The Film Washi company produces a film that is marketed as “near infrared sensitive”. From marketing point of view, that sounds good but I can’t get my head around it. To me the film is either infrared or is not, there is no middle way. At FIFA World Cup, one doesn’t qualify by “almost scoring a goal”, it’s a goal or not.

Things are not that simple though. Let’s look at SFX, an infrared film made by Ilford. In order to capture infrared photos, the film is not enough, an infrared filter of minimum 720nm is required. What happens if we use the film without the filter? Nothing, we get “normal” b&w photos.

A red filter has a wave length of around 600nm. If we use a red filter with a film that is not rated infrared, like HP5, do we get infrared photos? No way! Yes, we can see the effect of the filter but photos won’t be infrared. So what happens if we use the SFX infrared film with just a red filter? Are we getting “almost infrared” photos?

Please tell me your opinion in the comments.

I leave you with some photos taken with Minolta X-700, an expired SFX film and a red filter.

1. As photographers, we all like to look at photos and especially we appreciate the printed ones. So if you have the chance to print just one of your photos, just one, please show us which one it will be, explain to us why is that one, how big will you print it and where will you hang it (yes, you can choose MoMA, Louvre, etc)

Tough question. I firmly believe a photograph is not a photograph unless you can pick it up. So I print very many of my images. Choosing just one though! Ouch. Ok, let’s go for something that makes a bit of a statement. This would be printed huge and hung on a massive purpose built billboard outside of the Reform Party headquarters. It would be accompanied by the following caption: Diversity is inshrined in our culture. It is not for sale and we WILL protect it. Back the fuck off and shut the fuck up.

2. You have the opportunity to meet in person one photographer (dead or alive) that you admire and you can ask him/her one single question, what the question will be?

I love the work of August Sander. I think his extraordinary portraits speak for themselves. It is an unflinching, powerful and deeply moving collection. When I was studying for my photography masters degree my tutor said “everything you need to know about documentary portraiture is in that body of work, look no further”. He wasn’t wrong. His life work started in the early part of the twentieth century in his native Germany. It continued into the 1930’s despite persecution by the Nazis, who saw his diverse and realistic depiction of Germans as contrary to their ideology. He was photographing Jews, Gipsies, Trade Unionists, Artists, Bohemians, Beggars and to him they were simply Germans. They seized and destroyed his work. I would like to ask him if he saw his work during this period as an artistic endeavour or a political tool.

3. For different reasons many photographers like to return to places they have been before; tell us about such a place and why do you want/wish to re-visit (support your argument with a photo)

My journey into landscape photography is a recent adventure. I visited Iceland in April 2019 and prior to the visit I had avoided landscape; at best I was ambivalent with regards to the genre and had earned a living from commercial and general freelance photography. On returning from Iceland, with a half decent handful of images, I gradually became more interested in exploring the field. Two years ago I moved to the Lake District, a much visited area of outstanding natural beauty in the North West of England and the flood gates opened. I had grasped the idea that landscape does not necessitate a 3am start, a tripod, loads of filters and prolonged periods waiting for perfect light. I took many of the Iceland shots from the window of my car! Which on reflection is extraordinary. I now shoot hand held, very rarely use a tripod and filters and shoot the light that I am presented with. So, I would love to return to Iceland with my now obsessive passion for landscape.

4. Did you ever regret not taking a photo? Tell us about the one that “slipped” away.

I thought long and hard about this answer. I almost avoided being honest with the answer, but it is always my intention to not shirk from honesty on this platform. So here we go. I have no photograph of my Daughter Ellen. She died when she was two weeks old. Ellen was born with a hyper rare genetic condition. When I say rare I mean really rare. It is so rare it has no name and as I type only around 300 reported cases have been recorded worldwide. Ever. I very much wish I had a small photograph of her.

5. If you’ll be giving the one in a lifetime opportunity (no restrictions of time/era and no questions asked) to take a portrait of a person -dead or alive, who that person will be and why?

Another really hard question to answer. A toss up between Frank Zappa and Bill Hicks I think. Both were super talented, outspoken and free thinkers. Flawed genius is fascinating. Self directed portraits of either of those two would be an interesting experience. Oh! And Miriam Margolyes. I would love to meet her. That’s three, sorry.

