Interview with photographer Liam Warton

Tell us about you, from where are you?

My name is Liam and I am an Australian analogue photographer living and working in Stockholm, Sweden. I moved to Sweden three years ago, which was a fresh start for me so I decided it was perfect timing to follow my dream of working as a photographer.

              What is it that attracts you the most of what you have around you?  What are your inspirations. Why do you do it?

Photography for me, is a way to escape from my reality and feeling; it is my medium to creatively express myself. I am attracted to things that affect me directly (cold and dark Swedish landscapes), hence my images depict themes of solitude, loneliness, nostalgia, melancholy, anxiety (chaos), longing and masculinity. I usually draw inspiration from outside the photography world, such as from my surroundings and other art forms. I am most inspired by music, literature, installations, paintings, cinema etc.

            Your main concept and ideas

I direct my camera towards things that affect me personally and I aim to question norms, identity and masculinity.

         Your photos are planned, or instinctual? who are the people in your photos? How do you select models to take portraits?

I am very spontaneous with my photography and I am often inspired in the moment or feed off the the subject I am photographing. Most of my subjects are people close to me, such as my family and friends. One of my goals for 2018 is to branch out and find new interesting faces and plan out my images in advance (want to create images rather than just document something).

              what do you want to say or show by your art, why?

It all depends on the project I am working on. But most of the time I am not really trying to say anything at all, it just a form of creative expression for me! I also feel that a lot of art and meaning is lost in its translation and also misinterpreted. So I rather just shoot and let the photos speak for themselves and let the viewer draw whatever meaning they choose to.

               Tell us about your experience and education as photographer what did it give you?

I have no formal photography training or education in the arts. I have been shooting obsessively for the past 5 years and have experimented with digital and analog photography.

                A film, a book and a song

Books I am currently reading:-

• Under det rosa täcket : om kvinnlighetens vara och feministiska strategier (Nina Björk)
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• Ormen (Stig Dagerman)
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• The Penelopiad (Margaret Atwood)
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• Vegetarian (Han Kang)
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• A Man and Two Women (Doris Lessing)
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Albums I am currently listening to:-

• Wasps Nest (The 6ths)
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• Daddy’s Highway (The Bats)
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              What camera do you use?  lense?

I love testing/ shooting with a variety of analog cameras and I am constantly in the process of buying and selling (not too sentimental about it at all). The longer I shoot the more I realise that it doesn't really matter what camera you use. It is often best to keep it simple and for that reason my favourite cameras have been the cheapest ones, like my Konica T slr paired with 50mm 1.7. Other cameras I currently have in the my bag are, contax g1, contax g2, pentax 67, canon ae1, olympus pen ee & nikonos. My two favourite focal lengths are 50mm and 28mm, with these two lenses I can capture everything I need!

             Tell about exhibition if you‘ve had any, or you are planning.

I have exhibited my work in small exhibitions and galleries in Sweden, Australia, Italy and Germany. The most recent one being a group exhibition in Berlin with three other photographers Annika Weertz, Joe Barrett and Phoebe Jane Barrett, around the theme of challenging traditional portrayals of masculinity.

            Do you sell prints? How do you make it and where can someone buy?

Not selling prints at this stage. Maybe sometime in the not too distant future.

            What was your most big success?

Hopefully still to come!

           Favourite photographer.

My favorite contemporary photographers are Maya Beano, Edie Sunday, Prue Stent, Lauren Withrow, Nguan, Niklas Porter and Laura Kampman.

          What is your occupation, job, interest besides photography. describe it.

I currently working as a wedding photographer travelling all around Europe. I am also interested in classic cinema, literature and veganism.

           

          Which advice would you give someone who wants to become a (professional) photographer?

So if I had to give one piece of advice to someone starting out it would be to take the time to find your craft or style, don't just go in copy what someone else is doing or what is popular on Instagram or Flickr. Look outside of photography to other art forms for inspiration and find something that works for you. Create for yourself instead of your intended audience! In the wedding industry it is all about standing out rather than forming to norms and traditions, if you do something different then people will book you because of that (not great advice for commercial photographers).

Interview with photographer ELISE BOULARAN

About you:

A wild cat from south of France.

 What is it that attracts you the most of what you have around you?

 Nature. Describe some of your projects I deliberately use a refined vocabulary and a language without any flourish, for images from the everyday life with a degree of abstraction, which erase all references points. A project like “Apache Palace” is marked by ambiguity, is in the form of fragments, strata, combinations. It’s takes place in research, experiment. I’m attracted by the non-formulated, which is of the unspeakable, the secret. These representations are like some clues of an enigma, and they conjugate or oppose some meanings.

 Your main concept 

It’s better to be bold now than to be sorry later.

what do you want to say by your art, why? 

To say? I don’t know if it’s the right word. But maybe to show, open to question, to explore, to search. For me, it’s necessary to show, to “make visible” a new point of view, and raise questions all the time. A kind of another way of looking. The arts provide a unique way of knowing about experiences, about the world.

Tell us about your experience as photographer what did it give you?

 I now understand more fully the word : to observe.

Three adjectives to describe yourself.

 I asked this question to my friend Mathieu and his answer was : pastel, shiny, fierce.

A film, a book and a song

Persona of Ingmar Bergman. (1966) La clôture des merveilles of Lorette Nobécourt. Gelatinous Cube from the album A Weird Exits of Thee Oh Sees. .

 Do you sell prints? How do you make it and where can someone buy?

 Yes, I do. I work with a photo lab. Picture are printed on fine art paper and often on support like aluminium Dibond. Much depends on the context. If you want something to buy, you can contact me : elise.boularan@gmail.com.

What was your most big success?

A personal exhibition in New York in 2015. And a beautiful group show in San Antonio, Texas, Usa in 2011.

Favourite photographer.

Oh..I don’t know. Maybe around one hundred to tell you. Because I’m attracted to the work and sensibility of many other artists from my generation. But about the big names, I could say Lise Sarfati, Sally Mann, Nan Goldin, Diane Arbus. And Dieter Appelt, Philip-Lorca Dilorcia, Alec Soth and many more...

What is your occupation, job, interest besides photography. describe it.

I’ve other interests and a new project indeed. I’m passionate about outdoor, nature, hiking with my dog, yoga, plants, a big crush and real need for arts & crafts, I’m listening music every day. And a big interest for contemporary dance : actually it’s the most emotional art for me and that triggered my attention. I must admit that I’ve a weakness for caferacer and old Mustangs.

Which advice would you give someone who wants to become a (professional) photographer? 
Precisely, listening to no one. And to develop their own photographic writings.

Your plans. Take pleasure.

Interview with photographer Natalia Danner

From where are you?

I’m a Munich-based artist who was born in Moscow, Russia.

What is it that attracts you the most of what you have around you?

As a person who was born in such a huge metropolis like Moscow, I would tell that urban environment in general is my cup of tea. The mundane range of uncountable processes and scenes that is daily going on in the city, touches me emotionally. The city as a structure, with its architecture, intrigues, amuses and fascinates me.

Describe some of your projects

My recent photographic project is called Zwischenraum. It’s a german word that can be translated into english as a 'gap', 'interval', 'space'. Zwischenraum is a city in the moment of its change that never stops, but that is carefully documented. The photographs seek to embrace the notion when a city is both a spectacular place and our mundane, our here&now. This project is an encounter between material, subtle and fleeting within existing stillness of city structures.

Previous project was called Barriers: A study that is a series of instant photographs (I used Fujifilm Instax wide). I chose a barrier as a distinctive feature of urban environment. Beginning with the idea of just transporting personal fascination of barriers in the city streets I ended up with quite versatile collection of shots. My approach in this series varies from purely documentation of the street scenes to aestheticized attempts to show the extreme beauty of mundane.

Your main concept

My fascination with ordinary and trivial expresses itself in photography. For me it is a tool for creating a vast documentation of fleeting urban episodes that I face through my mundane. City or better to say cities are my habitat and an essential part of my life.  

