CHASING SUNLIGHT: SHOOTING WITH MONTREAL BASED SUPER DUO MICHELLE KARPMAN & AVIVA ARTZY (AMAMAK).
BY MICHELLE KARPMAN & AVIVA ARTZY, JANUARY 2012. ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF AMAMAK | AMAMAKPHOTO.TUMBLR.COM

HEY! CHECK THIS OUT! (A NOTE FROM JUNNNKTANK)
Amamak are a super cool photo duo from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Michelle shoots, Aviva poses. Somewhere in between, magic happens. I approached the duo about contributing to JUNNNKTANK and without a moments delay they flung theirselves right into it. Ever since I had stumbled upon their work and interviewed Michelle --Read the interview-- I have been spellbound by their gorgeous images.

This is the first time trying this, and I certainly hope it is not the last. The following are not only a collection of photos from a beautiful photo shoot that you won't see anywhere else, but they are also the personal insights and endearing "jibber jabber" from the artists themselves. From here on out it's all AMAMAK. --I can't thank them enough.

INTRODUCING AMAMAK (IN THEIR OWN WORDS)
Michelle, the wanderlusty gnome, had scouted out some neat locations in Stowe Vermont, and invited along her pixie-model Aviva for the adventure. Equipped with eight cameras, infinite rolls of film, reflectors, outfits, heels and snacks, the two set out for the woods, to return only as the sun disappeared and the cold set in. This was a weekend like none other – one tinged with magic, coloured by fancy and marked by courage. The two suffered freezing streams, braved overgrown forests and conquered small insects.

Many a moon has passed since that enchanted weekend, and yet the photos, forever fixed in time, remain a reminder of the hardships and wonders experienced. While a day may come when the courage of Amamak fails, when they forsake their friends and break all bonds of fellowship, it is not this day.

Thus is the legend of Amamak...

AVIVA


I think the story behind this shot is the perfect example of how almost all of our shoots work. In the midst of planning all the places we wanted to go that day – in particular a stream Michelle had visited before, we glimpsed a tiny view of this other stream from some small patch of road and thought "Well that looks promising, let's check it out". We parked in the lot behind some tiny store that sold I-can't-remember-what. Sporting goods, maybe?

We got out of the car - clearly already getting funny looks from the folks inside – and trekked to the side of the stream, proclaimed it shoot-worthy, and proceeded to unload a small army's worth of cameras and equipment from the car. This is where things get fun (or kind of terrible, if you’re in the moment). I slowly made my way to the middle of the stream, trying not to slip or fall, in some of the coldest water I've ever felt, followed closely by Michelle, cameras in each hand.

Within a few minutes the two of us could barely feel our feet due to the cold. Meanwhile each shot required direction, awkward waddling about in the water, and the handing off of various cameras, backs, film, Polaroids, darkslides and lenscaps- all while yelling at poor Matt (chauffeur/boyfriend) not to get sand on anything, and bitching about how cold we were. Basically, the general mood 'on location' was some weird kind of aggravated, hectic urgency about capturing this beautiful, serene place. (Does the irony need pointing out?)

Like many of our shoots, there was a weird sort of balance that happened between the yelling, complaining and banter, and capturing of moments like this. Somehow, despite all this, by the time we finished – some two hours later – we didn't even care about the cold.

MICHELLE


Face shot of Aviva time! We take too many of these, but also not enough. I don’t know. There’s a complicated balance here – how many times can you take pictures of the same person’s face before it’s given all it has to offer? You’d think not that many. But then you have a shoot like this one, and you get a whole new view of the entire face-shooting enterprise.

This picture was taken right after the Polaroid which you’ll find somewhere here (beautiful light, angelic skin, youthful gaze? You’ll find it) in an effort to capture that light and mood as much as possible on as many formats as possible before it disappeared forever. So I told Aviva to not move at all, grabbed the Polaroid 600SE and snapped off another picture nearly immediately after the first had developed. And completely un-disappointingly, it was not the same at all. There was no more god-light, no more youthful innocence – all had been replaced with this eerily haunting look, black eyes of death and a kind of unexpected knowingness. Nothing had noticeably changed except everything.

AVIVA


It honestly wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that I’m in love with this picture. I know, that sounds bad, given that it’s a picture of me. But I really don’t see it as just that. This was taken near the end of a whole day’s worth of shooting, (you’ll hear more about that from Michelle) and you’d think we would have been all photoed out, but of course our photo-needs could not be so easily satisfied.