If you want to familiarise yourself with the context, the first set of answers from Paul can be accessed here:

Because I love the details and I never did a collaboration with Lauri, I proposed one: five of her photos to be paired with five of my industrial photos. Of course there will be a second part where she will pair five of my industrial photos with her photos of cars but until then we will leave you with the first set.

Today I will present Sara Serrano the author of Scattershot. Sara is a photographer, writer and pickle enthusiast.

1. Why photography?

It started with begging my dad for his phone on family trips so I could take blurry, pixelated shots of whatever was in front of me. At the time I thought I wanted to remember where I’d been, but what I was really trying to capture was the feeling of being somewhere new. Eventually I graduated to my own iPod touch, and started taking portraits of my friends, using colourful lights or whatever I could cobble together to create something new, until I upgraded to a mirrorless camera.

Other people’s photographs have brought me closer to understanding the lived experience of other groups of people, different biomes and landscapes, and whole new countries and cities I’ve never been to. I can only hope my photos do the same, while keeping a little bit of myself in there as well. Above all, photography serves as a tool that amplifies my curiosity. It takes me to new places, teaches me to always observe and to always look beyond the surface.

2. What is your favourite gear? (camera, lens)

I’m a big fan of Fujifilm. Most of my photos are taken on the XT3 which is now a couple of years old but it’s still a great camera. I particularly love the tactile aspect to settings adjustment, how light the mirrorless body is, and how compact the camera can be while still retaining a lot of its power.

In terms of lenses, for as long as I’ve been photographing, I’ve switched between a 23mm and 35mm (35mm and 50mm full frame equivalents), but lately I’ve been experimenting at both ends of the spectrum. At 18mm (27mm equivalent) I’ve learned to establish a scene better, while the compression at 55mm (83mm equivalent) can allow for more creative composition.

While experimenting has been fun, often sticking to one focal length for a while is what actually sparks creativity. The less variation, the more the creative muscle has to flex, which leads to better thought out shots, less cliché framing, and an overall better representation of the photographer in the frame. The key is understanding where diversity of focal lengths amplify that creativity and vision, and where they become a crutch.

Lastly, I enjoy shooting film, particularly the golden tones of Portra 400 or the punch that Kodak Colorplus packs, but the more expensive film gets, the less I can justify shooting it.

3. What are your favourite subjects to photograph?

I really enjoy capturing motion, whether that’s a running race, a concert, a city, or even a landscape with wind moving through it. The tension of photography as a medium that freezes time, while the subject itself is all movement, is something I find myself constantly drawn to.

Finding images that tell a story is the other constant. To me that means a photo that goes beyond a pretty scene, something that asks what it means, who it is for, what it tells us about our greater condition. Photography has always fed my curiosity more than anything else, and I think that shows in the subjects I gravitate towards. The ones that make me want to go further, or tell stories that bring others closer to people, things, or places they otherwise have less access to.

4. Can you name a few of your favourite photographers?

Graciela Iturbide’s work and philosophy is something I’ve kept top of mind from the very beginning of my understanding of the medium. What’s stuck with me is the way she works. No flash, no tripod, no telephoto. She wants to mimic real life, not create a new one, and instead of going out looking for a particular shot, she lets herself find things. Her work documenting the Zapoteco community in Oaxaca is a good example of that. She embedded herself in the community first, built trust, and only then photographed from within. In an age where we take and take and shoot for Instagram, she’s a reminder of how human the medium can be.

Silvana Trevale is another one I keep coming back to, both her editorial work and her more recent project photographing Venezuelan youth. Brian Chorski’s book Another Patch of Sky, documenting the American West and its people, is spectacular as well. In the music world I love Eloise Coomber’s work, and turning to sports photography.

5. What can the Substack community expect from you/your publication in the future?

More photos and stories! I like to think of Scattershot as a way to follow the threads that catch my attention, writing about art, story, movement, and culture, using photography as a way to explore and understand them. Readers can look out for more essays exploring the world today through photography, as well as more artist deep dives, photo stories, and explorations of process and craft.

