I was first drawn to photography by my grandmothers, two prolific and loving photographers. In addition to cataloguing the lives of our family, their photos gave me insight into the the love of photography, the way it pulls you in and images dissolve into shapes, form, and light. One of the first things I used to do when getting to their respective homes was to head to the photo books, sit down, and begin my exploration. Thinking back, I understand how their photography was the first time I understood the emotion of art and the depth of a photograph.

The first photo I took and developed came out of a quaker oats container turned into a pinhole camera in 7th grade. Since then I have tried all types of photography, 35mm, digital, instant, medium format, large format, and so on. Couple this photographic exploration with a childhood in the woods and summers spent canoeing in Canada, and my photographic vision comes more into focus. After reading Endurance by Alfred Lansing I was blown away by the large format photography inside. During my summers spent paddling the rivers indigenous people and voyageurs had traveled for millennia and centuries, respectively, I would imagine myself under the hood, capturing the indescribable beauty of the landscape.

After a late night conversation with a friend and photographic mentor in 2016, I realized this dream, and bought my first large format camera. Since then, I see most things through the ground glass. The process involved with large format photography, the time it takes to set-up and compose an image, the hand developing of each sheet of film, printing and working in the darkroom, have had a massive impact on my photography. I have slowed down, become more focused, and discovered the emotion and depth that pulled me into photography in the first place. My images, whether they are landscapes or portraits, are usually a reflection of this - they are intimate, dark, raw, vulnerable, dangerous, and sometimes nostalgic.

Thank you for taking the time to explore my artwork. Please feel free to be in touch with me via email, or instagram. You will find prints and photo books for sale here, and most everything on my instagram page is available to print. I am happy to print custom sizes (as long as they work with the enlarger and paper I use!), and I can mat and frame the work if desired.

Email: andrewstachiw@gmail.com

Instagram: stachiw_photo