on YouTube as Talya Adams. I haven’t posted as frequently this year but that’s because I’m doing other things and figuring out life. I have a lot of videos I have shot that I just haven’t gotten to, so they will be going up at some point. I’m also on Instagram, and I write on Medium where I talk about photography, artistry, social media, basically whatever I want to! And my website is here. That’s pretty much where I am. I also wanted to say, I’ve really enjoyed this! When I looked up your series I thought it was really dope. I knew I had to do this because I really love women supporting women, and I think there needs to be more of that especially in photography!

Get Inspired

For more stories behind the images and photography from the community check out the many series we’ve published over the years below!

Featured Photophile – we shine a spotlight on amateur photographers whose work we love.

Photographer Interviews – in-depth discussions with professional and established photogs doing great work.

Female Photographers to Follow – get inspired by a monthly series focused on the beautiful and unique perspectives of female photographers.

Five Favorite Photos – a hand-selected examination of the oeuvre of ur favorite famous photographers.

Follow Casual Photophile on Facebook and Instagram

[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

The post Talya Adams – Interview with the Photographer appeared first on Casual Photophile.

Thank you for taking the time to chat! Could you start out by giving us a brief introduction to yourself?

Sure! My name is Lyndsey, and I’m a film photographer and creative director. I was born and raised in the Oklahoma City suburbs, but will soon be calling Washington state my new home. I’m married to an amazing human and we have two pups, Pops and Abel. Other than photography, I enjoy traveling and a good cup of coffee.

What got you into film photography and what keeps you shooting film?

I’ve always loved the look of film but had never shot with it. Then at university where I studied Photographic Arts, I had to take a couple of darkroom classes. Not too long after that an acquaintance gave me a Canon AE-1 and a Canon AE- 1 Program, and my love for the medium grew from there. As far as what keeps me going with it, I process and scan my own film so I have a hand in the entire process which keeps it interesting for me. The experimental aspect of it with film soup, cross-processing, etc. really allows me to explore my creativity. Besides all that, film feels like a memory and that’s why I love it so much.

That’s beautiful, and leads into my next question really well. I love how endlessly creative your work is. How did you get started in alternative processes?

I first learned about alternative processing during my senior portfolio class at university. One of my classmates destroyed her film for her portfolio project. She would scratch it, wash it in the dishwasher, boil it, etc. I remember really loving the results she got. Then I learned about souping from a film photographer on Twitter and had to try it out.

[You can read about souping film in our article here.]

So souping was the first alternative process you tried? How did that first soup go?

Yes. My first soup consisted of lime juice, table salt, and blue dawn dish soap. The results were pretty wild. It’s really hard to know what to expect because I just started experimenting at the beginning of this year.

How do you pick what liquids to use for your film soups?

My first two soups were a mixture of pretty random ingredients. Since then I’ve done a few themed ones. For example, I did one with ingredients from Oklahoma, where I’m from. I used water from the Oklahoma river, red dirt which can be found everywhere there, and flowers from a redbud tree because it’s the state tree. I’ve also gotten suggestions from people who follow me on TikTok.

Ah I love that you made a soup with ingredients specific to that area! Do you have any favorite concoctions you’ve created?

One of my favorites consisted of mashed strawberries, Jameson whiskey, orange juice, and Crystal hot sauce. I had quite a few very abstract frames and the colors were really saturated. I think that was my second soup experiment.

You posted a video recently with just the caption “Destroy your film.” Have you ever gone so far with experimenting on a roll that it was unusable?

I haven’t had an entire roll come out with frames that you can’t tell what they are. I’d say on average, there are 2-3 frames per roll where there is no image.

Are there any other experimental processes you’ve tried beyond souping or are hoping to try?

I know another film photographer who shoots black and white and stains his negatives with paint. The results are always so stunning. That is definitely something I want to figure out. Oh, and I have also melted a strip of film with a lighter.

Say what! How did that turn out?

I tried not to get carried away with the fire because I didn’t want to completely ruin any frames. The results were pretty varied. A few frames looked like the color had been bleached out and others had some red color shifts.

How funky! So in addition to your experiments you also shot amazingly creative portraits! What got you into shooting portraits?