Part of the collaboration was to use a medium format camera (the Rolleiflex in my case) and a black&white film. I knew I had plenty rolls in the fridge so that wasn’t a problem. I picked a roll of Fomapan 200 which I bought in 2024 when it was in date. The expiry date on the box was August 2025 and I use it in May 2026. Film being kept in the fridge all the time, it was nothing out of ordinary. Well …

I used the entire roll in a single day, a sunny day, beautiful conditions. For some reason, instead of having contrasty images (normal for sunny days), all the images were flat. Some of you might say that is the developing. Ok, fine, I can accept that even though I’m using the same lab for years. But having flat images is not all the bad news, oh, no! There is more. As you can see in the following images, the emulsion on the film was compromised. On the beautiful blue sky, lots of dots/spots appeared.

Two of the frames had something that it looks like an UFO. Not all of them had the problem so I can’t say it was dirt on the lens.

Scratches? Yes, a few here and there but that can be from the pressure plate. I’m saying it can be because I can’t really believe that as I didn’t have this problem with any other rolls gone through that camera. Also scratches might be possible during the developing so, let’s say that I’m easy on them.

I was so disappointed when I’ve seen the scans that I swore I won’t use Fomapan again. Ever! Fomapan is sold as a cheap alternative (called budget friendly these days) to other film manufacturers but that comes with a price - the price of ruined photos. I might be a bit harsh here as I used Fomapan before but always in date and never had these types of problems. Yes, compared with others, Fomapan is a bit flat but not as flat as I got with this roll. I’ve also used others expired b&w films like Ilford or Kodak but never had an experience like this even when the film was expired for a longer period of time. I used a 25 years expired Konica Minolta film and the results were much better, you can see them here:

Anyway, I’ve checked the fridge, there are no rolls of Fomapan left and I don’t think there will be anytime soon. I don’t know when I am going to get the same weather conditions but I know that I have to re-shoot the images for the collaboration. I’m lucky to have understanding friends.

P.S. This post was inspired by a conversation that I had with on one of his posts.

Today I will present Rania Ronntoft the author of Grain & Fern. Rania is an outdoor & lifestyle photographer from the north of Sweden.

1. Why photography?

This is always a tricky question to answer, as it was almost a bit of an accident. When I grew up, we did not have social media and our phones did not have cameras. I don’t remember when, or why - but I got a small point and shoot that I always carried with me. I had always been creative, drawing a lot ever since I was a child. So I think, even though I didn’t realise it at the time, that having that little camera with me let me have a creative outlet in my pocket. A website emerged in Sweden that was like an image diary, where it was just a calendar and you could upload photos to the dates in the calendar, and follow others and their lives. I was quite active there, and then blogs started to emerge and grow. I started following photography blogs, and kept taking photos of everything, everywhere, all the time. Eventually a friend of mine, who part time worked in a local photo store, said “I think you should invest in a Proper camera“. Which I had not really considered, but I got to try hers and I was hooked. So I saved up money and bought my first DSLR. And the snowball had started rolling. After graduating from high school, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do in life. I thought that while figuring that out I could study photography. So I applied to a two year program for professional photographers. I did not get accepted the first time I applied, but I tried again the next year and got in. During those two years we had a lot of guest lecturers, and got to learn so much and try all kinds of genres within photography. We were also taught about the business aspects of working as a photographer. So when I graduated in 2012 I started my own business, and I still work as a photographer today.

Now, my reason for photography, other than it being a creative outlet, is that I love seeing the everyday magic in the world, in the moments in between, and capture them. I love telling a story with images, and my hope is that my images will inspire others to slow down, pay attention to their surroundings and see and feel that magic as well.

2. What is your favourite gear? (camera, lens)

As I started working more and more outdoors, combining hiking, foraging or camping with photography I decided to give up heavy DSLRs and move to micro four thirds. So since the fall of 2019 I have been exclusively using gear from OM System. Right now I am using the OM-3 and 20mm F1.4 from OM System a lot. It’s such a small, versatile setup that lets me move freely through nature. I usually also bring the M.Zuiko 60mm Macro with me as it’s so small I can just toss it in my pocket. I have also started to explore more analogue photography, and while I have quite a few cameras, my current setup is a Nikon F2 with a 105mm F2.5 and 50mm F1.2. My preferred film stock is Kodak Gold 200.

