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COO & Darkroom Facilitator @capefilmsupply ________ Sometimes a Wedding Photographer @4011_fortyleven ________ Artist & Photographer
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cjchandler.co.za-
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Recent posts
This is Dan & CJ’s wedding.
CJ is COO & darkroom facilitator of the best in the west, the one and only @capefilmsupply and more recently my assistant and film loader for my analog weddings. CJ is one of those beaut’ humans. He’ll take my Mamyia medium format film camera home with him the night before a big wedding, dismantle it, clean it, check it and put it all back together again, to make sure everything is top notch before I shoot. Never one to forget a person who goes the extra mile for me, I offered to shoot a few rolls of film at his wedding, weekend before last. I am also shooting two vip weddings ( analog only ) in December, and taking every opportunity to get my eye back in to shooting on film. I shot my first wedding in 2001, long before digital cameras had been invented. So the first decade of my career as a wedding photographer was as an analog film photographer. But after 15 or so years of only shooting digital, because the process is so vastly different, I’m am reintroducing myself to the old / new trend that has now become the zeitgeist of the wedding industry, in a revolt to the overly perfect image, where everyone is asking “is this AI ?”
These images were shot on my Mamiya medium format 120mm film. So everything is manual… manual focus, manual film loading, manual settings tested via light meter. This slows down the shooting process a lot. You have to be a few steps ahead of the game and super prepared. And because you only have 10 exposures per roll of 120mm film, it forces you to shoot very intentionally and you need to be very focussed. It’s taken me a while to let go of the overly perfect digital image. I find myself still asking “are these good enough?” everytime I get my scans back. But then, like every healthy long lasting love affair, I find that you need to give it time, & after a while, I fall deeply in love with the images. Their raw imperfection is as real as you can get in a world where authenticity shines the brightest.
Thanks to @____christopherjames and @danielle__hitchcock for allowing me to just play.
Oh .. and you want check out @danielle__hitchcock Instagram account. She’s a digital artist. And is real real good !
16 Sep 2026
Featured artwork: ‘untitled’ (Cactus 1, Blackwoods 2024) by CJ Chandler @____christopherjames
Silver gelatin hand print on Ilford resin paper
Print size 40cm x 30cm
Edition 1/5
Aside from being one of the participating artists in our NO COMPUTER exhibition, CJ also handled a significant amount of colour and b+w hand printing for other photographers in the show. As the Darkroom Facilitator and Chief of Operations at @capefilmsupply, very few people in South Africa have a comparable pedigree when it comes to analogue film experience.
CJ was introduced to film and the darkroom at the Michaelis School of Fine Art where he completed a BFA in 2016. He was a Tierney Fellow for 2017, where he focused on working with colour medium format film. He went on to pursue a Masters in Fine Art at HFBK in Hamburg with Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin. During his MFA he was awarded an academic exchange to Bard College in upstate New York where he furthered his knowledge of large format shooting, developing, and hand printing with the legendary Stephen Shore. After his MFA he moved back to Cape Town.
His first photobook was published by Skinnerboox in 2023, and he taught at Michaelis before taking on a full time position at Cape Film Supply.
Working with CJ has been an absolute privilege. If you’re interested in learning the darkroom ropes, his courses at Cape Film Supply are an essential foundation - get in touch!
Photos by @willowborain
#ultravioletgallery #nocomputer #analoguephoto #handprint #darkroom
07 Jul 2026
I recently dusted off my Pentax 67 shot bit of a test roll. I had plans to shoot some B&W in the Eastern Cape and wanted to make sure everything was working.
A while ago I made some hand prints for Liam @y.leam and Nick @nxckfarmer who used them to set up a Portra profile for the Noritsu. They scanned these frames using that profile and they came out very close to what how I’d print them. So close that I printed a contact sheet to compare.
Big things happening here @capefilmsupply.
Good job boys 🤝
27 Nov 2024
Blackwoods November 2024.
Too many scans, too little time but these are nice. Maybe a book one day.
Pentax 67
HP5
Assisted by @danielle__hitchcock 💥
Dev & Scan @capefilmsupply 🤝
07 Jun 2025
Maybe two weeks ago I spent a Saturday printing.
Both old and new negatives enlarged in the darkroom at CFS 🎞️
20 Oct 2024
Just a rock by the sea.
#pentax67 #portra400
09 Apr 2024
@i_make_books (❤️) made this portfolio box for me a few years ago. The idea was to show a publisher some hand prints with the hope of getting a little book made.
The meeting ended up not happening and I carried this bad boy around London for a couple of days (hence the stains etc.)
It’s a lovely, albeit quite heavy, object and has kept this set of prints safe over the years. I’d still like to make this book.
19 Feb 2024
Dog Mom @danielle__hitchcock and Rustin on the 67.
@trespasserbooks published Mother of Dogs by Matthew Genitempo. It’s beautiful, refreshing and also sold out (so I don’t have a copy). Check it out online I guess.
16 Feb 2024
I made this photograph not really knowing if it would work. A test on a farm where a man who helped raise me lived and died.
It may have been a Sunday.
I’m not sure why exactly, but this picture has remained an important part of the work.
@skinnerboox published the twist of a knee earlier this year. There are special editions with hand prints in the world somewhere.
30 Jul 2023
On tour ft. @danielle__hitchcock
Here’s to many more 🖤
20 Jul 2023
It’s been a while.
Much has happened.
I woke up early.
Maybe I couldn’t sleep.
There’s something about this silence.
Home unexpectedly.
A camera that needed testing.
Half frame, expired velvia and the sky at Blackwoods.
Personal work on hold.
So it goes.
23 Apr 2025
A fence, or something like it.
Kasouga, Eastern Cape.
Pentax 67.
17 Jul 2023
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