120 ☼ The Best Part of Bringing People Together
GIVEAWAY: $150 gift certificate for the Moment shop
Dear friends,
In this week's letter, I recap last week’s first-ever Process Photo Walk, plus the European premiere of the wonderful street photography documentary “Wrong Side of the Lens” and the Q&A with director Josh Ethan Johnson, which I organized exclusively for Process community.
Also in this issue, a continuation of the Process Giveaway with my friends at Moment who made available a $150 gift certificate to their online photography shop.
☀️ Shout out to my friends at Squarespace for helping make this issue possible ☀️
Housekeeping
The good folks at Kodak featured some of my Amsterdam and Paris street photography on their feed. (link)
My pals at Cinestill used one of my Paris street photos as part of their campaign for their upcoming Paris photo walk. (link)
The First Process Photo Walk
In case you didn’t know, Amsterdam is notorious for its unpredictable weather. I was a tad nervous as the rain poured down on the morning of the first-ever Process Photo Walk. But, as the saying goes, "If you don't like the weather in the Netherlands, just wait five minutes." Luckily, our photo-loving community proved resilient, using various weather apps to predict the future, and about 30+ people showed up.
We kicked off our day at the iconic Amsterdam Dam, meeting in front of the Palace at 1:00 pm sharp, well, sharp-ish since us creative folks sometimes operate in our own time zones. After a bit of getting to know each other we started walking, slowly carving our way through the city along a route planned out by Process intern Thor Kristjansson, who took many of pictures feautured in this issue.
Our route took us behind the Palace, across the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, and via the Keizersgracht towards the famous 9 Straatjes. We weathered a few brief downpours, finding shelter in vestibules and chatting away until we could walk again.
Eventually, we stopped in a beautiful courtyard to spend some time taking portraits and of course a group shot of the whole gang.
Next up, we made it to Vondelpark and took a tea break at Proeflokaal 't Blauwe Theehuis. Refreshed, we made our way to the European premiere of "Wrong Side of the Lens," where an additional 15+ joined us who hadn’t been able to make the walk. Thanks to our friends at Glass we were able to host the screening at Lab 111, an indie cinema gem. The atmosphere was one of curiosity and community.
Josh Ethan Johnson, the documentary's director, treated us to a special cut featuring all 18 photographers, plus a full episode on the iconic Jill Freedman. Laughter, insights, and intimacy — the screening had it all.
After the show, Josh and I took the stage for a heart-to-heart about the documentary. The true highlight happened when we opened up the room to questions from the audience. I was very proud to hear such thoughtful, curious, passionate questions from so many. They were followed by candid answers from Josh as he shared the story of the dedication it took to bring this project to life over the course of five years. He even spilled the beans about a potential second season.
There were more great questions than we had time for since we had to vacate the screening room for a new film by some fella named Martin Scorsese so we moved the party to a communal space and continued the conversation. There was a photo booth, even an indie beer vending machine, and later on some delicious pizza.
As the night came to an end the inspiration was palpable. Some mentioned that the doc had them rethink their approach to photography. In moments like these we are reminded of why we love what we do and how a shared passion can bring us together.
It was a truly wonderful day that really charged me up. People traveled from all corners of the country to be part of the experience, which is a testament to the strength of our community. These walks are not just about photos; it's about the connections, the conversations, and the shared passion. And pizza.
And guess what? I'm already planning the next gathering, I’m thinking spring. I will also look into potential Process Photo Walks in other cities. Let me know in the comments if your city would be a good place for one. Perhaps Paris? Berlin?
If you haven’t seen “Wrong Side of the Lens” yet, make sure to hop over to Josh’s YouTube channel where the whole thing is available in full. Major shout out to Thor for his help on the day and for these great photos.
That’s it for this week! If you enjoyed this issue I’d love for you to share it with friends.
Next Week: A chat with my friend Craig Mod about making his new photo book and working with a photo editor/curator (it’s me, I’m the photo editor).
Keep shooting and take good care of yourselves and others. <3
Wesley
PS A great way to support Process and enjoy a body of work I’m very proud of, consider buying my photo book NOTICE.
Gear & Tools Used
Cameras: Spotted at the photo walk include Fujifilm Xpro3 (which Thor used for all his shots in this issue), iPhone 12, Sony RX100m7 (which Josh used), Fujifilm XT-4, Minolta Dimage Z1, Fujifilm X100V, and more. There were of course also many analog cameras, but we don’t have those rolls developed and scanned just yet. I shot the day on my new little Canon AF 35M II.
Film Stocks: I personally shot on an expired roll of Kodak Select Series Elite Chrome ExtraColor 100, which is a mouth full, my word.
Lab: All my analog work is developed and scanned by my friends at Carmencita Film Lab. They’re my favorite lab in the world. Use code “PROCESS” to get a free upgrade.
Portfolio Site: Big shout out to Squarespace for helping make this issue of Process possible. If you need a website, I can’t recommend using Squarespace more. I have been a paying customer for more than 10 years (!!?) and it’s been so easy to build and maintain a beautiful and professional portfolio. I even added a shop to it recently.
Use the code PROCESS10 for 10% off your first order.
Process Giveaway
My pals over at Moment are back for a generous giveaway! One winner will receive a $150 gift card to buy whatever you wish including film, bags, a course, and more.
To enter this week’s Process Giveaway answer the question below in the comments:
QUESTION: What is something in photography you didn’t think you’d like, but once you tried it was proven wrong about?
A bunch of people already left interesting answers in the comments last week, and they’re great to read through. We are all so similar, even though each of us is unique.
ENTER THIS WEEK’S GIVEAWAY before 11 a.m. EST on November 19th.
The winner will be randomly drawn. This giveaway is for Process subscribers only.
This looked so fun! I highly recommend Stockholm or Copenhagen, especially in the summer.
Looking forward to your future events in Amsterdam or elsewhere.
I didn’t think I’d like using flash - not an original answer with a couple of mentions of it so far :) I used it for years only as a necessity in particular situations when additional light was required. Now I'm in a phase of getting interested in using several light sources and trying that out.