That was what struck us most in our recent reading of Towards a Philosophy of Photography by Vilém Flusser.

In the middle of that motion, we’re happy to share that Montana is growing, with a new branch joining the family.

Welcome to the April/May edition of The Montana Substack.

This month, we invited guest photographer and Montana co founder Suffo Moncloa (b. 1978) to reflect on our current curated theme, “Dance”, and to open a window into his wider photographic process: the instincts, pauses, and decisions behind the frame.

We also continued the conversation with our Instagram community, who sent in questions for Suffo. We selected two to feature here.

A warm shoutout to Mona Music Studio, Barcelona, who curated an hour long playlist for this issue. You will hear familiar tracks, unexpected turns, music for movement and for stillness alike.

And as always, we close with a few highlights from our April Instagram moments.

Cheers to content that arrives slowly, intentionally, and outside the algorithm.

With love,
The Montana Lab
April, 2026

Guest Photographer: Suffo Moncloa

Spanish photographer and co-founder of The Montana Lab, Suffo Moncloa photographed the first collectable edition of Montana. Currently based between Madrid and Paris, his practice centres on analogue photography and darkroom printing, guided by intuition, memory, and a refined visual language rooted in traditional technique.

For the April edition, we spoke with Suffo about movement, image making, sustaining a creative practice, and the visual signatures that continue to define his work.

Reflect on Current Curated Theme 008: Dance

Q: A favourite photo book or photographic project that captures the spirit of dance?

A: I would probably mention The Americans by Robert Frank, even if it is not directly about dance. What always stays with me is the rhythm of it. The sequencing, the pauses, the tension between frames. For me, dance is not only bodies in motion, but also composition, instinct, energy, and the way emotion moves through space. That book holds all of those things. One image I keep returning to is Canal Street – New Orleans, 1955, with its layered movement and quiet tension. I am also really looking forward to seeing the show Robert Frank and The Americans, curated by David Campany at Espacio Fundación Telefónica.

Robert Frank, Canal Street – New Orleans, 1955, from The Americans, 1958. Courtesy: © The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation

Q: Any memorable dance related inspirations, personal or artistic?

A: I am fascinated by the state of mind of a dancer when they dance. There is also something powerful in watching people dance without self awareness. It becomes honest very quickly.

I often return to flamenco, especially Joaquín Grilo’s performance in Flamenco by Carlos Saura. There is intensity, precision, and emotion held in every gesture. The lighting and stage elevate the performance, giving each movement even greater presence. It feels both deeply rooted and completely alive in the present.

Questions from Instagram

Q: Where does your creative direction begin, and how do you translate inspiration into finished work?
@alekmichaud

A: Usually with fragments rather than a fixed image. It can come from light on a wall, a sentence in a book, a film scene, or someone I pass in the street. I collect these moments constantly.

For me, photography is a way of living, something I produce all the time. Of course there are moments when I think about casting, styling, location, and atmosphere, but instinct is always central. The strongest images often happen when the plan loosens and something unexpected appears.

Q: What helps you sustain your career and creative practice over time?
@canhsolo

A: Patience, discipline, and protecting curiosity.

Photography can be demanding because you need to balance personal work, commissions, finances, and energy. Some periods are productive, others are necessary pauses.

Working with analogue practice also helps me. The darkroom reminds me that good things take time.

From the Collectable Edition

Q: Your portraits often feature recurring gestures: open mouths, expressive hands, and distinct bodily shapes. What draws you back to these elements?
@realtallulahharlech

A: I appreciate the idea of repetition across different scenarios, as seen in open mouths and hand gestures. I remember hands being the most difficult part to draw when I was younger. Beautiful hands require proportion, sensitivity, and skill, which made them a natural focal point for me.

I am also interested in holding attention. Many fashion images can feel overly polished or unrealistic. I prefer, at times, to introduce an unusual element that interrupts expectation and invites a second look.

From Montana Issue 0: Carte Blanche by Suffo Moncloa, available to order.

Curated Theme: Dance

In our latest seasonal curated theme, we turn to Dance, where movement becomes both subject and method, a way of seeing as much as a way of being, as this edition moves through Dance as image, idea, and expression, tracing the language of the body in motion.

Introduction - A short editorial reflection on why Dance continues to shape visual culture, performance, and contemporary imagination.

Study - Chronophotography: From Eadweard Muybridge to Étienne-Jules Marey, an early study of motion decomposed into frames, where photography first began to analyse movement and time itself.

Listen - British choreographer and director Wayne McGregor reflects on physical intelligence, creativity, and how movement can expand the way we think, feel, and understand ourselves.

Read - Kazuo Ohno’s World from Without and Within, Texts, reflections, and archival material exploring the radical tenderness and emotional force of Butoh.

Photobooks - An exclusive curation Estelle Hanania that opens the field further, encompassing performance, theatre, teenagehood, free parties, disco clubs, and the many ways movement, presence, and identity are held within the still image.

Read the Dance Issue

Playlist

Music has always been inseparable from visual culture. It sets atmosphere, shapes memory, and often stirs emotion before words arrive.

For this edition, we invited Mona Music Studio, the global music studio collective working across film, television, fashion, and performance, to curate a special playlist for Montana. Known for crafting sound that deepens each frame, MONA moves effortlessly between composition, supervision, and cultural instinct.

For MONA, dance was the starting point: “The movement that dance provokes isn’t always physical — it can also feel quite internal, even spiritual.” The playlist reflects this, opening in an ambient, deconstructed space before gradually building in pace and intensity. A strong cross-visual thread runs throughout — from Emerê, written for a Brazilian contemporary dance company, to Thom Yorke’s Has Ended from Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria — while culturally it drifts between Western, Spanish/Latin American, and contemporary Persian influences. A little nod, as they put it, to their own roots.

Expect familiar favourites, unexpected turns, and music made for movement.

Beyond the studio, founders Alison Manicourt and Shervin Hejazi also record as Mona et Toi, whose debut album Radical Romance of Mind, mixed by Alex Ferrer, is set for release in 2026.

Instagram Highlights

A selection of posts revisited this month.

Follow us

Thank you for tuning in to our April edition, we’ll be back next month with more. In the meantime, follow along on Instagram for daily updates, inspiration and dialogue.