Runs a film lab in North Wales and photographs its coastline, its wild horses and herself.
Who are you, and where do you photograph?
I’m a film photographer from the UK. I grew up in a small town in North Wales; my dad is Russian and my mum was Welsh. I moved to London for university and worked there for several years after my studies, before coming back to Wales in 2017. That’s around when I started to take photography more seriously.
How did you discover photography, and why film?
I’ve had a film camera since I was 14, but I only really started shooting regularly a few years ago, when I moved back home. The landscape here has always made me want to take photos, especially the coastline and the wild horses. Over time I started taking self-portraits and portraits of other people, and through that photography slowly wove its way into my life. As for the process, my lab develops and scans my film. I don’t really edit my photos — it’s something I should learn at some point, but for now I just crop or censor for Instagram.
What is your role at Southsun film lab?
I’m the lab manager, so my role involves a lot of things; I get stuck into all the processes that keep the lab running day to day. What I love most about working at Southsun is learning about the whole life of film, how it goes from a little canister to beautiful images at the end. I also feel lucky to be part of a business with such a good vision, and of a team with real passion and diligence when it comes to handling other people’s film.
Which moments in your life shaped the way you photograph?
All my experiences have shaped who I am and what I make, but yes, the place where I grew up is what led me to pursue photography seriously. Not only because the nature here is so beautiful, but because when I moved back I had the space, time and flexibility to shoot more for the first time in a while; I had lived and worked full time in London for years. That let me be creative, and it feels almost inevitable that I would go deeper into photography. Instagram has played a huge part too: finding artists who inspire me, feeling part of a community, collaborating with people all over the world. It continues to be an important and positive part of the process.
What does photography mean to you?
Photography is my attempt at expressing who I am and my vision of the world, and at turning it into something tangible and meaningful. It’s a big part of my life and I can’t imagine what I would do without it. It constantly motivates me to get up and make something good, and I’m always trying to get better at it. It really is a blessing to have something in your life that you’re obsessed with, in a good way, and that you can see yourself doing for the rest of it.
You take a lot of self-portraits. What do you get from being on the other side of the camera?
I think it’s a natural progression for a lot of photographers to turn the camera on themselves; you can experiment with your own ideas at your own pace. But it becomes much more than that, and self-portraits take on new meaning the deeper you go. You start telling the story of life as you experience it, a very personal narrative. I don’t feel confidence exactly from photographing myself, but I do feel a stronger sense of who I am, which doesn’t come naturally to me. And just the process of making something, even when the photos don’t turn out how I planned, always feels good.
Where does your inspiration come from, and is there a photographer you’d like us to interview?
Whenever I see an artist making good work I feel inspired, and it pushes me to get more intensity and meaning into my photos — film directors, musicians, photographers, writers. I think you should interview the photographer Adam Newsham. He has a real passion for film photography.
Pick one photograph and tell us the story behind it.
Last month I found some old 35mm Jessops film in a junk shop for £2 a roll. It expired in 2008, so I had low expectations. It sat in my fridge for a few weeks before I finally got round to shooting it. I thought I would experiment, and for the first time I shot a whole roll of nudes, quite simple forms, overexposed by a stop. When the scans came back from the lab I couldn’t believe how good the results were for film that old. I got up early the next morning hoping the rest of the rolls were still in the display cabinet. They were, so I bought all ten, and I still have a few in the fridge for special occasions. I would go as far as saying it’s the best film I’ve ever shot with.
What’s next?
I’m running my next film photography workshop with Chantal Convertini (@paeulini) in Portugal in October. Tickets go on sale very soon — check my Instagram (@love.errs) and my website (lenaaires.com) for details. In November I’ll be exhibiting one of my photos at Imagenation in Paris; the details are here. You can also buy fine art prints of my work from my print shop at Southsun.
