"Never ending surprises and continuous exploration": Scandebergs hit London with Kodak's Ektra smartphone

It’s Nice That has teamed up with Kodak following the release of its Kodak Ektra Smartphone. The phone is named Ektra after Kodak’s famous 1940’s camera, but unlike its analogue ancestor, it operates on the Android operating system and offers a camera with DSLR functionality, a 21MP camera, 4K video capture, RAW shooting mode and a DSLR style scene selection dial. In line with Kodak’s manifesto, headed: “If the world can see. The world can change,” we handed the phone over to two London-based photographers and asked them to show us the world through their eyes.

First, we linked up with the photographer lensing grime’s new wave, Vicky Grout. Here, for our second feature, we connected with photography duo Stefano Colombini and Alberto Albanese AKA Scandebergs. 

“A cinematic approach is what would describe our style best,” Stefano Colombini and Alberto Albanese decide. “Whenever we are working on a personal or commissioned project, we start building a narrative or unravel an existing one. Even a photo of a small detail can help in this process. We could say we are explorers, creators and also investigators sometimes.” The Italian duo moved to London in 2011, and, in the six years since, their cinematic portfolio of landscapes and portraits has blossomed: and caught the attention of brands and magazines, among them Wonderland magazine, Fendi and Missoni.

Scandebergs put that success, at least in part, down to the city which they now call home. “London is the city of the infinite possibilities and, if you know how to make use of it wisely, it helps you find your path. It seems like the time here runs faster than everywhere else, this could play a favourable role in your practice but it’s a shortcut that requires stronger attention.” 

After letting Scandebergs loose on the capital with the Kodak Ektra for 24 hours, we caught up with the pair to find out what they got up to in a trip which took them from their studio to a much-loved location: the Barbican. 

When and why did you first move to London?

Stefano: I first moved to London in 2011 right after my high school years, in order to start my academic studies at Central Saint Martins and then London College of Fashion. I’ve been drawn to this city since my first visit in 2009 and felt it would have been the ideal place to channel my energies and grow creatively. Alberto followed me in 2012, after an academic preparation in Fine Arts and Photography at the European Institute of Design in Milan. 

Did you meet in London? Can you tell us about the moment you met?

We are from two small villages between Milan and Lake Como, not far from each other.  The towns around there are so small that you get to meet almost all the people from your generation in your teenage years. Paradoxically, we didn’t get to meet each other until 2011, only through common friends and some weird cosmic coincidences that put both of us in the same place at the same time.  
 
Tell us about your connection to the city.

London seems an autonomous machine and that’s what we tried to depict in this project: the city casts an invisible presence, as if you were never alone, yet the feeling of loneliness is very recurring. 

What inspires you most about London?

The never ending surprises and continuous exploration. 

What is your favourite area and why?

We love Barbican because of its brutalist architecture, it’s like an island in the middle of the City. We also like Greenwich, mainly because it has a different, smaller living dimension than the City, (and it’s pretty much another island, figuratively). 

Talk us through the 24 hours you captured on film for this feature. Where did you go and why?

We decided to approach those 24 hours exploring the city as if we were visitors from another place, highlight the importance of depicting spaces in our practices and how natural and artificial light can distort the perception we have of these places.

Our practice really focuses on how we interact with familiar and unfamiliar spaces and how we can bend the line between those two definitions solely by being present in a specific moment. Our journey started from our studio, where everything takes shape; we felt it was very important for us to include such an intimate space into this story along with open images of sky or the dark and narrow hallways of the Barbican.

We showed a city without its inhabitants, only to highlight this invisible presence that permeates everything.

If you could choose one stand out moment from those 24 hours, what would it be and why?

Probably the moment we reviewed all the documentation and found the narrative thread we were looking for.

What does duality mean to you in your photography practice?

Duality means challenging yourself in finding the same wavelength. It also means being able to challenge your ideas so they can find their right place to exist in this shared vision.  

What do you enjoy most about working together in a pair?

Synchronicity!

What was it like to work with the Kodak Ektra?

Kodak Ektra is a smartphone camera that you need to actively engage with to create what you have in mind. It offers all the features of a professional camera but shrunk down in a compact size. Using it has been fun and liberating!