Joshua Ihlenfeldt is a photographer and videographer from Durban, KZN, currently travelling East Africa working on a documentary feature film. He contacted us with regards to a collaboration and upon further inspection, we became immediately intrigued by his film photography.
As with many creatives, inspiration was found as a young boy. His father was an amateur photographer and captured what felt like every moment on 35mm and medium format film. “When I was 12, he handed down his go-to Minolta X700 to me and taught me everything I needed to know about the process of film photography.”
Fast forward a few years and he’s a professional creator with a recognisable documentary style. Stating that he just naturally points his camera towards the vibrancy and diversity of the places he visits and the cultures that exist within them. Inspired by portraits and landscapes, he tries to capture those scenes through a perspective which translates their beauty authentically.
Film is timeless and the trick is to teach yourself to be patient and trust the process, it’s a truly humbling experience. You capture groundbreaking images but light leaks and blank rolls ground you again. And you’ve only got 36 images per roll – so you have to make them count. He doesn’t edit his film work and prefers experimenting and diversifying with different colour, colour reversals and black and white film. “Even expired film is fun and experimental.”
One of his favourite places to shoot film is the Car Boot Market on the outskirts of Durban CBD. There are so many interesting scenes and people to capture. More recently he’s been travelling around South Africa and surroundings and enjoys photographing encounters on the road.
Tips and tricks:
“I’m all about motivating people to shoot film.” Even for absolute beginners. He urges people to master one type of film and camera, get to know its strengths and weaknesses and shoot in various atmospheres to learn the settings. Just start shooting and don’t hold back! Even though it seems as though it’s a dying scene, you would be surprised how big the film community really is. Reach out to people that inspire you. If you don’t ask, you won’t know. Trust in the first and last image you take, they’ll be your keepers.
Josh’s gear list:
- Film: 35mm Canon AE-1 P, Pentax K1000, Nikonos V, Pentax Espio 115M.
- Stills: Canon EOS R5 C and Canon EOS RP.
- Motion: Canon EOS C70, Atomos Flame 7” Monitor and RODE Wireless GO II.
- With regards to underwater photography he uses a Brother housing, whether it’s for film, stills or video.
Josh says that the future is still very unclear. His love for film photography is real but he’s recently stepped into filmmaking and documentaries. “I hope to create work that provokes people and inspires them in the right way. Creating awareness on challenges faced within humanity and promoting empathy and call to action.” He’s just joined a production company called Zetu, with Marc Neilson and he’s growing his own label, Wild Diverse co-owned with Richard Cowan. Their ethos is around “observing your surroundings”, striving to showcase the wild beauty of Africa.
Some of our favourite 35mm film:
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