Wyoming, July 2021

Interview with Brendan Flesher
by Abel Ibáñez G.

What camera and other tools did you use to shoot this photograph?
I shot this image using a Mamiya RB67 paired with a 65mm Sekor C and Kodak Ektar 100.

Tell us about the place and time when this photograph was taken. What were you doing there that day?
I snapped this while driving back to California from my brother’s place in South Dakota. There was no rush to get home so I took my time and drove through most of Montana and Wyoming, stopping at Bozeman, Butte, Yellowstone, and Jackson Hole.

What do you like the most about this photograph and why?
Although there are countless amazing images of Yellowstone, a majority of them are taken in the same, well-known areas. This photo is from a largely forgettable part of the park that certainly deserves further appreciation. If anything I like it most because it reminds me to save some film for the ‘lesser’ landmarks.

Is there a title for this photo? If so, why did you choose it? If not, what would be a good title for it?
So far, as a standalone image I’ve simply titled it as Wyoming, July 2021. In the future if I were to include it with other images of Yellowstone, I would be more specific and title it Nymph Lake, July 2021. I would love to see if anybody else has taken any snaps of Nymph Lake in the past!

Was there anything that you can consider an influence or source of inspiration to create this photo?
Although there are no direct influences that come to mind, I would say that some folks’ unconditional love for Kodak Ektar 100 inspired me to give the film stock a chance and shoot it during my all important trip through the American West.

Tell us something fun, interesting, weird or intense that happened at any point during the process of making this photo.
At this point in my trip I was running fairly low in color negative film and was fearing that I would have to far more austere to make the film last. Fortunately on the way to Yellowstone I found a decent photo store in Bozeman that had but three rolls of 120 C-41 film in stock. This was the only store with film within a 400-mile radius, so was quite happy to get those three rolls! At the end of the trip, I only had one roll of color negative film to spare.

For this photo, did you do something completely different to what you normally do for other photos?
This was an image that I didn’t think much about until I was able to scan all of my negatives back home. It was only after seeing the final image that I really felt like it was worth sharing. Most of my favorite snaps end up being that way even before I even see the negatives, so this was a happy surprise!

Did you learn something during the process of shooting this photo?
If anything, it taught me to be patient when processing all of my negatives so that I don’t miss out on any worthy snaps.

If you could have collaborated with anyone to shoot this photo, who would they be and why?
This would have been a great image to take with my favorite large format photographer, Alex Burke. Knowing his expertise, the color have a perfect, natural vibrancy, the lighting would be incredible, and the exposure would be spot on.

Where and in which format would you like this photo to be exhibited?
This photo would definitely look best in physical, print form. Because I shot this image in 6×7 medium format, it would be easy to enlarge it by quite a bit.