Portraits have always been something I’ve been drawn to. I really love the work of photographers like Sally Mann and Diane Arbus. When I first started photography, I really wanted to be a fashion photographer. I definitely don’t do them as often as I’d like because I’m pretty introverted so it’s hard for me to ask folks to model for me. When I moved to Kansas, I met my friend MK. They were the first person I had a portrait session with, and after that we continued to collaborate on shoots together. They would style, I would photograph. Working with them really helped me develop the portrait style I have now.

I love artistic partnerships like that. Are there any current artists or portrait photographers you find inspirational?

As far as inspiration goes, I really like the portrait work of Lindsay Perryman. They’re a queer photographer from NYC who photographs other queer folks. Delfina Carmona is a self-portrait artist and I am always blown away by her use of light and shadow. There’s also an abundance of amazing photographers on Instagram and Twitter that are constantly inspiring me in different ways.

Since you’ve mentioned Instagram and social media, what are your feelings on social media overall? Do you feel that it’s helping or hurting photography and the greater art world?

I think it’s a little of both. One thing I have noticed that is frustrating is the number of non-photographers who think photographers just slap Instagram filters on our photos when in reality, a lot of us spend hours fine tuning our editing style. On the other hand, social media has introduced me to so many creative and inspiring photographers who I otherwise wouldn’t know about.

Yeah I agree. There’s so many great artists I’ve met through these platforms. You recently relocated to Seattle! Are there any areas or projects you’re excited to shoot in your new home?

So many places! But I think I’m most excited about going to the Pacific Coast. I grew up in Oklahoma and didn’t see the ocean until I was 18. Now I live just 15 minutes from the beach. I can go anytime I want and I plan on taking full advantage of that. I’m also excited to be close to the mountains.

As I’m winding down here, what’s next on the horizon for you? Any big projects you have lined up?

Well now that we are moved and mostly settled, I have relaunched my film lab. I’m also slowly chipping away at a zine I’ve been wanting to make. It revolves around all the small towns I went to photograph last summer in Kansas after losing my job due to the pandemic.

Oh can’t wait to see that come out! Is there anything else you would like to share? Where can people find your work and your film lab?

I always hear people talking about how they want to shoot film but they’re worried it’ll be too hard and to that I say, you just have to jump in. Go for it. Film is all about trial and error. Experiment and have fun. As for where people can find my work, I have a website. I can also be found on Instagram and TikTok. My handle is elmarie_film for both platforms. If anyone is interested in sending me their film for processing they can fill out the form to do so here https://bit.ly/2W8ci0o

Get Inspired

For more stories behind the images and photography from the community check out the many series we’ve published over the years below!

Featured Photophile – we shine a spotlight on amateur photographers whose work we love.

Photographer Interviews – in-depth discussions with professional and established photogs doing great work.

Female Photographers to Follow – get inspired by a monthly series focused on the beautiful and unique perspectives of female photographers.

Five Favorite Photos – a hand-selected examination of the oeuvre of ur favorite famous photographers.

Follow Casual Photophile on Facebook and Instagram

[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

The post Lyndsey Hansen – Interview with the Photographer appeared first on Casual Photophile.

Sometimes I feel like I have to throw every trick in the book at a familiar subject to come up with something new. Between parental responsibilities and COVID lockdowns keeping me at home or at close relatives’ houses, I’ve spent a lot of my time in the last year and a half returning to the same places, trying to find a new perspective through new cameras or film stocks, if I can’t muster any other kind of creative approach. Sure, I may have photographed the same stack of rocks a dozen times before, but have I photographed it with a 87-year-old camera on redscale film that I developed at home using a process I’d never tried before? I haven’t, and for that matter, it’s such a bizarre combination that I’m sure nobody else has either.

Each step of this experiment has a story behind it. The camera is the Rolleiflex Old Standard I reviewed recently; I didn’t include these images in the article because I hadn’t processed them yet, even though they predated other rolls I had put through the camera.  

Then there’s the film. When I was visiting my family in Seattle over the holidays, I stopped by the Shot on Film Store, where the camera selection is always so dazzling that I’m paralyzed with indecision. I conclude that I already own enough cameras (what?), and I shop for film instead. They had a three-pack of Lomography Redscale in 120, which I bought because it was reasonably priced and I’d been itching to try it.