3. What are your favourite subjects to photograph?

I really enjoy shooting food and lifestyle, and I do a lot of that for work. But my number one favourite will always be capturing nature, both wider landscapes and details: Mushrooms, ferns, textures, moss etc. And I really enjoy photographing people in nature, shooting what I call “outdoor lifestyle”. People hiking, cooking over fire or foraging for example. It helps put the scale of nature into perspective, and it shows what nature can do for us. I am not one for capturing one, awesome “banger”. I prefer to showcase several photos together that tell a story, and having people in my images help a lot with that.

4. Can you name a few of your favourite photographers?

I love the way Alicia Rey captures people, and the way Matt Oliver captures trees.

5. What can Substack community expect from you/your publication in the future?

Having a platform to combine my photos with written words, like a good old timey blog, is something I really enjoy. I am starting to find my voice in writing about nature and living slow, with the seasons, in combination with my photography. So I will continue to do so, while also sharing creative photography tips, which I have already started doing. There are so many guides on the technical side of photography, and I want to focus more on how to take better, or different, photos when you have a grasp of your gear and settings. I have also applied to a one year course where we get to work on a personal photo project, and if I get accepted I will share that journey.

1. As photographers, we all like to look at photos and especially we appreciate the printed ones. So if you have the chance to print just one of your photos, just one, please show us which one it will be, explain to us why is that one, how big will you print it and where will you hang it (yes, you can choose MoMA, Louvre, etc)

I’m a fan of Stephen Shore’s photography, and one of his images that I remember vividly is the one showing a billboard with a panorama set against… the same panorama (“South of Klamath Falls, U.S. 97, Oregon, July 21, 1973”).

Among my own photographs, however, the ones that stick with me most are the more… problematic ones — situations where someone, for reasons I couldn’t quite understand, tried to stop me from taking a picture, threatened to call the police, etc. And since I tend to challenge rules that seem unclear or simply foolish, the idea of printing such a “difficult” photograph as a billboard and placing it exactly in front of the place it depicts strikes me as a perfect one.

Below is one such photograph.

2. You have the opportunity to meet in person one photographer (dead or alive) that you admire and you can ask him/her one single question, what the question will be?

The person I would like to ask this question photographed as well, but gained the greatest recognition not for his own images, but for presenting the work of other photographers. I am, of course, referring to John Szarkowski, the curator at MoMA.

I would like to ask him how to convince people that even in the most ordinary things one can find art, because lately I have the impression that, as a society, we’ve somewhat forgotten that this is the case.

3. For different reasons many photographers like to return to places they have been before; tell us about such a place and why do you want/wish to re-visit (support your argument with a photo)

In general, I really enjoy photographing places I’ve already been to. It gives me a lot of satisfaction to observe how these places change—and I don’t judge whether those changes are for better or worse; the fact of change itself is what matters most to me.

Today I visited exactly such a place and took some photos there. Not far from my home there’s an abandoned industrial building that is slowly deteriorating. A few years ago it was set on fire, and the whole area is gradually becoming overgrown—there’s a lot happening there. Every time I go there to take pictures, I try to find something new, but I also attempt to recreate shots I’ve already taken, precisely so I can compare what has changed during the time I was away. Below is a new frame from this place, taken just today!

4. Did you ever regret not taking a photo? Tell us about the one that “slipped” away.

I don’t have a good memory for places or events that I encounter only once in my life. On the other hand, I have plenty of locations marked on my map that I still haven’t photographed—and every time I’m there, I end up regretting that “this isn’t the right moment”: the wrong time of day, bad light, I don’t have my camera with me, I can’t stop at that moment, and so on.

The nearest such place is 5 km from my home. I’ve been wanting to photograph it for years. I know exactly when it looks best, because I pass it every day on my way to work… it just somehow hasn’t happened yet. And I have a feeling that eventually the place will change so much that I’ll start regretting not having taken that photo earlier.

5. If you’ll be giving the one in a lifetime opportunity (no restrictions of time/era and no questions asked) to take a portrait of a person -dead or alive, who that person will be and why?

To be honest, I don’t find anything particularly appealing in photographing people (with the possible exception of a few people close to me). So if I had to make a portrait, I’d pick just about anyone living in the Southern Great Plains some 50 years ago, get it done, and then head out into the field to look for more interesting subjects.

