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San Francisco-born-and-raised artist Nora Lalle’s life has always found its way back to film photography. After being laid off during the pandemic, for example, Lalle visited Photoworks SF on Market Street, where she saw a job posting, applied, and soon began working among fellow film photo lovers.
“I started meeting people who were putting on group shows, and sort of embraced my identity as an artist within that,” Lalle tells KQED. Later, in August 2023, the Tenderloin gallery Book & Job exhibited her photography in a solo show. “Then I was like, ‘I guess I am an artist. I guess I am a photographer,’” she says.
Even before that level of personal validation, Lalle had sought to create a “well-rounded source of inspiration” for other photographers in the form of a physical, high-quality art magazine. In 2021, she founded Pamplemousse Magazine – a film photography art magazine containing basically just photos, an extension of her zine-making past. A small but engaged Instagram following responded to quarterly open calls, activating the Bay Area’s ready talents, and Photoworks became a host site for Pamplemousse release parties and events.
“I hope that we can be a cutting edge, discover people before they hit success — whatever that means,” says Lalle, wanting to pay forward the opportunities she’s had herself. “I want to nurture people’s voices that I believe in, and give them the opportunity to spread their art with the world.”
Lalle took an online workshop on magazine making with London’s magCulture in February 2023. The workshop began: “There is no money in magazines.”
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Lalle powered on, discovering that it’s actually cheaper to print a magazine in England, even with the exchange rate and shipping costs. She began working with an London printing facility, Park Communications Ltd., and landed a deal with Ra & Olly Ltd., a U.K. distributor that facilitates mailings and works to get Pamplemousse on bookstore and magazine shop shelves around the world.
The magazine has grown in other ways too. It now provides more context to the photographs it presents, with artist interviews, articles, essays, personal statements, and more.
“It is a very vulnerable thing to put out each magazine,” says Lalle. “It’s my taste. It’s my selection of people. It’s my vision. I’m very critical of myself: each magazine I usually find something wrong or that I’d change once it’s printed, but any time people are into it, react positively, it’s just very validating, and I just feel like people can tell how passionate I am.”
It’s Lalle as independent publisher, editor-in-chief, event planner, and more. Dedicated volunteers like Senior Editor Jess Rhodes, Associate Editor Camila Gutiérrez Cordova and Graphic Designer Hannah Mendenhall Schmuck work on each issue, and Frank Lalle and Sue Schwartz help with consulting, planning and staffing. Pamplemousse now publishes three times a year, in the spring, summer and fall.
Lalle is drawn to film photography for its “precious and intentional” nature. It’s a grainy, tangible way to document life. For many photographers, the mechanics of the camera elevate the simple tool into a memorable experience of translating complex emotions into a still image.
“Each image that comes out of that is more special,” she says, noting that the constraints of film, like a roll’s limited capacity, the cost of developing and printing, and the specific looks of varying film stocks, all guide artistic exploration.
Lalle seeks to feature talent from all over the world, while staying grounded in the Bay Area. In addition to local events in San Francisco and the East Bay, she tables at book fairs, art fairs, exhibitions and festivals domestically and internationally.
With a tagline of “Fresh Voices, Classic Formats,” Pamplemousse aims to highlight creativity and originality, and to platform underrepresented, emerging artistic voices. (Occasionally, the magazine features established artists.) Lalle’s goal is to reach people who may not know anything about photography or even consider themselves art lovers.
Unfortunately, sustainable business models for physical magazines are more past relic than modern practice. Bay Area sponsors help make Pamplemousse a reality while she applies for grants to secure funding. Lalle sees photo walks, pop-ups and meet-ups as a means to keep fostering the Bay Area’s local film photography community, along with name recognition. “It has started happening where people say, ‘Oh I’ve heard of that,’” she says.
True success, Lalle says, will mean paying the team that works on Pamplemousse, as well as the featured artists. Long term, Lalle can imagine forming a nonprofit to expand operations beyond the print magazine into workshops, events and a physical exhibition space.
In the meantime, Lalle encourages film photographers to submit to Pamplemousse’s open calls — even if they are not chosen for one issue, they could be invited to contribute to a future one.
Four years and 10 issues into her life as the publisher of an independent film photography magazine, Lalle reflects, “Now I don’t know what else I’d be doing, honestly.”
Pamplemousse Magazine can be found online and on Instagram. The print magazine can be found at numerous Bay Area locations, including the Harvey Milk Photo Center Library, Photoworks SF, Glass Key Photo, Underdog Film Lab and Dog Eared Books. A call for submissions to the Spring 2025 issue is open now.
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