Picturing World Cultures: Naina Helén Jåma – Norwegian Sami
Release Date: 09/12/2024
B&H Photography Podcast
Above Photograph © Chase Jarvis We’ve all heard the saying “The best camera is the one that’s with you.” But do you know how this catch phrase ended up as a mantra of the mobile economy? In today’s show, we speak with Chase Jarvis, the man behind Best Camera—the wildly successful photo sharing app that predated Instagram—to get an inside look at his wild ride. A born entrepreneur and self-made photographer with a hunger that always worked against the grain, Chase’s meteoric rise in action sports/lifestyle photography dovetailed with the dawn of the sharing economy,...
info_outlineB&H Photography Podcast
Photographers often react instinctively against artificial intelligence, typically focusing on controversial generative AI. Meanwhile, a different branch of AI technology—machine learning systems—has been making remarkable progress helping photographers manage overwhelming image workflows under tight deadlines. In today's show, we explore this trending topic in a discussion with Justin Benson and Sam Hurd, both accomplished wedding photographers and tech entrepreneurs. Justin begins by clarifying the distinction between machine learning and generative AI before taking us...
info_outlineB&H Photography Podcast
Above Photograph © Claudio Edinger When it comes to photography, Claudio Edinger has a Midas touch. Equally celebrated for his immersive photo series, the intimacy of his portraits, and his aerial views that conjure a sense of the eternal through selective focus, his compulsion for research drives adjustments to his photographic strategy from one project to the next. In today’s show, we unpack the many facets of Claudio’s storied career, from his arrival in New York and early documentation of Brooklyn’s Hasidic community in the late 1970s to the environmental portraits he made inside...
info_outlineB&H Photography Podcast
Above Photograph © Lou Jones Africa is the cradle of our civilization. Yet, most Westerners see this massive continent from a distance, and often through a scrim of largely negative headlines. For more than a decade, Boston-based photographer Lou Jones has sought to challenge this misperception. In 2013, he launched an in-depth photographic documentation of individual countries across Africa under the title the panAFRICAproject. Jones joins us on today’s podcast to recap his efforts to date, which currently encompasses a third of Africa’s 54 nations. Listen in to learn...
info_outlineB&H Photography Podcast
Top shot © Kristof Ramon The dynamic arena of competitive cycling photography is not for the faint of heart. This grueling specialty requires a mix of split-second reaction times, intuitive technical mastery, and the ability to anticipate—and even more important—embrace risk. It takes a special breed of photographer to continuously capture every ounce of emotion packed into this sport, from bruising injuries and bitter disappointments to the exaltation of a win. For today’s show, we’ve brought together two passionate cycling aficionados, former competitive cyclist...
info_outlineB&H Photography Podcast
Allan Weitz had little idea of the grand photographic adventures in store when he signed on as host of the B&H Photography Podcast shortly before the show’s debut in October 2015. As a self-described big mouth, and with more than 40 years as a working pro fueling his curiosity about all things photographic, Allan quickly honed his chops to become the voice of the show. Today’s episode marks a crossroads, as Allan passes his hosting mic to the show’s incoming host, Derek Fahsbender, producer and host of the B&H Event Space. During a lively chat, we celebrate Allan’s long and...
info_outlineB&H Photography Podcast
Top shot © Ron Tarver Cowboy lore has deep roots in American culture. Yet, black cowboys have lived pretty much under the radar until recently, when songs by pop culture icons Lil Nas X and Beyoncé went viral and catapulted the black western aesthetic into the limelight. In today’s show, we’re getting the inside scoop from two photographers who’ve been fully immersed in these vibrant communities since long before they became a top fashion trend. Separated by a generation in age and with pictures spanning from film to digital, we follow Ron Tarver and Ivan McClellan from their early...
info_outlineB&H Photography Podcast
Well, 2024 has certainly come and gone in a flash, meaning it’s time once again for us to reflect on new photo offerings in our annual Cameras of the Year episode, now renamed Photo Gear of the Year. Featured in our discussion are new releases from , , , , , , , and . In the words of our recurring guest, Kevin Rickert, B&H’s Senior Sales Trainer for Photography and Lighting, “Everything old is new again” at least when it comes to this year’s most sought-after camera releases. A penchant for pocketable, fixed lens cameras led us to organize our camera offerings by type rather...
