Sandy Kim is an American Photographer (b. in 1986). Kim grew up in Portland, Oregon where she began her photography career, then leaving at 18, she traveled to San Francisco. She started photographing what’s around her. Her friends, her loves and her life. Even unashamedly turning the camera back on herself. A large turning point in Kim’s career was when the band she befriended and was photographing, “Girls”, started to break through, her images suddenly were appearing in The New York Times and other publications. Her use of point and shoot cameras and unique style even received praise from art photographer Ryan McGinley.
She really knows how to use natural light, like early morning light, or sunset light in an apartment. She pays attention to it and that’s always the sign of a good photographer, knowing when and how to use that light. She’s small, a fly on the wall, with balls to pick up her arm and take the photo without asking permission. Sandy brings her camera everywhere and she’s always ready and waiting for the moment. She documents her life in San Francisco and you get a sense of the scene there-but not in a blogger way, Sandy is actually talented-an artist. I like how she still shoots film. it’s old school. She reminds me of when I was young – out partying every night, snapping away so that the pictures can provide evidence of the night.” – Ryan McGinley, DAZED 2011
-Anatomy Films
‘Sandy Kim turning the camera on herself is not that unique. But her exciting, off the hip style is what’s garnered her well deserved attention. Almost as if a great image emerges from not very much pre-thought or planning. You can see the planning and execution from other photographers. Not Sandy Kim. The intimacy of her photos are her own. Whether you live that lifestyle or not, you feel connected.’
Sandy Kim never considered herself a photographer, and so spending more than 10 dollars on a camera seemed stupid. Which is how her point and shoot persona and thrift store finds began. And she still prefers film over digital. She likes being “stuck” with what she has to work with. She very much dislikes editing on a computer. And anyway, “the images don’t look the same”. While she’d be the first to admit her lighting and composition are not always thought through in the technical sense, she feels photographs are made to remember experiences and moments in time.
Aside from these photos, Kim has also created some interesting zines over the years. SKY2K by Sandy Kim: In her underwear and topless, Kim places herself at the center of various public spaces for this series, published in honor of the 2013 New York Art Book Fair as a one-shot zine. The twelve pages that contain the new work are actually just two pages folded and cut to fit the format of both a book and enormous poster at the same time.
Sources:
http://www.pogobooks.de/content/sandykim.html
https://www.wired.com/2012/05/sandy-kim/