Author: Madison Hyer

Interview: Florian Guillon

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“[Film] is a medium that allows me to express who I am while doing the things I love: getting out, watching the people around me, and spending time in nature.” Florian is a film photographer in France that I know through Instagram. He and I ordered our Intrepid MKIV-Black cameras nearly at the same time and have gone through the paces of learning large format photography together. His work has always been an inspiration and it has been an honor to get to know him better through this interview. His instagram can be found here along with the Instagram for Les Trois Bains (The Three Baths). JM – Tell me a bit about yourself. This can be anything from what you do for a career or what got you into photography or anything else.  FG – I am a 28 year old attorney living in Paris, France. I started shooting film 3 years ago, and have shot it daily ever since. I have always been interested in art, however I am completely unable to paint or …

Interview: Brian D Smith

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“Film is romantic. It’s timeless. It can be wildly perfect and simultaneously imperfect. I think this last sentiment is what I find most captivating about film.” Brian is a wedding photographer who lives in Charleston, SC. His portrait work is absolutely stunning and clearly demonstrates a lot skill in shaping light. His work has pushed me to try new things with my photography. You can find his website here and his Instagram here. JM – Tell me a bit about yourself. BDS – I was born and raised in Ohio. I worked as an engineer for 2 years in Ohio before I moved to Charleston to work for Boeing. I spent 4 years there before I became disillusioned with working a desk job and I began to feel disconnected from my work. It was fulfilling and challenging, but I longed for something that was more deeply personal. Around this same time, I reconnected with photography and began pursuing weddings. I became consumed by photography. This feeling led to a swift realization that it was time …

Review: Fujifilm Pro 400H

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To see Fujifilm Pro 400H exposure tested alongside 10 other films, follow this link. I have wanted so badly to like Pro 400H. My father picked up a Pentax Spotmatic back when he was in the service, living in Guam. Much like myself, he experimented with a lot of different film stocks to see what he liked best and eventually he settled on Fuji’s film over Kodak. To this day, he insists that Kodak still cannot mimic the beautiful blues and greens that you get with Fuji’s film. Though he exclusively shoots digital now, I still feel a bond with him over photography and film in particular. It’s because of that that I want to like Fuji’s fim. Being that Pro 400H is their flagship film, I really want to like it. I do not like it. Fujifilm Fujicolor Pro 400H was released in 2004. Today, Pro 400H is often compared with Kodak Portra 400, though it has not reached anywhere close to the same hype. Color I think that what I dislike most about …

Interview: Timothy Rhyne

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“I approach all my work with a minimal frame set. Limited to focus on color pallet and simple composition. This framework allows for a exploration of color and specific focal points within storytelling.” Timothy is a film photographer whose landscape work has been a big inspiration to me. The way he conveys movement, scale, and changing light is far and above where I am at with my landscapes. You can find his personal website here and his Instagram here. JM – Tell me a bit about yourself. TR – Growing up, my dad wouldn’t let me shoot on his digital camera until I learned how to use a film camera. As a high schooler, I wasn’t into that but ended up taking photography classes through the school. There I learned how to use a camera, develop and print black & white film. When I graduated, I was given a digital camera and didn’t pick up a film camera for a while. About two years ago I asked for my dads film camera (the same one …

Review: TMax 400

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The 400 ASA films that I’ve tried enough to have an opinion about include: Kodak’s Tri-X and TMax 400 and Ilford’s HP5 and XP2 Super. At this point, TMax has become a pretty clear favorite. It is without a doubt my most used B&W film in 35mm and in 120, though I explore more films more often in 120, it is the film I go to for consistent performance. While I do try to explore more and more films all the time, it is difficult to replace the flexibility and acutance of TMax 400 when it comes to shooting 35mm B&W. Tone If I’m being completely honest, this is where I feel TMax 400 disappoints me the most. It’s hard to explain why, though. Over every other film I’ve tried like it, I love the sharpness of this film and lack of pronounced grain. What’s different about this stock that I don’t love is the amount of middle grey and overall lack of contrast that photos have when taken in strong, daylight scenarios. In dimly …

Interview: Victoria Oliver

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“I long for tangible connection and the creation of physical art from my heart and hands.  This is why I love film. It is magical, chemical alchemy.” Victoria is a film photographer living in the Blue Ridge mountain area. Her work is beautiful and often inspires me to get out, explore, and shoot more often. Her instagram dedicated to her film work can be found here and, in addition, her instagram showcasing all of her work both in front of and behind the camera can be found here. JM – Tell me a bit about yourself. VO – I live in the Appalachian mountains, just below the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in a small town surrounded by forest service and national forest areas.  I have always laughingly called myself a Jill-of-all-trades, because my mind never wants to settle with only one project. I am always restless and ready to go. Seeking to reconcile my day job with my desire to be a gypsy born in another century. VO – Want to hit the open road, …

Innsbruck, AT: New City, New Film – Acros II & Ortho Plus

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If you’re wondering why I decide to take my annual trip to the mountains between March and April, the answer is simple. It’s generally still very cold so the summer tourists haven’t shown up yet but the height of skiing and snowboarding is past. As a result, the area is bit less packed out and the trails have started reopening (if they were ever closed). Not to mention that at the times the airfare is a good deal less expensive as are the hotels. Anyhow – on this particular trip, we left for a couple week trip in Germany and western Austria just as the novel corona virus was troubling northern Italy but before it started being so widespread. On the day we were flying back, we learned there were several documented cases of COVID-19 in Innsbruck and luckily for us we were able to be screened a couple days after being back. With the self quarantine that we are still currently in, I’ve been able to get all the B&W and C-41 developed and …

Interview: Monika Murren

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“I like to document moments and places that feel both intimate and otherworldly and magical.” Monika is a photographer that I met on Instagram like many of the other people I’ve interviewed but her body of work is uniquely personal. The work that she publishes on her instagram is inspiring and she even sells some of her prints on her website. JM: Tell me a bit about yourself. MM: I am was born and raised in Poland but have spent most of my adult life now in the US.  I currently live in the Hudson Valley, about an hour north of New York City.  I feel lucky to live in such a beautiful place, surrounded by incredible nature and yet so close to a big city.  It inspires my photography daily.  I have always been curious about the world having grown up in back-then communist Poland and not having access to the rest of the world.  I knew there was a greater world outside and it motivated me to learn to speak other languages and …

Review: Kodak TMax 100

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Kodak’s TMax 100 has quickly become my favorite black and white film I’ve ever shot. The slow speed of ASA 100 does prevent me from using it much of the winter here in Ohio so I started using it more in a studio environment and that’s where I’ve really fallen in love with it. Tone Being that this is a black and white film, there isn’t anything to say about color but there’s a lot to say about the tones of this film. Compared with some of its more muted tone Ilford counterparts, this film does a great job of covering more of the zone spectrum. My first experience with the film was in Banff in 2019 when I shot a few rolls of it along side a surviving roll of Acros. At the time I don’t think I truly appreciated the quality of this film. The lights are so bright and the darks are so strong – the contrast have been truly wonderful. Portraits This is where I’ve really taken a liking to this …

Interview: Ioana Lungu

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Ioana is a film photographer from Bucharest, Romania currently living in Ethiopia. Her work has a great personal touch that inspires me. Her instagram can be found here. JM: What got you into photography? IL: I’ve always been searching for moments that feel like home, and tried to make them stay. Mostly these were times spent with my friends, we were all a bit lost and trying to reconcile our full-time jobs and studies with a deeper yearning for moral and aesthetic ideals. This, and urban spaces or light-soaked afternoons spent at home, reading, talking or making food for loved ones made me want to reach out for the camera. There’s a quiet, muted poetry in mundane moments and I wanted to capture that in images.  JM: Why do you shoot film? IL: I got my first film camera as a gift and started using it because buying a digital one was, to put it simply, too expensive for my broke student life. The first rolls of film I shot were a disaster – getting …