Berlin Film Portraits by Inta Lankovska
Inta Lankovska is a Riga wedding photographer and absolute legend in the Way Up North community. For a decade, we’ve seen her at various events, and she’s shared her expertise from our stage twice (Copenhagen 2021, Prague 2023).
In Berlin, she caught our eye in the foyer, carrying a stylish bag with an old film camera inside. Nothing unusual for a photography conference, perhaps. But when the portraits from those two days arrived, they took our breath away. Beautiful film portraits that made us wonder why we hadn’t been capturing moments like this at every event for the past decade.
Rather than dwell on missed opportunities, we’re celebrating what Inta created. Here’s a conversation about those remarkable portraits, along with her work from Berlin.
You’ve been part of the WUN family for years. What finally made you think ‘okay, this is the event where I pull out film and shoot portraits’?
Last year, I added a medium format Hasselblad 500 CM to my gear, and honestly, it has completely reignited the joy of shooting purely for fun and for my personal archive.
I’ve been to so many WUN events – starting all the way back with the very first one in Stockholm almost 10 years ago – that I felt it was time to capture a bit of this amazing community through my own lens. I didn’t have any big plans when I started asking people for portraits, but I feel like I’ve stumbled upon something special.
The gear question – because everyone will want to know! What was your setup, and why film when digital would have been… let’s be honest, way easier?
Honestly, I find film so much easier than digital – no culling, no editing. Just the pure mechanics of making a considered decision in the moment, pressing the shutter, and then dropping the film off at the lab. Over the past year, I’ve really come to love the slow, deliberate process that shooting with a fully manual camera demands. It forces me to slow down and be truly intentional which after 15 years of chasing the best digital file I can create feels like going to rehab.
My setup for shooting on Hasselblad 500 CM is very straight forward. I checked the light with the Lghtmtr app, then overexposed by two stops from the reading it gave me. After that, it’s all about finding the composition, obsessively double-checking focus, counting down to three so the subject knows exactly when I’m shooting – and then holding super still when I press the shutter. For film, I used Porta 400 for colour and Neopan Acros 100 II for black and white.
When you got these scans back… what was your first reaction? Were there any portraits that particularly grabbed you?
My first thought was, “Ugh, the shadows are too grey and grainy – I need to talk to my lab!” (Haha!) Even though I know film really shines in the highlights and struggles in the shadows, I had used a lot of high-contrast light in this set, so I half-expected that issue. But hey, I was willing to play around and find out. I’ve only had this setup for about a year, so I’m definitely still learning.
That said, I’ve always loved shooting in harsh light, and not gonna lie – those are my favourite shots. The direct sun, the sharpness of f/11, the way the light turns into part of the architecture – I’m completely into it.
Plus I was plesently surprised by the black and white images – it was my first time using Neopan Acros 100 II, and I love results so I’m definitely be buying more of that film in the future.
Has this project sparked anything new? Are we going to see more film portraits at future WUNs? (Please say yes!)
I think it absolutely has sparked something new! I showed up just hoping to mess around and have a bit of fun, but the warmth and enthusiasm from the community really blew me away. It makes me want to take portraits of the entire WUN family. I guess I’d better start stocking up on film!
