16 Experimental Film Soup Photographers You Need to Know in 2023!
I like to say “I film because I can’t Photoshop.” But in lieu of my inability to use technology to successfully aid my art, I use the malleability of film, combined with chance, as my creative conspirator. Film soup is one such method to let go, play, and let the mysteries of the universe intersect with the work I create.
Love it or hate it, film soup is anything but milquetoast. It elicits strong reactions among photographers, which can be jarring for those less confident in their body of work as an artist. But those on this list know that good art gets the conversation started, and they aren’t afraid to be in the center of it all.
The 16 photographers I have selected are no exception to the rule. These artists have the brave spirit that allows them the humility to know that perfection and control are an illusion, and that a life of embracing the unknown is one that is open to possibility. Though, they all embrace this process, they represent just a small spectrum of ways to soup film. Whether they soak their negatives in a strange concoction before developing or prefer to destroy their negatives or polaroids during or after development, it’s all an unduplicatable, unpredictable way to give up their art to the film gods. (And a surefire way to show yourself #filmknows).
As owner of a lab that specializes in developing and scanning film soup, I know this list is nowhere near comprehensive; whittling down names to fit in this article felt like a Herculean task. The work and images I see come through my lab and on my Instagram feed prove film soup is alive and well and super rad.
So let this be a mere jumping off point into the vast world of the beautiful brutality of film soup!
16 Experimental Film Soup Photographers You Need to Know in 2023!
Ella Morton | Toronto, Canada | ellamorton.com | @ellasharpmorton
Ella Morton’s work as a visual artist and filmmaker has brought her to the ends of the earth, landing her all over Canada, Scandinavia, Greenland and Antarctica. Travel doesn’t stop her from experimenting with her film, but fuels her to do just that. Her work invites the viewer to not merely take in these images and landscapes with benign complacence, but initiates the story of the sublime and fragile qualities of these remote locations.
Kelter Photography | Connemara, Ireland | kelterphotography.com | @kelterphotography
Anne-Mette was only 7 years old when she got her first analog camera, a fixed-frame 7x7, back in 1978. As a child she saw the infinite possibilities contained within the boundaries of the small frame and continues to tap into her inner-child artist with today’s Polaroid film. Anne-Mette knows it’s not coincidence that draws her to a similar-sized film she had as a child, and she uses and experiments with this instant format to give voice to the narratives within.
Mallory Brooks | Atlanta, Georgia | mallorybrooksphotography.com | @mallorybrooks.photography
Mallory Brooks fell in love with photography while traveling in 2012, but the moniker “travel photographer” doesn’t quite fit her. She is an expert at foregoing the beaten path to seek out the nooks, crannies, and everyday objects of an environment. She takes this skill with her as she creates art in faraway places or even her own hometown. Mallory shows us there is beauty all around us, even in the midst of the mundane; we just have to look at it with fresh eyes.
Mark Tamer | London, UK | marktamer.co.uk | @unreelcity
Mark Tamer knows the click of a button is merely the first step in creating his art; this act serves as a jumping off point for negotiation with the film chemistry. Anything from “failed” instant photos to expired photographic paper can inspire an inkling of an idea that can ultimately be finessed and coaxed until it reveals the fullness of the story. Mark shows that time and experimentation can be a friend to even the instant photographer if we only decide to keep persisting.
Al Brydon | Sheffield, UK | al-brydon.com | @al_brydon
Al Brydon’s transcendent, unadulterated encounter with nature is a gift that translates to those who view his art. He doesn’t set out to “capture” the beauty of the earth, but to exist within it. Choosing to experience nature, rather than use it as a means to an end, gives Al’s work a childlike wonder. The earth is Al’s playground and he invites us to join in.
Katie Mollon | Detroit, Michigan | analogdreamer.onbokeh.com | @analoguedreamer
Katie Mollon’s main muses are her hometown of Detroit and the Great Lakes. Instead of capturing these on film with the eye of a documentarian, Katie depicts emotional landscapes through her use of experimental cameras and techniques. The destructive aspects of film soup add to the decay of buildings subject to the elements, and the swirls of ingredients over the water only adds to the narrative of the lakes as metaphor for our subconscious.
Valeria Schettino | Paris, France | valeriaschettino.com | @partenopev_35mm
Valeria Schettino is a storyteller to her core, but has found photography fills in where words don’t suffice. Her images depict a world in which dreams are reality; even the blurriest moment has clarity, burns become stars, mirrors are chances for self-discovery, and the furthest horizon is mere steps away. This world fears no color and beckons our imaginations and creativity to bust through constraints we take as givens, and to embrace what it could look like if we could do or be anything.
