o elogio da sombra

Christoph Engel is an young contemporary photographer from Germany. His work focus on architecture and landscape with the human intervention always present. I like his moody landscapes and the cold feeling you get from the photographs but also the clean look, almost pristine, of his work. Silence is always a presence in his photos and i quite like that too.

How do you started taking photographs and why?

By taking a camera in my hands and exploring my city. It really was that simple. At first, i had no clue why i was doing this – and sometimes i feel like i’d still don’t know. Others would say: to express my inner self. May be that’s true. But without the aim to impress other people – though my pictures definitely left a deep impression to the people around me and that kept me going on. It’s more to fix things for myself, to give them a definite shape…

In your opinion, what makes a good photo?
What makes you want to capture a photo? What you must see in a subject to make you release the shutter?

On both questions i have the same answer: when my inner imagination finds an expression outside, in the real world. It’s the same with pictures of other photographers. They are good photos to me, when they arouse a feeling deep inside. From a good picture i also expect a different view, to explore something new. I’m so bored of redundancies…for my own work there are two possibilities:
one is to feel the need to take that special picture though i don’t know why at that moment. Sometimes this act starts a long process to make me understand in the end. Sometimes i never do – yet. The other is to find a picture in front of my eyes that was spinning in my head for a long time. that is like a relief…

Do you have a routine to take the photos for your projects or you just let it happen and see where it takes you?

It’s quite amusing, but my routine is to let it happen and see where it takes me. For my clients i do my work in the topics architecture and landscape. Before i travel to a new building or into an for me unknown area, i avoid to see any publications. I focus on the presence of the building, try to find out, how it works and in which way it can be interpreted by the terms of photography. It’s nearly the same with landscape.

At the end of a shooting session how do you choose the photos that are worth to show in your portfolio?

I use with rare exceptions every shot i make. So to say i make my decisions before i release the shutter. The final selection for a portfolio therefore is quite hard. The selected picture should not answer to many questions, it must be strong enough to stand on its own as well as in combination to its neighbors…

Name a few photographers that inspired you and your work and why they inspired you.

One of the first was the swiss photographer Helene Binet. She made fascinating black and white pictures of buildings renowned architects like Peter Zumthor or Zaha Hadid, just to name a few.
Another one is Hiroshi Sugimoto. I deeply fell in love with his diffuse pictures of architectural memory as well as his fantastic seascapes.
At the moment it’s more and more the work of Andreas Gursky, though i’m a little bit disappointed by his recent exhibition in Munich. I’m fascinated by the creative development of digital techniques, by his mix of photography with elements of painting. Another phoptographer working in similar terms is Lukas Roth from Cologne, Germany. He also mounts many different pictures into one to get an impression of his memory of a certain place with all its different aspects.

How digital technology changed the way we look at photography as art?

The new technologies definitely lifted the possibilities to a new level. Manipulation was in use from the very beginning of photography but nowadays the speed has increased and the results once achieved can be replicated very easily. The photographers depends less on the real situation, he can create a lot more.
On the other hand is the flood of pictures polluting the world. In my opinion this overkill is a serious problem for our society as well as for photographers because there is a lack of time. It’s become difficult to find new art in all the rubbish. And i’m so sick of the questions about the truth of a picture…
When will people understand, that a photography never is real?

Christoph Engel website.

Margarida Paiva trabalha com vídeo e fotografia, onde procura representar ambientes de medo e paranóia. A artista tem uma formação em escultura, habita já há algum tempo na Noruega, onde tem desenvolvido um trabalho consistente e muito inspirado pelos contos infantis e de fadas. Actualmente a artista tem uma exposição na Lab.65.

Como começou a fotografar e porquê?

Eu comecei a trabalhar com fotografia quando ainda estava a estudar. Na altura estava a trabalhar com ‘land art’ e comecei a usar a fotografia para documentar estes trabalhos. Gradualmente comecei a interessar-me pela natureza de uma outra forma, na floresta e em certos contos infantis, e isso levou-me a encenar situações na floresta, trabalhos estes que resultaram em fotografia. Mais tarde, a fotografia levou-me a trabalhar com vídeo e tenho trabalhado com vídeo desde então, mas continuo a trabalhar com fotografia em paralelo.

Na sua opinião o que faz uma boa fotografia?

