News / Fall Portraits — Garret Harkawik

Starting in 2023 I developed an interest in analog photography - first in the form of disposable cameras, before working my way up to a 35mm Canon 1n SLR. Since then I’ve incorporated it into my filmmaker practice by taking photos while shooting, for use both in my films and as portraits of the subjects.

This past fall saw me unusually busy with documentary shoots including long term projects and newer ones. Below are some portraits I shot of the films’ subjects.

Erin Bohanon in her home in Greenfield, MA. I’m currently working on a short film about her work as an amateur genealogist who spends her free time attempting to return antique photos to the dependents of the people in them.

Cinestill 800t

Erin finds her photos at thrift stores and online auctions. If she can’t immediately return a photo, she holds onto it in perpetuity. She currently has thousands in her home.

Fuji 400

Late last year I received a grant from the Vermont Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts to make a documentary about water dowsing. I’ve interviewed a slew of dowsers since then, including master map dowser Leroy Bull, shot here at a home in Western Massachusetts where he was locating a spot for a well.

Harmon Phoenix.

Steve Herbert at a home in northern Vermont. Steve is a seasoned water dowser and prolific writer.

Flic Film Aurora 800

Steve demonstrating the use of a pendulum for dowsing. Steve had a plethora of dowsing tools, which he demonstrated for me on camera.

Strange Effects Neon 500

Hank Poitras waits in his car at a gas station. Hank is DIY action news journalist, who follows the Brattleboro, VT police around in the hopes of filming arrests. He then edits the footage into a news segment and posts it on Youtube. Since starting this work earlier this year Hank has become a household name in southern Vermont and galvanized a group of citizens who feel their town has been changed for the worse by crime.

Cinestill 800t

Mark Deponte at his home in East Dover, VT. I’m not going to reveal too much about this project other than to say that Mark is a born storyteller.

This photo was shot on a very expired roll of Kodak Gold 800. The results were so grainy that editing them proved tricky, as my computer had a hard time accurately displaying the colors.

That’s all for now. These images were all shot by me, developed professionally and then scanned and edited by me. I use a Pacific Images Prime Film XA for scanning and then a combination of Lightroom and Photoshop for editing.

Portraits From My Fall Documentary Projects