ABOUT ANGELA HOLM

The Quiet Echo of Being

Short Intro

Angela Holm is a Portland based artist whose work lives between presence and disappearance, a softness found in what is nearly gone. She works primarily in film and alternative photographic processes, using light, memory, and atmosphere to shape quiet worlds that feel both intimate and surreal.

Her practice moves slowly and intentionally, rooted in wonder, intuition, and a deep reverence for what whispers beneath the surface.

Artist Statement

I make images to uncover the quiet worlds that memory, decay, and time leave behind. My work moves in the space between presence and disappearance, a place where stillness begins to tremble and the familiar drifts into something more internal. Each frame is a portal, not to what is seen but to what is felt.

Using film, pinhole techniques, toy cameras, and alternative lenses, I lean into the unpredictable. Blur, softness, and distortion become collaborators. I’m drawn to landscapes that feel remembered, to flowers that dissolve into atmosphere, to light that holds its breath before fading. I follow these moments not to document them but to listen to them.

Rooted in slowness and intuition, my process invites the viewer to linger in the in-between, the shimmer before something becomes memory. I photograph what whispers.

Biography

Originally from Wisconsin, I moved to Oregon in 2014 and found a home in the Pacific Northwest’s shifting light and quiet, cinematic landscapes. The region’s blend of mist, forest, coastline, and ruin continues to shape the emotional language of my work.

My artistic practice spans film photography, full-spectrum work, macro floral studies, landscapes, and experimental methods that embrace imperfection and atmosphere. My work has appeared in galleries and exhibitions throughout the Pacific Northwest, including The Reser Center for the Arts. I have also contributed to the Portland Grid Project and founded Photo Club PDX, which now exists as a small online community I continue to steward.

In addition to my photographic practice, I work in tactile mediums such as leathercraft and object making. These pursuits often find their way into my journal as part of a wider creative life that blends materiality, narrative, and quiet introspection.

I also serve as a co-chair within the global 3D Artist Community, supporting creative connection, mentorship, and interdisciplinary exploration. Many of the same sensibilities that guide my photographic work, attention to detail, emotional resonance, and a love of crafted form, shape my approach as a Senior 3D Technical Designer in the fashion industry. These worlds are interconnected for me, each illuminating different facets of how light, texture, and memory form the shape of a story.

Tools, Process, and Analog Alchemy

My work is built on a love for tangible tools and the unseen forces they reveal. I often describe my process as a kind of analog alchemy, a place where film, time, and chemistry shape the emotional tone as much as the subject itself.

I move between multiple formats and cameras not out of novelty, but because each tool opens a different threshold:

• Pentax 67 for depth, quiet grandeur, and cinematic stillness

• Leica M3 for intuitive, luminous 35mm street and environmental work

• Olympus OM-1 for softness and immediacy

• Zero Image pinhole for slowness, blur, and dreamlike distortion

• Holga cameras + panoramic Holga for chaos, magic, and emotional imperfection

• Full-spectrum digital for infrared and spectral transformations

• Various point-and-shoots for spontaneity and memory-driven frames

I choose cameras the way others choose brushes. Each one holds a different way of listening.

Photography, Design, and the Shape of Form

Alongside my photographic practice, I am a Senior 3D Technical Designer in the fashion industry. My work in digital form, texture, and structure quietly informs my artistic process.

The two disciplines are not separate for me.
They share the same root: a desire to shape emotion into form.

Photography lets me sculpt atmosphere.
3D design lets me sculpt the invisible logic beneath it.

Both require precision, intuition, and an understanding of how light moves across the surface of a story.

These worlds continue to fold into one another, creating a practice that is tactile, conceptual, and grounded in craft.

Artist Profile Video

This artist profile highlights Angela’s film photography practice and her fascination with industry, machinery, and man-made structures being slowly reclaimed by the earth. She is drawn to the mysterious stillness in these spaces and the visual stories they hold.

Video produced by John Thompson (www.nurofuzy.com), with special thanks to Brian at West Linn Paper (now Willamette Falls Paper Company) for access to the mill.

Closing Invitation

I am open to collaborations, commissions, teaching, consulting, and gallery representation.
If my work resonates with you, I would be glad to connect.