Raw. Honest. Authentic. Qualities of a strong business or community leader of today bear some resemblance to qualities of vintage photography, according to two local organizations.
A documentary premiering Monday at the Milwaukee Film Fest began as a conversation between ad agency Bader Rutter and TEMPO, a women’s leadership organization, about how to refresh and build on TEMPO’s branding. But a bigger story soon revealed itself, says Sarah Kmet-Hunt, Bader Rutter’s executive creative director – one that would be best told around a unique photography art form.
The 20-minute film, Direct Positive, follows Milwaukee tintype photographer Margaret Muza as she captures portraits of some of Milwaukee’s most successful women using one of the earliest photographic methods. And while Muza captures the images, film director Jess Ayala captures empowering stories of successful women leaders.
“We thought there was a really nice parallel there with how women are stepping up and embracing the opportunity to show up as more of their true authentic selves and not have to look at themselves within a traditional box that used to define leadership roles,” Kmet-Hunt says.
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Muza’s tintype photography, a form dating back to the 1850s, captures a direct positive image exposed through a wet chemical process directly onto a piece of metal. The photo is developed immediately after it’s taken, removing any opportunity for edits, filters or retouches. The result is an image that genuinely captures a moment in time.
Muza used modern lighting in a modern setting when taking these vintage portraits, which Kmet-Hunt says also captured a tension between how much has changed for women and how much still needs to change.
Empowering women in leadership roles is a main focus of TEMPO, Wisconsin’s largest professional women’s group. Mentorship is important to the organization’s mission, and Kmet-Hunt says the power of shared wisdom was illuminated as the women of TEMPO shared their stories with Ayala, a first-time film director.
“She really pulled out some really open, honest stories from them,” Kmet-Hunt says. “She’s a younger director, so it was almost like they were sometimes kind of mentoring her even on the spot during conversations. That was kind of fascinating to see that unfold.”
Ayala captured the stories over a two-day span at Dandy, a vintage furniture shop and event venue in Milwaukee, which had a nice spirit that echoed the tintype portraits, Kmet-Hunt says. Women would sit for both portraits with Muza and interviews with Ayala, sharing challenges, inspirations, stumbles and victories. A common theme emerged: a hope that future women leaders will embrace their true selves to lead authentically.
“Our hope in sharing this and having people see this film is to, first of all, showcase a lot of these amazing female leaders who are making such an impact around Milwaukee,” Kmet-Hunt says, “but then also to embrace how far women have come and shine a light on how far we still have to go in letting women – and all types of people – show up and really embrace their authentic selves in the workplace and as community leaders.”
Direct Positive is part of the Film Fest’s collection of local short films called The Milwaukee Show I in the 2022 Milwaukee Film Festival, which runs through May 5. Direct Positive and the other films in The Milwaukee Show I screen Monday at 7:30 p.m. in The Oriental Theatre’s Abele Cinema.
