Susan van Tonder (b. 1989)
Pretoria
What kinds of things do you most enjoy photographing?
My dream superpower is invisibility. So anything in its natural state – unaware or unchanged by my presence is what really floats the boat. Especially humans – hence lots of pictures of the back of people’s’ heads. So more often than not I tend to only ask people I am comfortable with to ‘pose’ for me: even though they’re aware of the camera it’ll still be real and open. That being said, I would like to work on this since it’s fear holding me back more than anything else. I’d love to be that person who can approach someone and be like, “Hey really aesthetically pleasing stranger, can I possibly photograph you?”, but alas!
I also love the seemingly mundane, especially within small details or moments: sometimes they’re things that could easily fall into being cliché. But to me that overlooked beauty is even more powerful because of its ubiquitous nature.
Describe your photographic style.
My style is very opportunistic and all over the show. I admire photographers who have a unique and distinguishable aesthetic, and I think it’s because I don’t have one. My approach to an image is very impulsive: something will catch my eye and the way I shoot it is dictated by whatever I am after capturing.
Photography is a lot about the journey. How has it influenced your personal life and the way in which you view the world (around you)?
It’s funny I have never thought about this but in retrospect I guess it straight up changed my life. When I was 21 I got my first film camera (Olympus Trip 35) as a gift from my boyfriend at the time. I was a confused, frequently drunk person at the time going through a major crisis due to the fact that I was studying BSc Life Science and I had no fucking idea why. I fell in love with the medium and for the first time realised how important creative expression is for my sanity. This realisation very much shaped my life choices in the years to come.
Photography is also about capturing a moment in time. What is your approach to a shot and your approach to a body of work?
I try and always have my camera on me. I get in this zone where I take two steps back and observe the situation from an outside perspective. It’s like creeping on life. I love that state. It’s very indulgent and allows me to be simultaneously present and in my own head space. It’s a state of hyper-awareness. In this state I feel like I am open to and ready for whatever my environment is offering me.
Is photography your professional career? Or do you work in another field?
My sister and I have a teeny weeny production company together, so for the money dollar bills I make videos. Film (video) is a major passion for me. The decision to go into film was not completely supported or understood by my family. In the beginning, I had trouble even telling people because I felt so silly going from a BSc in Science to film at the not-so-tender age of 26, but it was legit the best, albeit scariest, decision I have made. When you get a late start in something there are a lot of feelings of inadequacy that come with it, and I am still battling these, but all round really enjoying the journey. As for film photography, I really enjoy having it as far away from being a career as possible. It’s a creative refuge for me away from the pressure and anxiety I deal with regarding my career. It’s where I do whatever I want regardless of commerciality or whether people like my work.
What gear do you shoot with? Specifically camera arsenal and film stock.
So I just got a new camera! Eeek! Pentax LX. Goddamn it’s beautiful. So can’t wait to shoot with the new baby… I am a complete camera dork. The amount of time I lose on eBay browsing cameras is sinful.
Otherwise, I currently own; a Canon AE-1 – chunky black beast that I have had for more than six years and dropped more than 1000 time but it LIVES ON, a Canon Ql17 – rangefinder, sticky shutter drives me mad, weird focus system, but god the sharpness of the images it produces makes it worth the hassle, an Olympus Mju ii – pocket sized point and shoot with an amazing 2.8 Zeiss lens, four different flash modes and a focal range that starts at 35cm (how lekker!), an Olympus Pen EE – half frame auto exposure fun, such a good looking whee-camera as well, and a Mamiya C220 – I have yet to bond with this camera, it’s a lightweight medium format twin-lens reflex camera made in the early 1970s and every step is mechanical and the image in the viewfinder is a reverse (so it’s a bit of a mind fuck).
As for film, I tend to buy a lot of expired Kodak or Kodak Gold 200 just because it’s cheap and everywhere and the colours are good. Ektar 100 is also a good punchy film – really saturated colors and not too expensive, then Porta is hard on the wallet but nothing beats the skin tone. Also the Portra 800 is versatile: the exposure latitude is vast and the grain is pleasant. I still don’t know what I like in terms of black and white film. Ilford HP5 and Kodak Tri-X are probably the ones I have shot on, but I still feel like I haven’t found my match and need to try out a lot more B&W rolls.
Growth is important for any artistic craft. How do you stay motivated and enthusiastic about your work?
