Fish Factory

The Swiss photo duo Rita Kappenthuler and Nathan Federer joined us in June to capture the ever-changing Icelandic sky and the much-expected midnight sun.

“Exploring our visual languages through the old, almost “original” camera technique of the camera obscura has been driving us for the past five years. We often define travel time as studio time. ´Travelling´ from the darkroom to the immediate surroundings of the studio in St. Gallen as well as travelling with the whole photo lab to Sicily, Calabrien, Trieste, Croatia and now to Iceland, Fishfactory in Stödvarfjördur. We show the technique of the camera obscura in rimless exposed, mirror-inverted, negative black and white images. Our self-made cameras all have a fixed focal length and fixed exposure hole diameters, which in term requires direct proximity to the object. Image formats are decided in the photo lab when the photo paper is loaded. Our possibilities in box transport as well as in the laboratory result in the currently largest possible picture format of 60x90cm and the format 24x30cm, which we use most frequently.”

“The Fishfactory gave us the opportunity to set up a darkroom within a day. There we could use our large format camera and the large photo papers. In addition, there was a very uncomplicated water installation that was quickly implemented thanks to the help of Vinny and Franklin and met our requirements. This was a very helpful support for us and thanks to the technical interest of the two, a constant exchange about technical possibilities and our work developed. In addition, we were able to find and set up our wish for an empty 15-meter-long wall to hang up the already exposed sheets. For us, it was an incredibly practical, direct and uncomplicated approach to have Una, Vinny and Franklin support us in our project! We were able to really enjoy the whole month and implement our Iceland sun project!! A big thank you to the whole team. We would like to come again!”

Thank you Rita & Nathan!