Para mim é sobretudo a atmosfera que a fotografia transmite, tem de haver algo com um significado especial por detrás da superficie da imagem.

O que a leva a captar uma fotografia? O que é que precisa de ver no tema para premir o botão do obturador?

Normalmente as minhas fotografias são encenadas e cada fotografia tem de certa forma contar uma história, ou seja, tem de incluir um certo grau de narratividade.

Tem alguma rotina para reunir as fotos para os seus projectos ou deixa-se levar pelos acontecimentos?

Em todos os meus projectos tenho normalmente um titulo/tema inicial que me leva a decidir onde e o que quero fotografar. As fotografias são sempre encenadas mas tudo depende do que me rodeia.

No final de uma sessão fotográfica como escolhe as fotografias que irão constar no seu portfolio?

Eu tento sempre agrupar as fotografias por tema e escolho sempre as que melhor contam uma história.

Mencione alguns fotógrafos que a inspiram e ao seu trabalho e diga-nos porquê.

Nan Goldin – pela forma poética de fotografar material documentário.
Mikkel McAlinden – pelo excelente trabalho digital e por explorar ao máximo as possibilidades da tecnologia fotográfica.
Jeff Wall – pelo estilo cinematográfico.
Anna Gaskell – pela cenografia e pela elevada tensão psicológica nos temas representados.

Como é que a tecnologia digital mudou a maneira como vemos a fotografia como arte?

Pessoalmente acho que a tecnologia digital permite uma facilidade maior para experimentar e para manipular a imagem. No entanto a tecnologia digital não se trata apenas de uma técnica em fotografia ou em cinema, mas vem sobretudo mudar certos aspectos na nossa cultura visual. Não só nas artes mas também nos meios de comunicação, hoje em dia é mais dificil distinguir entre ficção e documentário, e isto deve-se em parte à tecnologia digital.

Playing dead © Margarida Paiva.

Website de Margarida Paiva.

~Eng~

Margarida Paiva works with video and photography, in which she portrays fear and paranoia. The artist has a graduation in sculpture, lives in Norway, where she’s been doing a consistent work inspired by fairy tales and she has an exhibition at Lab.65.

How do you started taking photographs and why?

I began to work with photography when i was studying. By then i was working with ‘land art’ and i started to use photography to document these works. Gradually i started to become interested by nature in a different way, in the forest and on certain infantile tales, and it led me to stage scenes in the forest, works that turn out into photographs. Later on, photography led me to work with video and i’ve been working with video since then, but I’m still working with photography in parallel.

In your opinion, what makes a good photo?

For me it’s, most of all, the atmosphere that the photograph conveys, it has to have something with a special meaning behind the surface of the image.

What makes you want to capture a photo? What you must see in a subject to make you release the shutter?

Generally my photographs are staged and each has to tell a story in a certain way, that is, it has to include a certain degree of narration.

Do you have a routine to take the photos for your projects or you just let it happen and see where it takes you?

At every of my projects i normally have one initial title/theme that helps me to decide where and what i’m going to photograph. The photographs are always staged but all depends whereof surrounds me.

At the end of a shooting session how do you choose the photos that are worth to show in your portfolio?

I try always group the photographs by theme and I choose always the ones that tell better the story i want to tell.

Name a few photographers that inspired you and your work and why they inspired you.

Nan Goldin – for the poetic way that she photographs documentary subjects.
Mikkel McAlinden – by the excellent digital work and the way he explores to the max the possibilities of the photographic technology.
Jeff Wall – by the cinematic style.
Anna Gaskell – for the scenography and for the high psychological strain on the themes represented on her photographs.

How digital technology changed the way we look at photography as art?

Personally I find that the technology digital allows to easily experiment and manipulate the image. However the digital technology it is not only a photographic or cinematic technique, but changed certain aspects in our ‘visual’ culture. Not only in art but also in the media, today it’s become harder to distinguish between fiction and documentary, and this is due in part to the digital technology.

Phillipe Cruz is an young photographer from Philippines. His work was featured in several magazines and promotional posters.

How do you started taking photographs and why?

I started in July 2005. I just wanted to try it out, after seeing the work of other people in the internet. I felt that it was also a way for me to show and challenge my creativity.

In your opinion, what makes a good photo?

One that evokes all sorts of reaction from the one viewing it.

What makes you want to capture a photo?

When I see something that I think is beautiful, even when others don’t see it.

What you must see in a subject to make you release the shutter?

There should be something potentially interesting about it.

Do you have a routine to take the photos for your projects or you just let it happen and see where it takes you?

No particular routine. :) But I check for the lighting — and find the best one that will work for my subject.

At the end of a shooting session how do you choose the photos that are worth to show in your portfolio?

Sometimes it is difficult to choose, but I normally just depends on my mood. I make it a point to use every shot, even if its underexposed or overexposed, there is always something beautiful or interesting I find it.

Name a few photographers that inspired you and your work and why they inspired you.

Michael Yamashita, Steve McCurry, David Nightingale, John Washington.

How digital technology changed the way we look at photography as art?

It made photography more adaptable. I literally can play god and recreate my own setting. Photography is not just limited to capturing what you see anymore, your can even recreate. It does not limit your creativity, this way. For an artist, this is very good.

Website: ParcPhotography.

~pt~

Phillipe Cruz é um jovem fotógrafo das Filipinas. O seu trabalho foi publicado em algumas revistas e serviu de suporte para posters promocionais.
Continue reading ‘Interview with Phillip Cruz.’

Erik and Jens are two young photographers from Germany. Their photographs are echoes of urban life with some excursions in abstract and landscape photography, i’m attracted by these good, simple photos and looking deep into them you can always find something new and fresh. Maybe their age helps this kind of naive way of looking to the world through a camera lens but i like to think that this is just a result of good lightning, strong composition and a keen eye to find an interesting subject. In my opinion these two photographers deserve our close attention, their work is already a promise of great things to come. To succeed they need to focus and work hard but now they have the will and the talent to launch a successful career, as amateurs or professionals.

How did you start taking photographs and why?

Erik: The first time I intentionally took pictures with an artistic motivation was in 2000. My dad an early Leica digital camera which I could use. I have always been liking just watching my surroundings and recognizing beautiful details. As there are manifold things to discover I wanted to help my brain to remember those with the help of the camera.
Jens: The first time I consciously took some pictures was in 1999, in school for my art class. Since then I borrowed my fathers’ canon AE-1 at times.

In your opinion, what makes a good photo?

In our opinion, technique is obsolete to enthuse people when presenting your photos. A creative idea and the motivation to do something very unusual is the precondition for interesting results. We are both no professionally trained photographers and thus do not know much about “perfect” compositions, lightings, colours or studio setups. Most important is to do photography with fun and relaxation. You will easily develop many ideas.

What makes you want to capture a photo? What do you have to see in a subject to make you release the shutter?

Erik: Symmetry. Whenever I see something symmetric and I have my camera with me, I take the shot.
Jens: Humans. I love candid portraits of people in the streets.

Do you have some kind of routine to make pictures for your photoblog or do you just let it happen and see where it takes you?

We just let it flow. It’s a hobby and the quality varies a lot. So the only routine is that we alternate every other day. Variety is our biggest aim.

At the end of a session, how do you choose the photos that are worth to be shown on the front page of JENRIKS24hphoetry?

Sometimes we run out of new output completely. These are hard days with searching in our archives. It’s a bit of a shame to show pictures that are not of our recent standard. Fortunately these days are quite seldom. We regularly go out for a session once a week. But as we don’t live in the same city anymore, we both have to do it on our own in most cases, which is a pity because we push each other to more creativity when doing it together.

Name a few photographers that inspired you and your work and why they inspired you.

Erik: To be honest I don`t have idols among photographers, but I get lot of inspirations by renown architects. My most popular one is Frank O. Gehry.
Jens: Jaume Blassi (portrait), Ken Ohara (portrait).

Analog or digital?

We use cameras of both types frequently, but think that both techniques have their advantages and disadvantages.
Analog pictures carry more personality of the photographer and their charm lies in the lack of sharpness, perfect white-balance, dust and other “faults”.
Digital photography simplifies workflows and reasonably reduces costs. Improvements of your skills can be developed faster with a digital camera, because you can always instantly review your results and progresses.

How did digital technology change the way we look at photography as art?

The hazard of digital photography is that everybody pollutes the world with his output. Of course art always is receipted subjectively, but the more you can discover the less you take your time for every piece of art. The information overkill is a serious problem for our society.

JENRIKS24hphoetry.

Wealthy © Erik Hehrmann

Tekken 7 © Jens Herrmann