The lower the sun got, the more urgent our shooting became – and as time went on, we found ourselves migrating towards a different set of trees and eventually to this unbelievably pretty valley (you’ll see that in this collection of shots, too – a whole gradient of colours draped in sunlight – not easy to miss). We basically raced against the sunset, as we so often do, until the last shooting light was gone.

When it comes down to it, we (sorry, “Michelle-God”) somehow captured an eerie, and yet crazy cinematic shot. One which both stands alone well, could easily evoke whatever sentiments you want to project onto it, and yet will always be a reminder to me of how amazing that place was and how ridiculous Michelle and I are. I consider this a huge win-win in my book.

MICHELLE


We were coming home after the day of shooting – already having gone to all the locations we had ‘planned’ (stumbled upon!), Aviva still wearing that ridiculous body suit that is presumably sold to real people who go outside like that not for photoshoots (=baby prostitutes, no offense Aviva) – when we found this place. Luckily we don’t actually plan anything or have shots in our head beforehand so we are very open to finding new locations/it’s our only method!

So we hopped out of the car, grabbed the closest (four) cameras, and set off on foot, like real adventurers on a mission. I say this sort of jokingly, but I actually see a lot of our shoots in this way. We go around and search for unchartered territory, for untouched forests and groves and fields, and we film-freeze them. A big part of my photography is just being outdoors – which is really at complete odds with my personality, which can only be classified as a hermit (Aviva too, we secretly nest together).

Enough outdoorsy mush. We found this place, and it was perfect – so we frantically took pictures for about thirty minutes before the sun abandoned us, and we were left to walk back home on foot. Two weeks later, this picture, which I don’t even remember taking, apparently right after the sun had set, appeared in the prints I picked up at the photo lab.

MICHELLE


It’s pretty clear, I think, that I/we have a thing for sun. A really deep, passionate love affair where my wants can actually never be satisfied. Whole picture invisible because of sun flair? NOT ENOUGH. Aviva has no face, just sun rays? WANT MORE. It’s a really impossible and really wonderful relationship (strangely identical to mine and Aviva’s). This picture, in all its subdued-sunny-glory has a certain quiet radiance which I can’t get away form. Though definitely not one of my brightest captures, it has a feeling of warmth and hint at that moment before it all disappears.

More than just the sun, though, there’s a real mood to this picture. Aviva and I had originally scouted out the location in the hopes of shooting in the little nearby stream which turned out to be too cold, and we turned out to be too lazy/tired/generally whiney. So we walked over to this sandy-wooded area, and Aviva stopped, and I can’t remember if it was instantly perfect or if I’ve just modified my memory to make it seem so, but as far as I can remember (as skewed as memory may be), everything was perfect. She pulled off her faerie-skirt, got back in position, looking over her shoulder, and the shot was made permanent.

There was something about the place, about Aviva’s expression, that made it feel like I caught her there. Like maybe she actually does hang out in bodysuits with mesh fronts in overgrown forests, and sometimes is seen by wandering photographers. Or not, you know.

AVIVA


As strange as it is to call ourselves ‘outdoor photographers’ when we generally love to spend our days crouched around a computer screen, basement dweller-style, the title somehow rings true. The thing about Amamak is that we are not what you’d call ‘outdoorsy people’. Aviva comes from a family of athletic people where she’s the black sheep they make fun of for being such a wimp, and she in turn makes fun of Michelle. So basically just imagine two whiny, Jewish city girls wading through forest growth, getting their clothes stuck to things and legs scratched and fumbling for film and completely loving it. Weird, right? That’s pretty much exactly what happened leading up to this shot

We initially set up our tripods and film and cameras no more than 10 metres off the path. As the sun moved, so did we, migrating from spot to spot, chasing beams of light, until we were pretty much in the middle of a forest. Somehow, all the scratches, bug bites, ruined shoes, and camera-bottoms covered in dirt don’t bother us when we’re in shoot-mode. Plus, if it results in pictures like THIS, we think it well worth the effort.

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SO. MUCH. MORE. CHECK THEM OUT. BUY THEIR PRINTS. FALL IN LOVE WITH EVERYTHING THEY DO.
AMAMAKPHOTO.TUMBLR.COM | ETSY.COM/SHOP/MICHELLEKARPMAN

&
READ THE INTERVIEW WITH MICHELLE
JUNNNKTANK.COM/MAK

EXPLORE, NEVER QUIT | NEWS. FEATURES. ABOUT.

JUNNNKTANK really came to pass as a way of keeping our valiant editor-in-chief at least somewhat sane in the face of years upon years of university study. For this small town boy, it's a change of pace, a therapeutic medicine, a thirst, a love affair, and utlimately an undeniable passion.

e- MATT AT JUNNNKTANK.COM

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