If you want to familiarise yourself with the context, the first set of answers from Darek can be accessed here:

What if you like the idea of double exposure but you don’t have a partner? What if you like the idea but you don’t have a film camera? Well, there is a digital way around it. It is not quite a double exposure but it looks pretty close to one and can be done without a partner. It is also very simple and it is called “reflexion”. All you have to do is to find a reflective surface: window, mirror, pots, cars, crystal ball, use your imagination. Point the camera at that surface and physics will do the rest.

Here are a few examples:

By moving a few steps in one direction or another, the angle will change and the resulted image will change.

If the surface is made out of more than one piece, the results get interesting.

And again, moving a few steps to the right, the same surface offers this

Another example from a clothing shop

and a few steps to the right.

Be bold, use vertical orientation.

But be very careful with the photobombers.

1. As photographers, we all like to look at photos and especially we appreciate the printed ones. So if you have the chance to print just one of your photos, just one, please show us which one it will be, explain to us why is that one, how big will you print it and where will you hang it (yes, you can choose MoMA, Louvre, etc)

I love looking at images, but I love prints even more: that’s where a photograph stops being merely “seen” and truly begins to exist in the world. If I could print just one image from my long-term project Lost at Sea, it would be this one.

It isn’t an iconic photograph, and that’s precisely why it interests me: it lives in the questions it raises in the viewer, in the uncertainty between what it seems to say and what remains unresolved. It’s a picture that needs time and different eyes, and it changes depending on where it is encountered.

I would print it on a Dibond panel, 100 × 70 cm, and install it in a beach club—an open space crossed by people on holiday or simply looking for a moment of lightness. That’s where, in my opinion, the photograph becomes most alive: in the dichotomy between what it depicts—a deserted, fragile, exposed place—and what surrounds it—a setting full of life, movement, sounds, and smells.

In that gap, in that tension between image and reality, the photograph doesn’t just hang there: it enters into a dialogue. And it invites anyone who passes by to pause for a moment, look more closely, and ask themselves what they are really seeing.

2. You have the opportunity to meet in person one photographer (dead or alive) that you admire and you can ask him/her one single question, what the question will be?

A photographer I never had the good fortune to meet in person is Gabriele Basilico.

Trained as an architect and a key figure in Italian photography, Basilico developed a highly recognisable visual language devoted above all to the urban landscape—cities, outskirts, industrial areas, and spaces in transition. His gaze is often linked to a tradition of Italian landscape photography that, rather than celebrating the postcard view, reads the territory as a cultural and social trace: a “body” made of layers, voids, geometries, and the marks of labour and time.

His way of photographing was rigorous and, at the same time, deeply contemplative. Basilico worked slowly, with restraint and a strong attention to structure: clean compositions, precise control of lines, perspectives that restore order and legibility without ever turning cold. It is as if, even before the photograph, there were an act of listening—stopping, measuring distance, letting the shape of spaces and their atmosphere emerge, until the image becomes inevitable.

It is precisely this almost meditative quality that has always struck me: the ability to turn observation into method, and method into vision.

If I could meet him, I would ask a simple question—one that feels essential to me: “What makes you happy, in the instant you press the shutter button?”

Today we are used—even as photographers—to chasing symbols and validation: the “iconic” camera, the award, the print shown in a prestigious venue. All legitimate, of course, but they risk shifting our attention away from the core. Because sometimes, almost without noticing, we place the truest urgency second: making photographs.

And perhaps that is where the question for Basilico also becomes a question for us: what truly moves us when we shoot? What is the essential—intimate, necessary—part that remains, even when everything else is stripped away?

3. For different reasons many photographers like to return to places they have been before; tell us about such a place and why do you want/wish to re-visit (support your argument with a photo)

I would certainly return—and in fact I already have—to my desolate, solitary seafronts in the winter months. In particular, I would go back to a beach club with a swimming pool.

I would photograph it again, and more than once, because it’s a place that cannot be exhausted by a single image. The atmosphere shifts from season to season; the traces of human presence change, as do those—quieter yet relentless—left by time.

And then there is the water: pool water feels like a living, almost organic element. It is never neutral. It reflects the context that holds it and, above all, the exact weather conditions of that moment—the light, the wind, the sky. Returning means precisely this: continuing to question what changes each time, through photography.

4. Did you ever regret not taking a photo? Tell us about the one that “slipped” away.

Yes, more than once I’ve regretted not taking a photograph. It’s part of my ongoing investigation of a place that never stops changing, where one moment is never truly the same as the next.

