The Candid Frame: A Photography Podcast

When photographer Stephanie Pommez began documenting the lives of traditional midwives in the Amazon, she was drawn by a desire to understand how communities shape meaning through ritual, labor, and shared belief. Over several years, she traveled through river-dweller communities, photographing women who serve not only as caretakers and healers, but as guardians of local culture. What began as a documentary exploration of daily life gradually opened onto something more expansive—an encounter with the oral traditions and myths that run alongside the visible world. That long engagement evolved into The Enchanted Ones, a lyrical and haunting project inspired by the stories of the encantados—mythical shapeshifting beings said to inhabit the rivers and forests of the Amazon. Shot in 35mm black and white, the book moves beyond conventional documentary, embracing ambiguity, atmosphere, and the porous boundary between reality and imagination. Rather than illustrating folklore from a distance, Pommez creates a visual