Redscale film is basically just color negative film that’s been wound so that light hits the film by passing through the non-emulsion side first, resulting in a range of intense red and orange tones in the image. You could do this yourself by winding your own film backwards in a dark bag [something similar was explored in this YouTube video that we produced], or you could buy Lomography XR 50-200. The XR stands for extended range, meaning that you can shoot at different ISOs for different effects. Metering at a lower ISO results in a more subtle red tone, and at a higher ISO a more intense one.

A few months later we visited my husband’s family in Ithaca, New York. While we’re there we usually take a few walks around Sapsucker Woods, Cornell’s wild bird refuge. It was late winter, the trees were bare, and there was some crusty snow on the ground. I thought the intense warmth of redscale film would make an interesting combination with the cold, stark landscape. I shot through most of the roll at Sapsucker Woods, and finished it a few months later while camping with friends at Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks.

And then I put it in a drawer, which is what I do with film that I don’t necessarily want to pay $15 to process, because the last step of the process, and the biggest one for me, was the developing.

I imagine every film photographer has those orphan rolls of film we don’t quite know what to do with. There’s a little drawer in my desk where I stash the fat rolls that are probably covered in light leaks, the rolls I let sit in the camera for so long that I don’t know if the latent images are still there, the rolls I loaded into the camera all wrong and clumsily extracted in what might or might not have been a dark space so I could shoot them in another camera. It’s a drawer of sunk costs in film and time, awaiting my decision about how much more I want to sink.

Meanwhile, in another cabinet of things I’m not quite sure what to do with, I had stored the ECN-2 kit I bought last summer. ECN-2 is the process used to develop motion picture film. It can also be used to process C-41 and slide films in a process called “cross processing,” producing warm, saturated colors.  

I got my kit from Eric, aka conspiracy.of.cartographers on Instagram and co-host of the All Through a Lens podcast (highly recommended), who processes his own color film in homebrew ECN-2 with fantastic results and packages small-batch kits so other photographers can do so as well. The kits include powder developer, bleach, and optional fixer (you can use your usual black and white fixer) along with instructions and a list of ingredients. These ECN-2 chemicals were the destination I had in mind for the rolls that were in film drawer purgatory, but I was petrified of actually using them. I had never processed color film at home before, for two reasons: 1. keeping chemicals at a precise and somewhat odd temperature (not room temperature but not hot) was intimidating, and 2. I was afraid the chemicals would explode or make me pass out. (My idea of how chemistry works was mainly shaped by Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker.)

Finally, I decided just to mix everything up and get started. Although I’m sure it would make things easier, I didn’t need a sous vide to get everything to the right temperature.  I heated water in a pot I use for oddball non-cooking projects and warmed my bottles in it until a thermometer in the developer bottle said 106 degrees Fahrenheit, at which point I immediately poured the developer into the tank. I took the rest of the chemicals out of the water, since maintaining exact temperature for bleach and fixer isn’t as critical. Developer and bleach are each three minutes, so with washes in between, it’s about the same amount of time as it takes for me to develop a roll of black and white film.  I had started with the redscale roll because I had practically forgotten what was on it, so if I lost the pictures I wouldn’t remember what I was missing, and if the colors got weird, well, it’s redscale. They’re supposed to be weird.

And indeed they’re weird! In that good way.

I shot most of these at ISO 100, and they’re certainly red. There are a couple of images with background highlights that show some aqua tones, and a longer exposure of a forest that I deliberately overexposed (because who knows what reciprocity is with this film) shows more color in the trees. But as someone who habitually overexposes, I was surprised by how red all these images were. Combined with the antique Tessar lens on the Rolleiflex and the snowy landscape, the film and process rendered surreal images, simultaneously fiery and frozen, the way the surface of Mars looks like it would be hot but is actually much colder than Earth.