But that is also where the beauty of this “game” lies: allowing myself to be surprised. Accepting that change is not random—that it carries meaning and is shaped by laws, the natural ones, which intertwine and interfere with the artificial, human ones. Laws over which I have neither control nor full understanding.

And perhaps it is precisely this distance, this margin of uncertainty, that makes it necessary to return, to look again, and to keep photographing.

5. If you’ll be giving the one in a lifetime opportunity (no restrictions of time/era and no questions asked) to take a portrait of a person -dead or alive, who that person will be and why?

I had the good fortune to visit the Musée Matisse in Nice. What struck me most was his tireless investigation of the landscape—constantly reread and transformed into a language capable of conveying intensely powerful sensations. In his paintings and collages, it isn’t only visual impressions that emerge: there are also auditory and olfactory perceptions, as if the works had the power to evoke air, sounds, and scents. More than simply presenting itself, his work seems to activate the gaze and engage the entire body, stimulating all the senses.

If I could portray him, I would imagine him in his hotel room at the Beau Rivage in Nice. The window would be wide open onto the seafront, from the very vantage point where the artist observed and painted his intérieurs niçois.

If you want to familiarise yourself with the context, the first set of answers from Marco can be accessed here:

Regarding photography, it looks like I was always attracted to repetitiveness - I like projects that photograph the same thing again and again. I remember the project of Tomiyasu Hayahisa in Germany where for a period of 4 years he photographed the same tennis table and life around it. If you search for it, you will find that the project won a Mack Award in 2018 and it is published in a book. Tomiyasu’s project wasn’t the start for me but the motivation and the support.

In 2016, I started my own long term project based on something repetitive. I didn’t have anything clear in mind (still don’t have) where this project will go or end but, I like doing it. So, what is it about? Rugby, of course, and to be more precise, the 15 metres line on a rugby pitch. Compared with other lines that mark the pitch, the 15 metres is one of the dotted lines or dashed if you like.

From the start I’ve imposed myself a few “rules” to follow: all images will be taken at f/2.8 with a focal length of 200mm, no people in the images and no alteration of images. A bit later, I’ve changed from “no people” to “no recognisable people” as a few times I’ve managed to capture “parts” of people and that made interesting images. What I found interesting is the fact that every 15 metres line is different: some are very well visible on an astro-pitch, some are so old that are not just paint but “embedded” in the pitch and some are not even straight.

Sometimes I think that this project is going on for far too long but also, I don’t want to stop it. I have a collection of almost 200 photos and I still don’t know what I’m going to do with them. Yes, 200 photos of a line! It sounds mad but to me, it isn’t. At some stage I wanted to put them in a book but who would like to look at photos of a line? So until I decide what I’m going to do with them (oh, any suggestion is welcomed) I will keep taking photos of the 15 metres line. I leave you with some of the photos.

1. As photographers, we all like to look at photos and especially we appreciate the printed ones. So if you have the chance to print just one of your photos, just one, please show us which one it will be, explain to us why is that one, how big will you print it and where will you hang it (yes, you can choose MoMA, Louvre, etc)

I have made it part of my photographic practice to print the “best” frames of each roll I shoot. These are small prints, either 4 x 4 or 4 x 6, and they go into small albums that I love to pick up off the shelf and peruse. However, I also have enlargements printed and framed of a few. I’ve never been one to crave the spotlight, so just seeing them hang in my home is a simple pleasure. - The photo below is one of the ones I have framed on my wall. I love the peaceful innocence that’s conveyed by the children. They’re not looking at screens. They’re not worried about the state of the world. They are simply content to sit at the water’s edge and wait for the next wave to invite them in.

2. You have the opportunity to meet in person one photographer (dead or alive) that you admire and you can ask him/her one single question, what the question will be?

Hmm, this is a tough one. Maybe I’ll go with Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, the father of photography. Instead of a question, I’d love to be in the room where it happened. To observe the reaction to his invention. Wouldn’t that be something!? I wonder if he imagined just how monumental photography would be.

