Photographer with camera on tripod under a leafless tree
Self-portrait · FR 01A · f/8 · 2s · ISO 100
Ilse Varenholt · b. 1987 · Halvern

I started photographing on my grandfather’s folding camera and never really switched to anything faster.

For fourteen years I have split my time between the mountains, where I make slow large-format landscapes, and people, where I photograph weddings and portraits with the same patience. The studio on Pier 3 opened in 2021 and now hosts a small team and three hire spaces.

I teach two workshops a year on reading light and printing in the darkroom, and I still develop every roll of film myself.

FR 02AKit

What’s in the bag.

The gear matters less than the weather, but people always ask.

Large formatEbony 4×5 field cameraRodenstock 90 / 150 / 240mm
Medium formatMamiya 7 II rangefinder80mm f/4, 43mm f/4.5
DigitalTwo full-frame mirrorless bodies35 / 50 / 85mm primes
StudioStrobe packs, 3 m octabankTethered to a calibrated display
DarkroomEnlarger with cold-light headFibre-based silver gelatin papers
FieldCarbon tripod, dark clothSpot meter, notebook, thermos
FR 03ARecord

Shows, books & milestones.

  1. 2025Northern QuietSolo exhibition, Galleri Nordlys, Skarvik
  2. 2024Monochrome StreetsBook, 112 pages, Halvern Editions
  3. 2023Salt & IronGroup show, Aldmoor Photo Biennale
  4. 2021Studio on Pier 3Opened the daylight studio and darkroom
  5. 2018First edition printsCollector programme launched
Press
“A photographer who waits longer than anyone else, and it shows.”
The Silver Review
“Landscapes with the temperature still in them.”
Field & Frame Quarterly
“The rare wedding photographer who never asks anyone to pose.”
Northlight Journal
FR 04AContact sheet

Behind the camera.

A roll from a working day in the studio and on the hill.

Sheet 01 · Working daysLV 400 · box speed · dev 7′30″ @ 20°
Camera over hand
01▸01A
Silhouette with camera
02▸02A
Using a camera
03▸03A
Tripod outdoors
04▸04A
Cameras
05▸05A
Camera in grayscale
06▸06A
Holding a camera
07▸07A
High-angle photo
08▸08A

frame 04 → print 60 × 75, burn sky +⅓

Weddings180+

photographed since 2014

Editions62

prints in collections

Workshops34

run in four countries

Rolls1200+

developed by hand

Snowy mountains at dusk
FR 36A · End of roll

Let’s make something slow.

Commissions, weddings and studio hire for the coming season. Tell me the date, the place and the light you have in mind.