info_outlineB&H Photography Podcast
Photographers have a magical ability to transport us to hidden worlds, giving us intimate access to facets of society that would otherwise go unnoticed. Above photograph © Marcela Taboada In today’s podcast, we sit down with Mexican photographer Marcela Taboada, whose long-term documentary projects offer revealing glimpses into underrecognized communities, for Picturing World Cultures. Combining a passion for making pictures that let her “see backstage,” with a knack for “knocking doors” and the tenacity to win over resistant subjects, Marcela gained rare access to photograph the...
info_outlineB&H Photography Podcast
What is the role of landscape photography in a post-industrial world? In today’s podcast, we consider some possibilities in a chat with Jade Doskow, current photographer in residence for Staten Island’s Freshkills Park, and Cal Flyn author of the book Islands of Abandonment. Above image: © Jade Doskow While our two guests work in different disciplines, which leads to divergent approaches to the pictures they make, their shared purpose tells similar stories. Among the topics we discuss are a distinction between romantic landscapes of the past and a more ambivalent attitude...
info_outlineIn today’s podcast, we’ll be talking with Norwegian photographer Naina Helén Jåma about her documentation of indigenous South Sami culture in Norway and her career as a press photographer in Scandinavia.
Jåma details her childhood growing up in the small rural village of Snasa, where, at the age of 15, she began her career while working as a cultural interpreter and archivist at the Saemien Sijte Museum.
From there, Naina takes us on a journey through her fascinating career as a photographer, from her training at the Nordic School of Photography to her work for world-renowned publications such as The New York Times, Bloomberg, and The Guardian
Alongside her journalistic work, Naina maintains a close relationship with the traditional Sami arts of Duodji. Documenting the ongoing development of this art form pays tribute to oral knowledge and silent tradition, which is learned and transmitted visually.
Above photograph © Naina Helén Jåma
If you haven’t already listened, check out all the episodes of our Picturing World Cultures podcast series here.
For more information on our guests and the gear they use, see:
www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts
Guest: Naina Helén Jåma
Episode Timeline:
2:23: Naina’s early childhood and growing up in Snåsa, a small village in Norway with approximately 2,000 inhabitants.
6:14: Naina’s first job and the start of her career, working as a cultural archivist at the Saemien Sijite Museum.
10:44: How photographing handcrafted Sami items became Naina’s thesis while enrolled at the Nordic School of Photography
14:45: Discussing different aspects and signifiers of traditional Sami clothing.
19:40: The eight different seasons of Sami culture.
22:06: Discussing the role and influence of animism and other traditional Sami belief systems.
28:18: Episode Break
29:40: Naina’s go-to kit for cameras and lenses
33:10: Tips for shooting in cold climates and extreme conditions
35:14: Structuring documentation when working as a photojournalist
39:49: Naina’s diverse reportage, from documenting the NATO summit to Sami youth protests due to windmill farms violating traditional reindeer hunting lands.
46:30: What Naina learned from her time working on the other side of the lens as a Director of Photography
49:26: “Man Borrows the Land from Future Generations”
53:06: Naina Helén Jåma answers our PWC Visual Questionnaire.
Guest Bio: Naina Helén Jåma is a South Sami photographer and storyteller from Snaasa in Norway, currently based in Oslo. After starting her career at the Saemien Sijte Museum at age 15, where she worked to interpret and preserve South Sami culture.
Naina has maintained a close relationship with the traditional Sami arts of Duodji. Documenting the ongoing development of this art form pays tribute to oral knowledge and silent tradition, which is learned and transmitted visually. Trained at the Nordic School of Photography in Sweden, Naina has worked as both a photojournalist and a photo editor for various Scandinavian newspapers and agencies, as well as major international publications such as The New York Times, Bloomberg and The Guardian.
Naina is a member of the Sami Artists Association, and in 2020 she received a working grant from the Sami Council. Most recently, she was selected by the Norwegian Journal of Photography as one of nine photographers to work on a two-year heritage project, where she will be photographing and doing in-depth interviews to investigate the evolving legacy of Sami culture.
Stay Connected:
Naina Helén Jåma Website: https://www.nainahelen.com/
Naina Helén Jåma on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nainahelen/
Naina Helén Jåma on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nainahelen.photography/
Naina Helén Jåma on Twitter: https://x.com/nainahelenwj/
Naina Helén Jåma in the Norwegian Journal of Photography: https://njp.no/2024/naina-helen-jama/
Naina Helén Jåma on Blink: https://blink.la/u/nainahelen
End Credits:
Senior Creative Producer & Host: Jill Waterman
Senior Technical Producer: Mike Weinstein
Executive Producer: Richard Stevens
Theme Music: Gabriel Richards