3. For different reasons many photographers like to return to places they have been before; tell us about such a place and why do you want/wish to re-visit (support your argument with a photo)

This is a funny one to me being as I’m constantly photographing the same things in the same places! However, if I could choose a place to revisit, it would be the town I grew up in. I’d love to photograph the house I grew up in, the schools I attended, the main street the shops were on and compare them to my memories. - I don’t know, maybe that wouldn’t be such a good idea. As the saying goes, “You can never go home again.” - Here’s a photo of a place in my current home town that I’ve photographed multiple times. It’s of a local landmark called Tarantula Hill. I find if very picturesque.

4. Did you ever regret not taking a photo? Tell us about the one that “slipped” away.

Oh my gosh, all the time! Mostly these slipped away moments are of people that I’ve been too shy to photograph. One particular one that stands out in my mind was of a man walking with a large mattress above his head. He was walking right towards me as he was getting ready to put it in his truck, and I just froze, even though the camera was hanging around my neck. Drats!

5. If you’ll be giving the one in a lifetime opportunity (no restrictions of time/era and no questions asked) to take a portrait of a person -dead or alive, who that person will be and why?

I think this would have to be my grandmother. She meant the world to me and I would love to go back and take a portrait of her in beautiful lighting. One that could capture her radiant personality. - I tried doing that once, while I was still in college, and failed miserably.

If you want to familiarise yourself with the context, the first set of answers from Alicia can be accessed here:

A good few months ago (it might be close to a year), while I walked into the film lab, I’ve seen a new face behind the counter. Me, being a big mouth and chatty, introduced myself and asked for her name. M was very shy and far too serious but, that was normal for the first encounter, and in time she became more relaxed and friendly. She also became curious about films and cameras which helped to lift the initial barriers.

I don’t remember exactly when but at some stage I dropped a film to be developed, and she asked: “Develop only and cut to 6, as usual?”. My answer was: “No, please don’t cut it. This one is a double exposure, and you can’t cut it.” “Okay”, she said with half a mouth and a bit confused. So I explained: “This film was exposed by a person in a different country, send to me undeveloped, I re-expose it and now is getting developed. Because we used different cameras, the alignment is not perfect so, please don’t cut it because there’s 90% chance that you will cut through the middle of frames instead of the end of them.”

“Oh, wow! That is very cool!” she said. “And because I don’t know what the person before me photographed, it is also very interesting; it is a surprise for both of us until the film is developed”, I added. Another wow. “That’s two wows’ in a row! So, my normal reaction is to ask you: do you want to do a film swap with me?” “Eeerrr … What? … With me? Er, I don’t know”. “Ah, here; it’s very simple: I have the roll of film, for you development is free, so it cost you nothing. Are you afraid? Why? I’m sacrificing the roll of film so you have nothing to lose. On top of this, how can you know if you are not experimenting? Ask B (her colleague), I did a swap with him, it is a great experiment.” “And what should I photograph?” she asked. “Whatever you want, it makes no difference but, I’ll give you something to think about: I will expose first and, I will try to create a background, and you can put whatever you want on top of it.”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I made another victim of the creative exercise that is a film swap. The frames are far from being aligned (that is normal), M used an automatic camera, and she developed and scanned the film herself. I leave you with some of the results.

1. As photographers, we all like to look at photos, and especially we appreciate the printed ones. So if you have the chance to print just one of your photos, just one, please show us which one it will be, explain to us why that one is, how big you will print it, and where will you hang it?

It took a bit to figure out which of my photos to include for this one, I don’t often like to pick just one thing! But I would have to say the photo I took of the former Goderich Canadian Pacific Railway Station. I shot this in June 2021 as part of a railway history project, using Ilford HP5+ and developed in Pyrocat-HD. It became my favourite; everything was just right on the dot (I would have preferred the pickup truck not to be there). I would, of course, want it printed in a traditional darkroom on Ilford Fibre paper (Pearl Finish) and probably enlarged to 20x24. Selenium Toned. As for location, I believe in keeping things in context, so I would probably want it hung at the Huron County Museum in Goderich, Ontario.

2. You have the opportunity to meet in person one photographer (dead or alive) that you admire and you can ask him/her one single question, what the question will be?

I had a couple of photographers in the running for this one, but honestly, I think I would want one last chance to ask Bill Schwab one more question. He recently passed away and was always a positive influence on the photography community as a whole and on me. I would ask him what continued to drive him to create and contribute to the photography community.