After that first roll, I developed a roll of Ektar I used in my box Brownie last summer with the intent of processing it in ECN-2, and a fat roll of Lomography 800 I didn’t want to pay to develop because I was afraid it would be peppered with light leaks. The chemicals can develop a dozen rolls and have a shelf life of about a month once mixed, so for the sake of economy it’s best to mix them up and use them when you have a few rolls in the queue. The results have been interesting. There is the occasional bizarre color shift – green leaves in a field of buttercups turning periwinkle blue, for example – but for the most part colors are truer than I expected. (I’m also very new to scanning color, so that might account for some wonkiness.) I wouldn’t necessarily use this process for portraits, but for the most part, if I’m not taking heirloom photos of my kids, I can let go of accuracy and let the combination of film, chemicals, and old lenses do serendipitous and fascinating things. My mild success also gives me the courage to try regular C-41 developing next. It was strange to begin with ECN-2, but it was easier for me to start out color developing with a process where I was already anticipating and even hoping for unpredictable results.

I have to admit this is something of a departure for me. I have tried out a lot of things in film photography – toy cameras, pinhole, double exposures, odd and expired films – but generally I lean on the familiarity of shooting regular old Portra 400 and Tri-X in my favorite cameras. I like knowing mostly what to expect, with the small pleasure of delayed gratification and the perennial surprise of finding out what something looks like photographed. But sometimes it’s fun to try something new – or several new things at once – and one of my favorite things about photography is the nearly infinite number of things out there to try. If you have an oddball roll of film in the refrigerator, a camera that hasn’t seen the light of day in a while, or something else you’ve been meaning to give a whirl, maybe now is the time to do it.

Want to try this yourself?

Buy redscale film here!

Check out more on alternative photography processes here!

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[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

The post Redscale Film in ECN-2 and Trying Several New Things at Once appeared first on Casual Photophile.

I hope you enjoy our talk, and learn about some new processes which you can try in your own photography.

Thank you for taking the time to chat. Could you start out by telling us a little bit about yourself?

My name is Amy Marie Gladding. I’m based in Suffolk, England and I’m an art and photography teacher and creator. My world is explored through alternative and expired films, Polaroids and traditional camera-less techniques, as well as altering processes such as burying negatives and film soup. Growing up in Suffolk I have always been interested In rural spaces. In more recent years I have become intrigued by the constantly transforming landscape.

And how long have you been shooting film and what got you into film photography?

I learnt film at college when I was 16 (I’m now 34) before digital was really accessible, so my grounding in photography was in analogue techniques. I’ve always worked with photography alongside my arts practice and I am highly experimental and playful in my approach.

As you’ve mentioned there’s a lot of experimentation in your work, which is one of the things that drew me to your photographs. Have you always been experimental with photography or was there something in particular that sparked your interest?

I’m not good at following rules or being precise, and I like taking risks, so my work has always crossed borders and spanned art disciplines. My day job teaching also helps me to experiment; I see the students work so freely and imaginatively and I try to match that excitement in my work.

What was the first experimental process you tried?

I think maybe photo-collage was the first, and it’s still a technique that I love to explore now.

Which alternative process do you love the most and why?

Maybe cyanotypes, as you can explore so much, from plants and flower shadow prints to acetate negatives. I love how beautiful they look once they are toned, too, and recently I have been playing around with ways to paint cyanotype prints with watercolour.

I’ve noticed you make anthotypes which are completely new to me! How does that process work? Are they similar to Cyanotypes?

You make an emulsion by crushing plants, fruits or vegetables, eg. spinach, blueberries or beetroot. I have had great success using spices such as turmeric and paprika, or whole hibiscus flowers. Create a fine pulp with your chosen ingredients, add a little water, and then strain through a muslin or fine sieve. Then paint the natural emulsion directly onto paper or even soak sheets of watercolour paper in the dye. Once dried, place objects on the paper (I like to use dried flowers). Then, much like a cyanotype, you place it under a piece of glass in a safe spot and in direct sunlight. The photosensitive plant matter is bleached away by the sunlight, and therefore your object creates a print by blocking the light.

Wow! That is so cool. Did you discover this yourself or did you learn from someone else?

I found out about the technique from an alternative photography book and then tried out a few different approaches with my students. I’m still learning about the process and different natural emulsions and how to make the images successful.

That segues well into my next question – Have there ever been any experimental or alternative processes that you’ve attempted which didn’t go according to plan?

I am hoping to get salt printing perfected, and I’d love to experiment further with Lith printing.

