Behind the Isthmus cover: May 2023

Amanda Wood uses vintage cameras and ‘actual’ film in her photography

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Isthmus art director Tommy Washbush found Amanda Wood on Instagram and was immediately struck by one thing: “In the age of everything digital, she uses actual film!” he says. “Besides the sheer novelty of that, there’s something honest and real about taking a photo and not knowing the results until after the film has been processed.”

With her collection of obscure cameras, Amanda does a lot of experimenting — she plays around with the development process and uses unique and sometimes expired film. The Lomochrome Turquoise film she used for the photograph that eventually became the May cover of Isthmus was, says Tommy, “the perfect choice to create a moody scene that is very reminiscent of early springtime.” 

Amanda’s photo is of a spot she passes every day on her commute to work, near the Yahara Heights dog park at the intersection of Highway 113 and County Road M. “My inner Ansel Adams has been calling on me to capture the area in black and white with my 4x5 field camera,” she says. Eventually she settled on the Lomochrome Turquoise film from a company called Lomography and took the photo with her Hasselblad 500cm camera. The result looks almost like a painting. “These colors are not photoshopped!” she says. “I have the negatives to prove it too.” See more of Amanda’s work on Instagram at @amanduh_would.