Female on Film: The Best Women Film Photographers (NSFW)
Let’s take a look at some of the best women film photographers we’ve featured over the years.
If you’re a long time reader of The Phoblographer, you’ll know about our soft spot for film photography. Although we love the world of digital, there’s something about creating an image on analog that excites us! Thankfully, even in the modern era, there are plenty of women picking up a film camera. The best women film photographers have surely made it to our site.
Why The Best Women Film Photographers?
If you didn’t know already, March is Women’s History Month. Do we only feature women in March? Of course not! But it’s the perfect time to channel our attention on some of the best women film photographers in our industry. Every woman featured below has been published on The Phoblographer already. If we did not include you, don’t worry, it’s not personal. We just had an extremely high standard to choose from!
1. Chantal Convertini is One of The Best Women Film Photographers
We published Chantal Covertini back in 2019. We totally fell in love with her self-portraits. Her mission for the series was simple: show the female body in its most natural form. No photoshop, no heavy edits. Just raw film photography that hels her connect to her own skin. It’s a beautiful series.
2. Kate Hook
Kate Hook is an extremely talented photographer. Not content with just pushing the bar through film, she creates her portraits using double exposures. Her work lives in a world of fantasy, splashing reality within it to give her images more depth. We have featured Hook several times. Each time she comes back with work that impresses more than the last. We look forward to seeing what she has for us in the future.
3. Kirsten Thys van den Audenaerde
We love the Polaroid. Who doesn’t? It’s a fun tool to make cool photos. It works well at parties, vacations, and in Audenaerde’s case, for projects. When we asked her why she opts for a Polaroid camera, she told us, “Polaroid gave me back that feeling of authenticity. I love how it captures a moment exactly how it was.”
4. Kaamna Patel
It’s four since we featured the work of Kaamna Patel. Based in Mumbai, India, Patel creates her photography using the Beautyflex 6×6 camera. We don’t like her because of the camera she uses, but rather how she uses it. With a focus on the mundane, she’s able to zone in on shape and geometry to make her images more eye-catching. That’s not an easy thing to do. And yet, Patel does it to a high standard.
5. Anastasia Egonyan
We like some fun fantasy at The Phoblographer. And Anastasia Egonyan offers exactly that. Her series, titled Unicorn Dream, takes us into the depths of Egonyan’s mind. It’s a simple portrait series. The work explores the female body and how a woman expresses her identity. Her subjects are regular women wanting to be creative. On how she makes them at ease, she says, “I simply ask it straight while shooting “are you comfortable with this pose, are you okay if we show as much, is it not too much for you, etc.”
6. Amy O’Boyle
We adore those creamy, pastel vibes in film photography. Amy O’Boyle wedding and portrait photography gives us everything we want from a film exposure. Fun fact: She actually stumbled into the profession by mistake. In an earlier interview, she told us, “I actually got into photography after drunkenly agreeing to shoot a neighbor’s wedding…” We’ll drink to that!
7. Valentin Rizvan
One of the more interesting submissions we received is from Valentin Rizvan. Her images, full of dynamic shapes and textures, are mesmerizing. They feel like somewhat of an optical illusion, as our eyes are magnetized to each frame. She’s certainly one of the best women film photographers we have come across. And we’re grateful she submitted her work to us.
Which Women Film Photographers do you Like?
As we’re in the birth of a new decade, we would love to see the future of women film photographers. Let us know which up and coming artists you feel we need to be aware of. Also, encourage them to submit their work. You can reach on arts [at] thephoblographer dot com.
All images used with permission. Lead photo by Kirsten Thys van den Audenaerde