Montague Fendt - Photography
‘Le Male’ is a yet unpublished series of male nudes shot in deserts and steppes from the Gobi to the Sahara. A series of 12 images.
35mm, C-Print, 270cm x 100cm
In ‘Diagonal Compositions’, Montague plays with minimalist ideas and the dimension of time within a still image. Carefully framed and calculated, the landscapes get flooded with sunlight over several hours. Each photograph creates a time to reflect on the place and the experience, also serving as an exercise of discipline and concentration, a silent protest towards the carelessness with which images are made nowadays.
Large Format, C-Prints 88cm x 110cm
I tend to pre-visualize my shots extensively. Sometimes I wake up with a certain scene in mind, a specific portrait, a technique, a look… It will not go away until I have captured it.
A long journey of experimentation led Montague to work with liquid emulsions and home made 4x5 plates. Conventionally, liquid emulsions on unorthodox surfaces are exposed in the dark room under an enlarger. However, Montague choses to actually expose the coated surfaces in-camera with a custom made film holder, creating unique little objects.
Montague's way of exploring a place is through the lens. Heavily inspired by the balance of bustling metropolises and the beauty of nature he often sets out on a mission to capture pre-visualized images, always on the hunt of the perfect mountain, tree, building, sunset.
35mm C-Prints
A filmmaker at heart.
35mm, Xpan, C-Prints in various sizes
In ‘Black Suns’, Montague plays with solarization of direct positive paper, overloading the emulsion and rendering the sun black in the process, an interesting surreal touch on ordinary landscape photography. An on-going series.
Large Format, C-Prints 88cm x 110cm
‘Wu Da!’ translated from Chinese means 'Heavy Fog'. It is also an answer you get in Beijing if you ask people what's wrong with the sky. But this fog has little to do with humidity in the air.
Most mornings I wake up to the humming of an air filter. A common item for people living in Beijing for a long period of time. As one would check the weather, we check the air quality. The AQI (air quality index) is measured at various parts of the city and gives a reading of the smog. On bad days we take necessary steps, close windows, wear pollution masks and turn our air filters to the maximum setting. Is this our world's future? It already is daily life in China's capital for about 2/3 of each year.
The AQI is a scale from 0-500 measuring pollution. An average day in Switzerland reaches around 10, a heavily polluted day in Los Angeles as high as 120. The yearly average in Beijing is 179, with some record values of 879, cracking the scale. A surreal array of colors fills the sky and from a visual perspective, there is a strange beauty. A soft light that covers everything like a winter storm. The ‘Wu Da!’ series is not only documentation, but also a study of colors, texture and contrast. Cityscapes drowning in the mist.
The series is shot on medium format, it’s not graded, not cropped or adjusting in any way. I aimed at a pure look, showing the smog in a realistic but dreamy way. All photos are named after the AQI of the moment they were taken.
Medium Format 6x7, C-Prints
Candid photography 2003-2021
Montague is working as a director/director of photography in the film and advertising industry of China and the world. For recent showreel and selected work click here.