Angela Marklew

fstop-inertia photography

"I am a firm believer in playing with your food" - A. Marklew

Angela is a Canadian scientist-turned-photographer obsessed with road trips and what people eat for dinner. She's flipped her car ten times, fallen off a motorcycle, and used to test explosives for the government.

Exposed to the photographic process in her teens she quickly became personally invested in the artistic opportunities it provided. However, as with most creative instructions offered in public school, this one was quickly taken from her before she was fully able to realize its potential. As time went on, she followed a dual path (chemistry and photography), now using her knowledge in chemistry as a foundation for her artistic endeavors. Fascinated by the process that resulted in an image materializing on a page, she quickly moved to alternative and historical methods to produce images. In particular, finding a number of creative opportunities available utilizing Polaroid film.

Bored of blowing things up combined with a growing sense that Canada and her winters was not the sort of discomfort Angela preferred, she accepted an opportunity to relocate to Los Angeles, California and would almost immediately begin a massive photographic study of forgotten areas in North America. Risking violent encounters in Nevada, dehydration in New Mexico, even becoming the lone victim in a near fatal car accident, there are virtually no limits to what she will face when she has images to capture and can commonly be found scaling broken ladders, jumping fences and wading in swamps to realize creative pursuits.

Although Angela was immersed in photography and creating images, it wasn't until she was first assistant for Mark Robert Halper, a well-known Los Angeles portrait photographer, that she began to entertain the notion of photographing people.
Approaching this work with significant attention to detail, the controlled chaos Angela presents in much of her portrait work offers a paradoxical twist to her approach outside the studio where she is at the mercy of the places and objects she discovers. In the studio she becomes meticulously focused in her planning and when reviewing her work, it becomes clear exactly how aware she is of everything that fills the frame. Using a combination of shallow and deep focus, Angela has been celebrated in her ability to create an intensely personal portrait of her subject and their personality.

Angela has had work exhibited in Ottawa, Québec, Louisville, San Diego and Los Angeles. Her clients include Elle Decor, Signature LA Direct magazine, Ephoe Couture, GoGentlyBaby, and Beata Dircyz.