All about Eve: Kate Hook

A monthly series exploring photography from women’s perspectives.

All about Eve is a monthly series of conversations with women who use photography as a way to observe, interpret, and question the world around them.

I started this project because I wanted to create space for women’s voices in photography: to talk not just about cameras or techniques, but about stories, identities, and experiences. Each month, I’ll be featuring a different photographer whose work and perspective inspire me, hoping to bring more visibility and connection to women behind the lens. This month, I have the pleasure of talking with Kate Hook.

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You shoot exclusively on film. What does analogue give you, creatively or emotionally that digital never could?

Patience, hahahaa
That’s it.

What was happening in your life when you realised film wasn’t just a tool, but the medium through which you needed to express yourself?

I’m say this about photography overall, as I started messing with different kinds of mediums as a teen. Film cameras were always there since I was a kid. For me though, I was a teenager when it started to be a regular thing to share photos online. I mean I’m of the age where you’d get your film developed, get prints, and scan the prints on the family scanner. Digital was easier, especially before smartphones. So really? Just life, I suppose. I found this creative outlet and played with it ever since.

What was the first photograph you made that felt truly “yours”? What did it reveal to you about your artistic voice?

Probably the double exposed portraits I did in 2019. Basically, I took some portraits in this “home studio” setup I had, rewound the film, took it with me across about 4 different countries over about 4 months, reloaded the film, and shot the second exposures on a rainy night out in Osaka, Japan. I didn’t get the film developed until a good few weeks I got back from my travels. When I did and got the scans back, I was floored, I genuinely couldn’t believe I took those photos. I had no reference images, nothing, just a mark on the film so I knew where to align it.

When you were starting out, did you feel supported in choosing analogue or did you face pressure to “go digital”? How did you stay committed to what felt true to you?

Honestly, when I first started with photography I was doing both digital and film. I didn’t own a DSLR until I was 20, so before I was using small Fuji compacts, borrowing friends cameras, my dad’s film cameras too, as well as the odd disposable. When I got my big fancy camera I got work quite quickly, mostly doing party photos at nightclubs and events. Sometimes the organizers would ask me to bring one of my film cameras, and do whatever I want. After a while I didn’t want to be doing that sort of photography overall, and it was the height of the “film is dying” era. Digital was for work and film was fun. I went “film only” in 2016, so 10 years ago now (?!). Film always felt more personal, so it wasn’t hard to stick with it.

Has shooting film ever helped you through a difficult or transformative period of your life? If so, what did the medium give you that nothing else could?

It’s kinda dark, but thinking about it... It was when my dad died in spring 2013. The year previously I worked for Lomography at a concession in Selfridges, which closed a few months before losing my dad. The whole atmosphere at the time was that “film is dying”, the concession was only a temporary deal and eventually closed. All my film photos from around that time were fun, the typical “Lomo” type of stuff, with friends etc, nothing too serious. When I lost my dad I was working in a photography studio, shooting e-commerce for luxury brands. I was also helping my ex launch his streetwear brand, so I was doing all the photos for them at the time. I can’t fully recall, however when my dad passed away, I had to quit my job due to having so much to deal with. My mum passed away a few years before, so there was extra responsibility. I would stay over at the house as we got stuff sorted, and was a wreck during that time. I had only my film cameras with me, my dad’s Canon AV-1, and would shoot with it all wrong, with the shutter being super slow, winding the film back slightly, f**king about with light really, as like I said- it was a dark time. Everything was out of control, at least I had something that was mine, moments I could capture while in the absolute pits of it.

If you imagine a world where you had never discovered film, how different do you think your artistic identity, or even your life, would look today?

I’d probably be a baker or something!
Actually, I’d be one of those “is this a thing or is it cake?” content creators. So, I think my life would’ve turned out very differently.

Has being a woman in photography, especially in analogue, which historically has been male-dominated, shaped your creative journey in any way?

Yep. It’s a mix bag. Lots of positive experiences, but also loads of negative ones too. Photography overall is a male dominated space, and the analogue side is it’s own special little element to that. I could bang on about entitlement, gatekeeping, boundary pushing behaviour...

Was there ever a moment in your career where you felt underestimated or boxed in, and how did you push through it?

Hmmmm, yeah, a few times. Again, mixed bag type of stuff. I’ve been made to feel like I don’t know anything in an array of environments and situations. From film labs to being on set for something. But over time I’ve gained a quiet confidence over how I do my work.

Is there a project you haven’t made yet, something ambitious or personal, that you hope to bring to life?

Definitely publishing. I was planning on doing a zine last year as I have all the photos ready for it, but life, y’know? It’ll be great to actually sell prints more often too. Sometimes I just worry that people are content to view my work on their phones, than have it up somewhere in their homes.

Film forces a balance between control and surrender. How do you navigate that tension knowing when to guide the image and when to let the medium take over?

Haha, there’s been a bunch of times I’ve had to tell someone who was modelling for me to “trust the process, you’ll see what I mean when we get the scans back” I just make sure everything is set-up to a good standard, environment is good, even if it is none portrait stuff. There’s been times I’ve messed up a shot by under exposing or something. That’s just life though, you’re always gonna still f**k up again at some point.

Are there artists photographers, filmmakers, painters, or even musicians, who have shaped your eye or the emotional world of your work? What influences do you return to?

Benoit Debbie, David Lynch, Kate Bush, Gillian Wearing, Pete Turner, to name a few.

If you could speak to yourself from ten years ago, the Kate who was just starting to experiment with film, what would you tell her about the path ahead?

Well, it’s been 10 years since I went film only for my photography, so I’d tell her to be even more stubborn about it! I probably wouldn’t say anything else, besides to keep going with it. It does amaze me how many people have been influenced over the work I’ve posted, and how it shows in their own film photography work. So yeah, even now, keep being stubborn AF about shooting film!

You can follow Kate’s work on her Instagram and on Tik Tok

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