Cami Turpin | Utah, USA | bluehillimages.com | @bluehillimages
Cami Turpin is no stranger to experimental film and processes. She is a pro at letting go, allowing the universe to intervene in her art, and seeing exactly the message it has for her. She melds play with deep introspection to create pieces that cut to the core of what it is to be human.
Dylan Crain | South Carolina, USA | @ocularreality
Dylan Crain doesn’t view himself so much as a film souper, but as a photographer set out to try any and every style imaginable. In a Benjamin Button-eque journey, his first smartphone served as an entre to digital photography, which ushered him into his now passion for film photography. Whether it’s the Minolta xd5 that he inherited from his late mother to toy cameras to Polaroids, there isn’t a film or camera he won’t shoot or a subject he will shy away from.
Dylan Crain | South Carolina, USA | @ocularreality
Dylan Crain doesn’t view himself so much as a film souper, but as a photographer set out to try any and every style imaginable. In a Benjamin Button-eque journey, his first smartphone served as an entre to digital photography, which ushered him into his now passion for film photography. Whether it’s the Minolta xd5 that he inherited from his late mother to toy cameras to Polaroids, there isn’t a film or camera he won’t shoot or a subject he will shy away from.
Rachel White | London, UK | @vivid_opia
Rachel White used the early days of COVID to push her into the world of film and away from the digital images she had been creating for years. Photography was a way to get out of the house, but it wasn’t until her confidence grew in her use of film that she undertook more experimental practices. These techniques were integral in moving her from using photography as a way to take pictures, to photography as an artistic expression. Her growing camera collection, time spent traveling, and love of nature give her endless inspiration for new ways to create art with her surroundings.
Naomi James | South London, UK | naomi-james.co.uk | @naomi_james_photography
Naomi James’s love affair with Polaroid film began after stumbling upon a camera in a local charity shop. It wasn’t until COVID started that Naomi fully embraced soaking her film in concoctions to document the significance of the three lockdowns she and her fellow country-mates endured. Naomi placed her Polaroids in boxes and removed them at various milestones as restrictions lifted. The resulting juxtaposition of softness in color and subject with the decay of the film underscores what we all clung to during that tumultuous time. Even in the darkest days we can catch glimpses of hope.
Julie Guertin | Montreal, Canada | @julieguertin
Julie Guertin holds a special place on this list, because it was her work that introduced me to film soup many years ago now. She shared her experimental images in a Facebook group we were both part of and it inspired me to learn how to develop C41 film to give it a go. The freedom, color, and intensity in her images spoke to me and proved to be silent encouragement for my own trek into the realm of letting go and trusting film. Julie's signature use of negative space, light leaks, film soup, and multiple exposures captures her interpretation of the world unfolding before her, offering viewers a glimpse into her creative perspective.
Patryk Klimkowicz | Krakow, Poland | @moongrowl
Patryk Klimkowicz has truly found his niche in experimental film techniques. Whether he is using film soup, cross-processing, applying various types of dyes to color the film, or making masks from stained glass paints, he is constantly pushing the boundaries of what film can do. He draws inspiration from the macro to the micro, embracing the awe of the expanses of the cosmos down to the intricacies in the smallest of insects, fungi, moss, and lichen.
Alane Klein | Minnesota, USA | @alaneonaplane
Alane Klein knows that rules are all just suggestions and her best art comes from pushing past the expected. She has a passion for making art from other things and fully utilizes whatever is on hand to aid her creations. This ranges from using any old/broken camera in her possession to souping her film with items found on site. The thrill of experimenting culminates in images that she knows she could never recreate; the layers of multiple exposures, ebs, film soup, and long exposures combine to create entire stories that allow us to enter the unique way Alane encounters the world.
Mia B. | Santa Cruz, CA | @nationale7
Mia B. is unique on this list, because her images are made in conjunction with other film photographers. And that’s one of Mia’s main techniques: collaboration. She does this in the form of film swaps with photographers all over the world. One person takes images across the roll and sends it to another to extract and photograph over. Add that to film soup and it’s the ultimate letting go. As an art therapy major, Mia believes in the power of surrendering and trusting the process. A perfectionist by nature, experimentation is a way of pulling herself out of that tendency, dismissing the desire for control, and surrendering to a world of possibilities.
Photographs in collaboration with: @nural_idr, @ola.and.unicorns, and @j.edmund.
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Amy Elizabeth is an artist, mentor, educator, writer, lab owner, and experimenter currently residing in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She views art as a way to externally process, and she extols the therapeutic act of just showing up and letting go. Only when we are vulnerable with ourselves can we begin to be vulnerable and deeply connect with others. All of her endeavors bolster her efforts to empower others to open up, be seen, and believe they are worthy of connection just as they are. Whether she is expressing her inner workings through self-portraits or developing film soup sent to her lab, she aims to prove perfection is a myth and the real beauty of living is found by embracing the messes.
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