I have gone through some major slumps, but I feel that it is natural so I allow myself to do so. The biggest came after returning from South Korea. South Africa is unfortunately not the safest place to just walk around with a camera. So I really, really missed having that constant access to a city and masses of people and all the images it had to offer. I still get bummed out about it, but I always get back into it because I just end up missing it too much – it’s a solid habit in some ways. There is so much I still have to learn and so much I want to do. Having those goals is what keeps me going as well.
In the age where digital photography is prevalent, what draws you to film and what makes it special to you?
Yoh, EVERYTHING! To start off, I guess, the most obvious answer would be my fascination with the process. I remember googling how film images actually work and realising that the principles of the way our eyes and film cameras record images is based on the same principles of photochemistry (Photos – Photons – light particles – boom!). I think that’s why Susan Sontag’s essay ‘On Photography’ is so powerful to me. If you haven’t read this do yourself a favour it’s a masterpiece. I feel what she discloses on the nature of a photograph can be understood and reinforced by the science behind the way a film image is formed.
“To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s mortality, vulnerability, mutability, precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt.” That is exactly what happens physically speaking as well – a million particles of light are taken, stolen and then chemically converted and preserved for us to look at for year to come. It’s magic.
I take pictures exclusively in natural light so I feel film is simply aesthetically superior in this regard. At the end of the day a pixel breaks light down and will always be a linear representation of what you have taken a picture of. The way film handles colours, how light bleeds from a highlight – it’s so much more life–like. That ‘film look’ is basically our brain feeling at home with an image because it’s exactly how our eyes/brains handle light.
As an extremely indecisive person, the limitations of film are liberating to me: they remove the option of excess and force me to focus on only a few things at a time. When I take a picture with my film camera I cannot take ten pictures of the same subject and then review these immediately. It intensifies that moment you take a picture because of the finality of it. I engage with the image on a deeper level because there is no second look, no redo. It feels almost meditative because you forget about everything else and exclusively focus on the image and everything about it – the light, the composition, the movement. It relaxes me. The click-swish sound of the shutter brings me this primordial pleasure – like popping a pimple (if you know, you know).
Lastly, I love vintage film cameras because they are beautiful, masterfully crafted mechanical pleasures that you can get for a fraction of the price of a digital camera that delivers the same image quality. The fact that I can own a film camera from the 70s and it’s still in working condition is amazing. I got my rangefinder (Canon QL17) with a 45mm 1.7 Canon lens on it for R700! Life changing stuff. I could really go on and on here, but those are the big reasons for my undying love of film and why I can’t see myself ever crossing over to digital, ever!
What are your influences? Please list other photographers you look up to or things that generally inspire your image-making process.
My hero is Ryan McGinley. The first body of work of his I saw of his was called “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”, a series of studio-shot black and white film portraits of 20-something year-olds. The honesty he captures, his choice of subjects, the striking emotion of his images… are all things I aspire to. Interestingly enough, a lot of the people I admire are also filmmakers, for example; Jimmy Marble, Bex Day and Jason Tippet who documents his hometown, Atwater in Los Angeles – the sheer quantity of images alone is impressive. Bex Day is a self taught photographer and filmmaker from London and the humour and zany-ness of her images is wonderful. Jimmy marbles’ pastel toned and perfectly composed images feel like another planet. I also enjoy finding a person like myself (someone using film to document their life and the things they see around them). All of these nameless people continually inspire me. This sharing of what is seen, felt, and experienced conveyed and connected by a mutual love and use of film pushes me to continually share my images, however insignificant they might be.
What else do you enjoy? (Hobbies, etc – Any other creative exploits or interests?)
My career and journey in the craft of filmmaking is another major interest/passion of mine. Currently doing a lot of corporate to build up funds for more creative projects; a short film and a doccie. All first attempts and still in the planning phase, so the anxiety is real. Otherwise I also LOVE dogs, especially crazy about my own dog, Poopy – she’s my soulmate and the best cuddler in the world. And I couldn’t bare life without music.
Any tips for aspiring film photographers?
Study light – don’t just count on the light meter. Mastering light is a never-ending crusade because your eyes lie to you. Don’t get too bummed by bad rolls. Don’t develop your pictures at shitty developers! Google is your friend. Everything you want to know is on the Internet.
What lies on the horizon? (any plans for series, exhibitions, travels, etc.) And what do you hope to achieve in the future?
I really want to start making more structured bodies of work and get over the insecurities that hold me back in that regard. I have ten thousand ideas, I just need to man up and get to them.
I NEED a dark room in my life. Luckily my sister and boyfriend are also keen so we are planning on building one in the near future – any film photographers based in Pretoria keen to join the party? Holler!
Instagram: @susnapsan
All photos by Susan van Tonder
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