3. For different reasons, many photographers like to return to places they have been before; tell us about such a place and why you want/wish to revisit (support your argument with a photo)

I would like to return to the Richard L. Hearn Power Station, a massive abandoned coal power station in Toronto’s Portlands. I visited it frequently between 2005 and 2015, and it was also where I learned many skills and techniques in camera, exposure, composition, and related areas. I want to go back because it’s been 10 years. I want to see how much has changed, how the use of the film set has altered the interior, and how I would capture it now with, say, my D750 and 14mm and 60mm lenses. And to see if I still ‘have it’ for capturing abandoned buildings.

4. Did you ever regret not taking a photo? Tell us about the one that “slipped” away.

Yes, many times yes. Honestly, the ones that I miss are from many years back, when I was exploring with a group of friends from the hobby. I regret not taking more pictures of the people I was with while exploring. Sure, I have a few here and there, but not as many as I should have taken.

5. If you’ll be giving the one-in-a-lifetime opportunity (no restrictions of time/era and no questions asked) to take a portrait of a person, dead or alive, who that person will be and why?

Robert Capa. I find him a fascinating character for his ability not only to tell a story but also to create great images and often to build a narrative around them (true or not). I would like to photograph him about a week after he landed at Normandy, in some small French town near where he was following the troops, in a dive bar well behind the front. I’d use my Rolleiflex and probably some Kentmere 200 shot at 400 and developed in Diafine.

If you want to familiarise yourself with the context, the first set of answers from Alex can be accessed here:

1. As photographers, we all like to look at photos and especially we appreciate the printed ones. So if you have the chance to print just one of your photos, just one, please show us which one it will be, explain to us why is that one, how big will you print it and where will you hang it (yes, you can choose MoMA, Louvre, etc)

That’s a good first question, to which I don’t really have an answer ready for. It’s probably the photo I have not yet taken. But that’s a bit silly, so if I pick one it would be “The Third Season”. It’s an autumn image of a quiet forest path in Daniken, Limburg in The Netherlands. Taken in 2014, it’s one of my first photos I was really happy with. It’s one of those photos where a lot of things ‘clicked’ (composition, good light, post-processing a RAW file). These days it looks a bit over-edited in my eyes, but this is just who I was 12 years ago and I won’t change a thing about it. Besides that, it also has personal significance because this place is where my father grew up and played a lot when he and his siblings were kids.

How big would I print it? It’s a 17Mpx file, so I would not print it as wallpaper size, but a framed A3-size would look really nice I think. If Fotomuseum aan het Vrijthof (a photography museum in Maastricht) ever has an exhibition about (landscapes of) Limburg, it would be cool to have that print in there as well. But until that time, I’d probably hang it in my own house.

2. You have the opportunity to meet in person one photographer (dead or alive) that you admire and you can ask him/her one single question, what the question will be?

Hm ... I think I would ask my grandfather a thing or two. He did photograph as well, but I was too young (or maybe not even born yet) to ever see him do that. I’ve only ever seen a few family pictures he took, but from what I know he was quite into photography. Must have been between the 1950s to 1980s or so.

3. For different reasons many photographers like to return to places they have been before; tell us about such a place and why do you want/wish to re-visit (support your argument with a photo)

There are many places I would like to go back to, just because now I have 15+ years more experience in taking photos. When I look back in my image catalogue I see way too many “snapshots” and not a lot of interesting images (or at least what I consider interesting now, compared to all those years ago). Croatia is one of those places!

4. Did you ever regret not taking a photo? Tell us about the one that “slipped” away.

Regret no, but there have been occasions on my way to work that I notice something but did not stop to take a photo (with my phone). Also sometimes I come across a place where things have changed, like a building has been demolished or the landscape changed significantly. Then I wish I had taken a photo of that place before the change.

5. If you’ll be giving the one in a lifetime opportunity (no restrictions of time/era and no questions asked) to take a portrait of a person -dead or alive, who that person will be and why?

I’m really not that interested in portrait photography at all, but if I had to it would be this: I work at an engineering company and on a wall we have this picture of the 1927 Solvay Conference which is dubbed “probably the most intelligent picture ever taken” because of all the scientists who were present. I think it would be fun to have a contemporary photo shoot with these people again!

If you want to familiarise yourself with the context, the first set of answers from Ronald can be accessed here: