What gets me out of the bed in the morning? An agonizing thought that I missed something important while sleeping.
Then I get up, pick one of my analog cameras, go out on the street, regardless of weather conditions, and try to find out what I have, what are those important things around me. And that is my style – I take photos of things, people and situations that the streets have to offer me, because I belive that’s the way for me to capture true portraits of life. That is something you couldn’t do in a studio.
I started doing this when I first discovered some of my dad’s old German cameras. At first they amused me, but only as funny metal devices, and I used to play with them. But when I used my first film, about 5 years ago, I was irreversibly influenced with photography.
For most people, analog photography is a relic or something their parents once used. I only use film. No digital technology, no digital cameras. Because I believe that using a film forces me to work harder, to be more focused, to think much more about every photo I take. Thus, I believe it makes me a better photographer. The other thing that film offers over digital photos is that there is a much broader range of colors. That is something I recognize the value of greatly.
I don’t see a different world through a view finder, just different ways of understanding this one. Photography captures reality, making it possible to analyze and critique it from different points of view, without fear of overlooking some significant aspects. And even when you manipulate with lights, shadows, objects or shapes – it’s always just another emanation of reality.
I admire Alfred Eisenstaedt, Man Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton, because they were always pushing the borders, trying to extend limits of visual expression. When I look at their photos, I see the most important thing (in my opinion) when we are talking about photography – I see someone’s effort to tell me a story. And to do it with distinctive style.
I’m a professor of literature and language, and I am always surrounded by books, as far back as I can remember. But when you’re reading a poem, novel or anything else, you’re always trying to create an image of what you’re reading. Trying to imagine what Raskolnikov or Josef K. looks like, or how big was the fish that Santiago caught. Photography gave me the opportunity to transform my imagionation into something real, something that would easily comunicate with world around me.
I’m not trying to become a profesional photographer. I’m not saying that I’ll never become one, but at the moment this is my very passionatate hobby. Nevertheless, I’m trying as hard as I can to be better and better with every picture I take. Its all because of that overwhelming feeling that I’m creating something beautiful, original, intimate that somewhere, at one point, may be able to reflect the very nature of art.
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Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/psychomonkey/
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