The Sunbeams Analogue Photography News: From Germany to Kenya

“Spring is sprung, the grass is ris, I wonder where ‘dem boydies is? The Boyd is on the wing, but that’s absoyd, ‘cos everybody knows – the wing is on the boyd!”

Hey everybody, it’s us, back again by popular demand the kindness of Hamish to bring you up to speed on what’s been happening these last two weeks at Sunny 16 Towers

First off in episode 97 Ade and Rachel were joined by the brilliant Monika Andrae, photographer, educator, podcaster, natural fibre nerd, and (along with Chris Marquardt) author of the Film Photography Handbook. It was great to hear how Monika uses her analogue photography courses to teach students how to experiment with their processes, break rules and generally get creative in ways you can only do with analogue processes. When not engaged with photography Monika has many other creative outlets, including spinning her own wool from unusual fibres from all over the world, even Yak hair from Tibet! Monika also hosts her own German language film photography podcast called Absolut Analog, which you should all check out (so long as you understand German).

Show 98 which has just dropped saw Tristan Aitchison, filmmaker, photographer, and all-round delight joining us. Tristan just released his first feature film; Sidney and Friends, a documentary about Sidney, an intersex boy in Kenya who had to flee his own home when his parents tried to kill him. Ending up in Nairobi, Sidney eventually met up with a small transgender community, and this film is their stories, a “heartfelt exploration of the hopes, dreams, and everyday reality of a group of intersex and transgender friends fighting to survive on the edge of Kenyan society”.

For the filming of Sidney and Friends, Tristan used a selection of vintage lenses to create a distinctive feel and look, and within the documentary are many still images shot on film cameras by Tristan during his time in Nairobi. The film is currently doing the rounds of the international film festivals, and will hopefully be more widely available later in the year. You can find more information about Sidney and Friends, and a trailer for the film here.

As well as his filmmaking, Tristan also recently held an exhibition of his photography up in his home of the Scottish Highlands at the Flow Photowall. He used a selection of lo-fi vintage and toy cameras to capture his often photographed surroundings in a very different way from the picture postcard images we’re used to seeing, and his work is well worth a look.

In other news MiNT Cameras announced this week that they would be Kickstarting an updated version of their high end instant TLR camera the TL70 in partnership with Rolleiflex. The new Rolleiflex Instant Kamera is following the path that Yashica trod last year by attaching a familiar name with a fine heritage to a new camera, the difference is that this time the camera it’s being attached to is a quality product with a well respected, if much shorter, history of its own.

 This announcement follows on from the ongoing project, the RF70 a rangefnder Instant camera which will use Instax wide film. A lot going on then! We actually got a chance to sit down and talk with Gary Ho, founder and CEO of MiNT cameras for this week’s show, so if you’re interested be sure to listen this Thursday.

That’ll do us for this update. As I write this we’re preparing for a Sunny 16 road trip this week to record something a bit special for show 100, follow us on Instagram and Twitter to get a sneak preview later this week. If you haven’t listened yet you can find all our shows at sunny16.podbean.com.

If you are already listening, and need more analogue photography podcasts to keep you going there’s an ever growing selection of great shows to be had. A couple of fun recent additions to the pantheon are The Lensless Podcast, co-hosted by past guest Corey Canon, a show purely about Pinhole Photography. The Homemade Camera Podcast is, as its name suggests, all about home made cameras.

Until next time, shoot film, be nice, and if you haven’t done already, get out and shoot some pinholes this week!

The Sunbeams

Share this post: