PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION

ABOUT ME

I like artifacts, especially when they are about to break apart. They are unwanted still lifes. The human touch in the frozen inanimate fascinates me as much as the brittleness and irrational self in human beings.

All too often in life, I meet many people who have different urgent items on their agendas, but who reject those agendas in the next second, being both determined and spontaneous, as well as busy and contemplative—and all of this at the same time.

In other words among those I like there are two sorts of people: Those who would pay me a glass of red wine anytime and under all circumstances—all the while neglecting that I like white wine better—and those with whom I would go out for a coffee—anytime and under all circumstances, even if they would then have tea, water or whatever is on their mind to share.

From time to times I need to get an idea of the world outside, and that's one of the main reasons for taking pictures.

ABOUT MY WAY TO TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS

My perception has changed through photography. It has clearly sharpened and focused on the essential. I am pushed to make pictures.

When taking pictures the most important thing is to see the special in the ordinary. It's also important to remember the motto WYSIWYG—“What you see is what you get”. Both thoughts are important: what you see matters and the way you observe your subject will also impact what you get out of your pictures. In addition, almost everything in my photographic art revolves around changing perspective. Furthermore, getting up or down to the level of the motive can also be significant.

I think it is possible to take good photographs with almost any camera. Even though I am convinced that quality matters. Just as you can drive a Fiat Punto to get from point A to point B, not needing to drive a Porsche to get to your destination, so also you don't necessarily need expensive cameras to take photographs of high quality, And yes, the Nikon F6 SLR 35mm film camera is a cool gadget (more on that, below). No, seriously, I think good material keeps you from thinking of it. Whether, how and if a good camera will function is out of question and as a consequence good material helps to concentrate on the picture itself.

When thinking about people I think it is possible to take a good picture of (almost) any person. Some people make your life harder than others but in essence I think that still holds true. There is a glimpse of beauty in everybody. But of course that depends on how you want to see them!

ABOUT LIGHTENING CONDITIONS

Admiring the benefits—and the limitations—of light and shade is a prerequisite to good photography. Light as well as shade can be the biggest obstacle to a good picture. The better the camera is, the lower the level of tolerance.

I like the evening twilight best. When the day goes down, shadows grow longer and pictures have to be taken quickly because the light, which second by second grows more and more beautiful, nevertheless fades quickly away. It makes the motive fugacious.

I am also convinced that it is impossible to take good photographs wearing sunglasses. In other words, it is necessary to face reality without protection.

ABOUT THE MATERIAL

Most often I travel with several lenses and two cameras – a Nikon F6 and a Nikon F80 – in order to be ready for black and white and colored pictures. My usual choice in film medium is to use 35mm Kodak ISO 200 for color pictures and Kodak Professional BW400CN film for black and white. As just said, I think it is possible to take good photographs with almost any camera. Even though I am convinced that quality matters, you don't necessarily need expensive cameras such as the Nikon F6, SLR 35mm which is my personal favorite.

ABOUT MY PICTURES

I do not change or rework my pictures. I do not change the scenery, in other words my pictures reflect “nature”, the circumstances in which the picture has been taken. In simple terms, I see the pictures and take them just as they are. They are not arranged or consciously changed. I do not accommodate items or manipulate images manually or digitally afterwards. I admit a selective perception that plays tricks on me and leaves me and my pictures less objective than they could be. But the subjective component is the key to understanding the mannequins, broken things, statues and all the like.

To sum up, I do not want to change scenery that I photograph, but I do want to change my motive’s context.

ABOUT “BEING” ANALOGUE

Whenever I am asked to tell more about my way to look at the world and to make pictures I tend to also explain why I love film and my analogue cameras. On the one hand it is definitely the shutter sound which I am nearly addicted to, which is pure joy and gives me a certain exhilaration every time I hear it.
And then of course there is the need to be careful with the material, to think and look first and then decide on a picture. It is important to me that it does matter whether I take a picture or not.

If you use digital cameras, whatever you do not like you can erase afterwards. And you see it instantly. To me, this instantaneous result takes away half of the joy of photography. I do not want to waste material. I do not want hundreds or thousands of accidental negatives and pictures left to waste away in a file. Of course, not every picture is a masterpiece! Only a few ones are really good enough to pass my own censorship standards!

And then there is the aspect of having to wait. Film pictures are not instantly visible. It is cumbersome to obtain them: buying film, finding the right motives, encountering a good place for the development, and finally picking them up and viewing the result. I think that this process has a healing component—it decelerates me from the moment, so to speak, and forces me to wait— neglecting all my impatience. And my reward for the wait is double joy: once when making the pictures and a second time when holding them in hands.

WHY MANNEQUINS, WHY BROKEN THINGS?

When standing in front of a shop window displaying a bunch of naked and slightly scratched mannequins, I recently held my camera in hand and had already taken several pictures when a man shouted out something I did not understand and started moving toward me, all the while mumbling something about “his friend’s shop”. Obviously he did not dare to get too close. While looking me over in a very skeptical way, he asked me why I was taking pictures of mannequins—even worse, naked mannequins! To my astonishment, he was satisfied with my answer. I told him that that I already have a whole collection of them.