Photo Credit: Laura Reichert
Hi Martina, tell our audience briefly about yourself and what you do?
I am a filmmaker, photographer and artist, a deeply sensitive person who feels at home in the water. Tears are the highest form of compliment.
("Silky Shark" by Martina Trepczyk)
Some people grew up with film as the norm, others picked it up after using digital cameras first. How did your journey with film begin?
As a ’90s kid, I grew up surrounded by a wide range of formats—home camcorders, VHS tapes, audio cassettes, disposable 35mm cameras, even vinyl. As a teenager, I proudly carried a Discman with self-burned CDs before eventually upgrading to an iPod Shuffle. Around that time, I bought my first DSLR with money from an internship at 14, but I continued shooting regularly on 35mm film alongside it.
At university, we were still trained on MiniDV, and only later, in my early twenties, I began working with Super 8 film as well. Looking back, it was a fascinating period of transition between formats. Moving between analog and digital so naturally taught me early on that cameras—and the mediums they use—are tools first and foremost, not just aesthetic choices.
Film forces a slower pace. How has the '8, 10, 12, 24 or 36 exposures' limit changed the way you interact with your subjects before you hit the shutter? Is this similar to filming on Super8 for you?
I love viewing the world through the viewfinder. I love composing and taking my time. Shooting on film has taught me to be selective and precise. Film was always expensive—and sometimes even out of stock at the local camera store—so it felt precious. That naturally made the process in turn itself more intentional.
The limit of exposures is something I really value. It makes you think before you press the shutter. I often wonder how many images sit on our iPhone camera rolls that we’ll never look at again.
For a long time, I would only take one shot per composition on 35mm. That comes from an exercise I learned at university, which I now teach in my own workshops: tell the story in a few images or less. Shooting the same scene from multiple angles doesn’t necessarily add depth or elevate the narrative–it’s just repetition. My professor asked us to take 20 shots of a particular story, then we sat down and culled half. Out of the half he asked what was really necessary to convey the message. 5 remained. It sits so deeply in my bones, that I now upon starting a new project work the reverse way. Trying to identify the few key images, between 3 and 5 I need to get. Obviously that can count for each scene or location. It’s a very useful tool, you should try it.
Anyways, It’s very similar with Super 8. I choose carefully what to film and let each shot run for at least five seconds so it has weight and intention. I rarely repeat takes.
Now, I only take a second and third shot of the same when I have a feeling I was shaky or the subject opened up more after the initial shot.
What matters more to you, the light of a scene or the subject in it?
Interesting question: neither. The composition of it. The most mundane object in beautiful light can be poetically beautiful likewise the most interesting subject can lack interest without tension. Therefore I think, composition can stir either a direction.
(Photo Credit: Martina Trepczyk)
What do you hope happens to your physical negatives fifty years from now?
I hope they will be carefully assembled in an exhibition next to wonderfully large fine art prints. Stating this was the lowest biodiversity and turning point, that it had gotten better ever since.
Briefly describe your workflow when camera scanning, what do you like about it, what not so much?
I enjoyed the technical set up and the feel of the metal of the VALOI easy35 itself. When I invest in camera gear, it must be robust and reliable. I was hoping to use my 90mm Leica R lens, but quickly learned that the close focus range started at 0.7m. Even when I added all extenders, it was not enough and looked hilarious. So it made sense that VALOI explicitly highlights to use macro lenses. Once I got that sorted, a borrowed Panasonic Lumix S 100mm f/2.8 Macro, the scanning process was straightforward. I placed my Leica SL3-S with VALOI easy35 next to my laptop, connected via USB-C cable. I opened Lightroom and the so-called tethered capture. I began to thread the negative film through and manually focused on the grain. Focusing on the grain is more reliable than the sharpest part of the photograph as sometimes the focus of the image itself is off. I enjoyed the tactile process. Once I had scanned the films–esentially raw photographs of negatives, I started with the black and white TriX film, I converted the negatives and was content how easily it worked but not particularly happy with that specific film as I did not expose correctly in the heat of the shoot. No playing around could bring back what should have been exposed properly. Then, I converted the Kodak Portra160 film and was stunned. Simply shocked. I did not want to stop adjusting the settings. The results were fantastic. It helped me understand the workaround. So I then reworked the previous scans and loved it since.
As a filmmaker you know all about colour grading, how much have you enjoyed editing your own scans? Any tips?
(Laughs) I certainly do not know all about colour grading, I just recently took some one on one mentoring. Precisely, because I feel colours intuitively but had no technical backing or understanding of colour space, conversions etc. Now I feel way better equipped. However, that same principle, I can now
In your opinion, how does the colour grade / edit of a photograph affect the way we perceive it?
To one question come many answers. Underwater, colour is distorted by physics—red disappears first at around 5 to 10 meters depth, followed by orange and yellow, while blues remain dominant. Editing there is therefore not enhancement, but reconstruction of perception: a way of “returning” information that is lost to the naked eye but still captured by the sensor.
I also imagine that we all perceive a spectrum of colour, and just because we label something as scarlet or ruby red does not mean that we all see it the same way. Scanning technology is a technical approach to translate what has been captured, but as an artist you may have experienced it differently.
Colour also changes ethical perception. In environmental work, it can either romanticise destruction or reveal a harsher reality. It influences how “true” something feels, even though the captured image is always filtered through the person behind the lens. To quote BBC director Mike Dibb, from whom I learned a lot, “A shot is a record of a truth, not the truth”, meaning a version, a framing, a perspective, a selection of something by someone.
(Photo Credit: Michael Messer)
What do you think of scans that show film borders and the film name, hot or not? Elaborate.
Very hot! I love that. Not everywhere and all the time but genuinely I love seeing the film borders of scans. I can always spot when it’s fake and it makes me cringe. Even big productions fake it. While the grain may work, they almost always forget that classic super-8 is filmed in 18fps or 24fps not 25fps, therefore the motion cannot appear the same. It always threw me off when I saw the opening titles of Succession.
the Original stock footage:
vs super 8mm fake at 00:41 https://www.reddit.com/r/SuccessionTV/comments/12veeoq/all_four_seasons_opening_credits/
Has camera scanning changed the way you approach taking analog photographs?
I wouldn’t say it has changed my approach, but scanning has definitely reminded me to take an extra second to get the exposure right. Well-exposed negatives are wonderful to work with. They scan beautifully and are easy and flexible to colour grade. But once something is heavily under- or overexposed, there’s very little that can be fixed in post.
Finally, what’s one piece of advice you would give to someone who’s new to photography?
Invest more into the story, than gear. Develop integrity and your handwriting so to speak rather than following trends. Look more at the negative space and definitively: kill your darlings. A refined selection is better than more of the same.
(Photo Credit: Martina Trepczyk)
More info about Martina here: https://www.martinatrepczyk.com/
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