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NOSTALGIA

Old sparks new. Has everything truly been done before? Or is it the act of revisiting, revising, and reimagining that breathes new life into the familiar?

Certain moments of the year, specific music, object, scent or places stir deep emotions, disrupting our routines and creating a portal to the past. These moments transport us to personal or cultural memories—sweet or bitter—that shape our sense of self and creativity.

Montana follows the sentimental journey and revisits photographic works structured in five sections. Through photographic technique, videos, podcasts, and photobooks, each explores a unique relationship and perspective on the past.

How does nostalgia guide and inspire your creative endeavors? What stories are waiting to be rediscovered in your work?

01: Explore

Deux prises de vue par moi-même. Yport, Seine-Maritime, sur la plage, 1931 Épreuve gélatino-argentique 24 × 17,7 cm MK2 Kreations © Yossi Raviv-Moi Ver Archive Photo © Centre Pompidou/Bertrand Prevost
Double Exposure

With roots tracing back to the Victorian era, where it was used in 'spirit photography,' double exposure—a photography technique that overlays two images—invites viewers to perceive multiple moments simultaneously, creating a dialogue between different temporalities.

Early practitioners like Lewis Hine and later Duane Michals utilized this technique to explore themes of memory and identity, while the interplay of surrealism and cubism in the early 20th century further shaped its development. By the mid to late 1900s, double exposure gained prominence in both commercial and artistic photography, continuing to inspire contemporary artists with its ability to layer meaning and evoke emotion.





Double exposure image at Back Rock Mill taken in 1906


Vivien Solari, London, 2018 © Suffo Moncloa






Dora Maar (French, 1907-1997)
Double Portrait with Hat
c. 1936-37
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris



Francesca Woodman
Untitled (seated nude double exposure)
1973-1975









“Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, but nothing is what it appears to be.”

Duane Michals

The Spirit Leaves the Body
1968
Seven gelatin silver prints with hand-applied text
3 3/8 x 5 inches (each image)






In 1895, Edgar Degas forgot to change the photographic plates, resulting in accidental double exposures that add a unique dimension to his images.






Nick George, a visual artist focusing on photography, explores themes of nostalgia and mystery by working with secondhand cameras containing undeveloped film.







After a three-year journey through the Eastern Mediterranean, Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey returned to France with over a thousand daguerreotypes, capturing the earliest known photos of Greece, Egypt, and other regions. His innovative use of larger plates, exposed with multiple images and cut down, allowed him to create one of the world’s first photographic archives.

02. Listen For our audio feature, we’re tuning into the Frames Photography Podcast, where W. Scott Olsen talks with curator, author, and art historian Phillip Prodger. A main focus is Prodger’s book, An Alternative History of Photography (Prestel), which reflects on nostalgia by revisiting photography’s past, revealing as well lesser-known figures and moments that shaped the medium.


¨As inclusive, dynamic and exciting as the medium itself, this utterly original look at the history of photography integrates the landmark discoveries of recent decades to chart new pathways that encompass overlooked artists, traditions, and techniques.¨


Phillip Prodger


Julia Margaret Cameron - "My Grandchild Archie, Aged 2 Years & 3 Months" (Archibald Cameron and Mary Hillier)"











In Photos and Stories, iconic photographer Stephen Shore talks about the craft of photography, tells stories from his illustrious career, and shares his philosophy on art and life.




Luzzara, 1993 © Stephen Shore







¨Photography is the act of selecting a moment from the continuum of time, making that moment permanent. Each photo is a little bit of time travel—a preserved memory that evokes nostalgia.¨

Stephen Shore


03. Read

Our literary pick this month is Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes. We explore his deeply personal reflections on photography, nostalgia, and the passage of time—how images capture both presence and absence.





¨What the Photograph reproduces to infinity has occurred only once: the Photograph mechanically repeats what could never be repeated existentially.¨

Roland Barthes


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04: Photobooks


The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult (Yale University Press)Clément ChérouxWith over 250 historical images capturing ghostly figures and spiritualist subjects from the 19th century to the 1960s, the book delves into how photography once served as a tool to capture unseen realms.

a Handful of Dust  (MACK)David Campany“A Handful of Dust” by David Campany delves into the 20th century's history through unexpected imagery, beginning with a 1922 photograph of dust on glass by Man Ray and Duchamp, paralleling the publication of TS Eliot's poem The Waste Land, blending art, documentation, and poetry into a compelling narrative.


The Photograph as Contemporary Art (World of Art) (Thames and Hudson)Charlotte CottonThe new edition revitalizes discussions of 2000s work while highlighting a new generation of artists shaping photography's cultural significance in today's socio-political climate.


In Almost Every Picture (KesselsKramer Publishing)Erik KesselsA photography series explores themes of nostalgia and memory through the lens of personal snapshots. Each volume compiles images that reveal the imperfections of everyday life. These accidental elements transform ordinary moments into poignant reflections on how we document our lives, highlighting the fragmented nature of memory.


Memory City (Radius Books)Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris WebbPhotographer duo takes an elegiac look at Rochester, New York, a city that was for 125 years the home of Eastman Kodak, which declared bankruptcy in 2012. These images, taken during what may be the last days of film as we know it, are a meditation on film, memory, time, and the city itself.



The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and The Enigmatic Meaning of Their Dreams (MACK)Alessandra SanguinettiFor over two decades, Alessandra Sanguinetti has photographed the lives of Guillermina and Belinda, two cousins living in rural Argentina, as they navigate childhood and adolescence on their journey to womanhood.

05. From the Community
We revisited Walk To The Moon, a post-COVID photobook by Suffo Moncloa, the photographer who lensed our entire birth issue.

During the memorable first COVID-19 lockdown, with mobility and movement severely restricted, Moncloa paused and turned to his extensive archive. The result is a reimagined work featuring images created before 2015. This dreamlike narrative begins with a stunning photograph of horses, drawing us into a solitary and introspective journey.

The book is structured in three parts: a black-and-white main book, a color insert, and a double-sized poster. Accompanying the work, David Campany’s introduction beautifully underscores the theme of revisiting and revising the past work.