How has salt printing gone so far?

I’ve had a few successful ones, then some not so strong, but I think it’s down to contamination or old chemicals. I want to keep experimenting with the technique as I love the sepia results!

I’m sure you’ll get it perfected soon! I also really love the crystallized Polaroids you have been posting recently. Would you be able to tell us where the inspiration came from for that and what the process looks like?

I have experimented with growing salt crystals onto prints many times, and this is my third attempt at growing real crystals onto photographs. I bought one of those kids’ science kits to grow three different crystals and used the mixtures to soak prints and Polaroids. I left them for two days and then photographed the results.

They are so sparkly and beautiful in real life, and it really is hard to convey this through an image. It’s much more exciting to study the object. When I’ve exhibited pieces like this before (I’ve put the physical crystallised print on display and at a solo show last summer) I sold two of my salt crystal pieces.

Throughout all your different works I’ve noticed that nature often plays a main role as the subject. What draws you specifically to focusing on nature?

I find [nature] so beautiful and magic. It’s always growing and transforming. I love being surrounded by and immersed in nature. My interest started with plants and flowers and has expanded to include whole landscapes. I have loads of houseplants, love working in the garden and have an allotment now too.

Another thing we’ve talked about before is how you are a mother to a beautiful little girl, and balancing all those different responsibilities in your life. Do you feel like there’s anything specific that you’ve learned from motherhood that has influenced your work?

I think the thing [that motherhood] has taught me is to try to be efficient, multitask and organize my time so that I can still create. In between my job as a secondary school teacher and the bubba, there isn’t much time for myself, but I adapted my practice to fit in. It is getting a bit easier now she is older, but I had about a year of doing VERY little creatively when I first had my daughter. I think you have to try not to put yourself under pressure and remember that you will find your way again. It is such a transformation of the self, becoming a mother, that you return to your work as a different human and the work will be changed also.

That’s really beautiful. As you’ve mentioned, you’re an art teacher during the day. Are there any other art forms that you’re particularly passionate about outside of the photography world?

Oh I love ALLLLLLL art forms. I’m completely obsessed with creativity! I love my job for so many reasons and I learn so much from the way the students work. I teach ages 10-18, so I see a broad spectrum of styles, approaches and skill levels. I am very interested in painting, collage, drawing and printmaking. However I seek out and am inspired by fashion, textiles, ceramics, 3D design, illustration, architecture – just about anything can inspire or provoke ideas for my own practice.

In terms of photography, what’s on the horizon for you? Are there any new alternative processes that you’re hoping to jump into?

I would love to try making more anthotypes and chlorophyll prints, too. I’ve got a few new painted cyanotype prints to share and I’ve buried a load of negatives in the garden to scan once they have been partially destroyed. Lots more experimental Polaroid stuff and more large format too.

Those all sound so cool. I especially can’t wait to see how the buried negatives turn out. Before I let you go, is there anything else you’d like to share with us today?

Just that you can see more of my work on my website and prints of my work are available to buy. Thank you so much for supporting and sharing my creative endeavours. Big love, Amy.

More from Amy here – Instagram and Website

More of Our Photographer Interviews here

Female Photographers to Follow here

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[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

The post The Beautiful Alternative Processes of Amy Marie Gladding appeared first on Casual Photophile.

On a random internet rabbit hole, I stumbled upon Hodaka Yamamoto’s photography. I had never heard of Lomography before, and I definitely had never seen any photography like his. I quickly learned he was somehow shooting on both sides of 35mm film, and then something just went off in my brain – I immediately knew that this was what I wanted to be doing with my creativity. A metaphorical portal to my creativity had been opened.

In this video, we break down the basics of how to get started with this technique, which thankfully doesn’t require any new gear.

Exposing both sides of color negative film is the main reason I started shooting film again in 2016 and haven’t slowed down since. For that reason, it’s my sincere hope that this kind of photography inspires others in the way it re-ignited my passion for analog photography.

Enjoy the video!

And here are some sample images!

Want to try this technique yourself?

Buy some film from our shop F Stop Cameras

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[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

The post How to Expose Both Sides of 35mm Film to Create Stunning Images – Video appeared first on Casual Photophile.