So photography for me is a way to explore and reflect upon the world I live in, upon the city I'm based in. My artistic practice is triggered by mundane themes. With my focus on such things like shadows, temporary street constructions, everyday, boring and other so-called imperfections I want to shed light on importance of all kind of things. It is essential for me to broad the scope of what can be described as beautiful or being worth attention. The moments I document are present in the city but often left unnoticed. I try to discover different layers of urban environment in order to demonstrate its wonderful diversity, to give a voice to the elements that surround us the most and simultaneously are the most hidden. My approach can be described as a poetic notion on mundane.

what do you want to say by your art, why?

My message can be characterised as a gentle invitation to look, to notice, to experiment with ordinary. By discovering these fleeting and hidden layers of things around us we change our perception of the environment around us, we can understand it better and therefore improve it on personal and even social level through slightly altering norms of what is beautiful, for example.

Tell us about your experience as photographer, what did it give you?

Photography became one of those media that resonated with the subject of my interest since the very beginning of my studies. In my case, it is film and instant photography. I was and still flashed by the imperfections these types of photography can offer me. I take photographs since 2009 and my visual style changed a lot since than. I was always interested in the theme of urban environment and it took me long time to express my interest in a certain visual manner that is close to intentions and expectations I have in my head. I have my accounts on Flickr and Instagram, I appreciate nowadays opportunity to show works to a bigger audience on the Internet. I'm very glad that due to these sources I became a part of a bigger community of photographers from all over the world interested in similar topics. In terms of technical aspects I'm still quite philistine. My approach is more intuitive, I deliberately leave space for the unpredictable and failure because perfection is not my purpose. So I can say that my photographic approach teaches me to be open and tolerant. Possible mistakes are welcomed.

Three adjectives to describe yourself.

Sensitive, responsible, friendly

A film, a book and a song.

Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky, The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell, It by Christine And The Queens

What camera do you use?  lense?

Currently I use Cosina CT1 Super film camera and l used a lot before Smena 8m, both with their prime lenses. I also use Fujifilm Instax wide and Polaroid 600 series.

Tell about exhibition if you‘ve had any.

I took part in a number of group exhibitions and were published by a couple of independent photozines. Most of the exhibition I took part were done with the peer students during my studies or through collaborations. Performances in the urban environment is another aspect I develop. So these two directions go simultaneously in my practice. Nowadays one of the most essential activities for every artist is applying, applying and applying. I am not an exception. So I am always very glad when I get chosen or simply invited to be published or exhibited. It’s amazing when you get in contact with other photographers you have never actually met in real. You both communicate through the Internet and do small collaborations or simply exchange opinions and become colleagues. 

Do you sell prints? How do you make it and where can someone buy?

I was never selling prints before but I was always wanting to do that. So maybe this interview will initiate this aspect. Anyone who is interested in prints of my works could write me at dadadanner@gmail.com. I would be very glad!

What was your most big success? 

To love and to be loved. 

Favourite photographer.

Ludwig Danner, a very productive photographer whose works  touch the similar topic of urban environment but in a much more precise and sophisticated way then mine. He is an endless source of my inspiration. 

What is your occupation, job, interest besides photography. describe it.

I was trained as an artist, so I suppose this is my main occupation. I’ve graduated 1,5 year ago and now on the way to establish my art practise. My interests include mostly art sphere, especially contemporary dance, performance and theatre. Everyday I need to know what is going on in the museums, cinemas and theatres around me. I try to keep my finger on the pulse of contemporary culture. I am also a passionate fashion lover. 

Which advice would you give someone who wants to become a (professional) photographer?

I would dare to say that art in any of its forms is first of all about discipline and working hard and systematically. So my advice is to do, to evaluate the result, to keep doing and not to postpone. And always keep reflecting upon the things that are already done. Subject matter should always be in focus, first it can be pretty wide but later through the increasing work it will get more narrow and more precise. So one should maybe keep in mind that she or he has stepped into a journey to explore something that touches and triggers her or him and, again, just keep going by working every day.

                                   

Your plans.

To work more, to reflect more and to write it down, to read more. But especially to keep on learning German, i can confess that this is the hardest aim!