Picturing World Cultures: Naina Helén Jåma – Norwegian Sami
Release Date: 09/12/2024
The Great Acceleration: Human-Altered Industrial Landscapes, with Edward Burtynsky
B&H Photography Podcast
Industrial expansion has left an indelible mark on our natural world, fundamentally altering landscapes and ecosystems for the sake of material progress and modern convenience. This transformation has created an environmental challenge of unprecedented scale. In today’s show, we’ll connect the dots between the raw materials that make up our planet and the industrial forces visually altering our contemporary landscape in a chat with a photographer who’s documented these profound global changes firsthand for the past 50 years. Applying visual principals rooted in abstract expressionist...
info_outline
A Master Class in Photo Book Publishing, with Mary Virginia Swanson & Rick Smolan
B&H Photography Podcast
Every photographer dreams of publishing a book of their photographs. But what exactly does that entail? In today’s show, we’re going to peek behind the scenes of this complex and daunting process in a chat with two complementary figures who’ve spent their respective careers helping to redefine what a photo book can be. Starting with three basic questions—Why a book? Why now? And what is the role of a book in your career at this time?—our discussion expands to cover a broad range of concerns. From distinguishing between the many different publishing models available today, to insights...
info_outline
The Beauty & Impact of Polar Photography, with Acacia Johnson & Jonas Paurell
B&H Photography Podcast
In a world of perpetual motion, there exists a realm of profound stillness—where light doesn’t simply illuminate, it transforms. Far from home amid Earth’s frozen tundras, time itself seems suspended in crystalline air. In today’s podcast, we’ll visit these places where time hangs in the balance, and we’ll explore the intrepid mix of endurance, patience, and vision it takes to make pictures there. Joining us for this conversation are polar photography specialists Acacia Johnson and Jonas Paurell. From making distinctions between Arctic and Antarctic regions, to learning about the...
info_outline
The Alchemy of Urban Street Portraits, with Jamel Shabazz
B&H Photography Podcast
When it comes to his iconic street portraits, Jamel Shabazz is all about building relationships and spreading joy. Yet, beyond the rich tapestry created with both the neighbors and strangers, friends and rivals he’s encountered across New York’s five boroughs, Jamel’s most meaningful role might be that of a street teacher, touching the lives of the people in front of his lens and inviting them to mark their place in history. In today’s podcast, we learn from the master while tracing his career path, from early observational learning at the side of his father—a professional...
info_outline
Reshape Your Skills Throughout Your Photo Career, with Aaron Anderson & Chris Orwig
B&H Photography Podcast
At first glance, photographers Chris Orwig and Aaron Anderson seem an unlikely pairing—with the natural light and high key palette of Chris’s portraits forming a sharp contrast to the cinematic lighting and film noir aura featured in Aaron’s work. Yet, their heartfelt discussion about creative reinvention in today’s podcast celebrates the notion that opposites attract. Adding to our core topic of reshaping skills at every stage of your career, we’ll also delve into keeping abreast of creative trends and remaining relevant as a creator in an increasingly competitive commercial...
info_outline
High-Octane Motor Sports Photography, with Camden Thrasher & Jamey Price
B&H Photography Podcast
Nothing beats the thundering energy and human drama that unfolds across the surface of an automotive racetrack. Photographers who specialize in this adrenaline-fueled niche are best served by nerves of steel and the high endurance to lug multiple cameras and the long lenses needed to freeze the action. In today’s show, we plunge headfirst into what it takes to cover the many facets of auto racing with two of the finest professionals in the field, photographers Camden Thrasher and Jamey Price. From stories of unexpected hurdles to access when scouting an unfamiliar course to the mix of...
info_outline
Photo Industry Tips from High-End Assistants, with Mike Foley & Alex Savidis
B&H Photography Podcast
As any established photographer will tell you, forging a career can be a long and arduous journey, with no instruction manual to guide you through the process. The lofty world of top-notch pros is often shrouded in mystery and full of things they don’t teach in photo school. In today’s show, we get to peek behind the scenes of this complex, and often chaotic environment in a chat with two colleagues who’ve found a way to balance their freelance careers as independent creators with lucrative work assisting in a high-profile photo studio. Listen in, to learn how a casual job application...
info_outline
Podcast: Creative Innovation & Visual Voodoo, with Chase Jarvis
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_outline
AI-Powered Wedding Photography Workflows, with Sam Hurd & Justin Benson
B&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_outline
Picturing the World from Immersive to Eternal, with Claudio Edinger
B&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_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