Nicholas Lynch

Nicholas Lynch

London, UK

blog site

I seem to always ask what initially made photographers want to become the artists that they are. Let me ask you: What actually makes you keep doing what you're doing?

Partially habit, for sure. If you always have a camera around, you can't really help but use it, you know? But also, I'm interested to see what I can create and what images I can find and capture. It's exciting going to new places and even new parts of town and exploring. It's the same feeling I had when I was a little kid, running around in the forest behind my house, touching, smelling and looking at everything. I approach photography the same sort of way.

Has a photograph ever really 'hypnotized' you? Which was it and why did you like it?

I'm not sure about one single photograph but there are certain photographers whose work usually hypnotizes me. Tillmans, Eggleston, Engstrom, Templeton, Shore, Paul Graham, Tim Barber, Alec Soth, Larry Clark, the list goes on. All of these people take pictures that just stop me in my tracks. Culturally, we're so overloaded with images that it's very easy just to breeze past a photograph, even a half decent one. But with those artists, there work always seems to make me stop and think, all for different reasons. With Larry Clark, it's the honesty and with Templeton, it's the way he makes you feel that you've experienced what's in the picture. Etc. Etc.

Would you generally say that the art says a lot about the artist? How is it with you?

Of course, I think that you can't help but put a bit of yourself into your work, even if you try not to. But, I like when artwork has a sort of visual signature on it though, where you can tell who made it. I think it adds to the authenticity.

Have you always been living in London?

I've lived in London for the past year now, before that I was in Copenhagen for 4 months and then New York City, where I'm originally from.

If you were to guide an 'art tour' through the city, which places would be on top of your must-see-list?

In London: The Whitechapel Gallery usually has something good going on. The New Gallery in Peckham, ICA, Beach London, Claire de Rouen bookstore on Charing Cross Road is fantasic for photo books. There are some nice tiny galleries in Deptford like The Old Police Station. Magma, X Marks the Bokship, & Donlon are all really interesting shops as well.

Something in art that you feel is being overrated?

Irony. I like irony though, really, its just that its just becoming played out. I just find it a bit boring to be honest. I think people mistake pictures that are ironic and perhaps funny or clever for being automatically good photographs & that's not really true.

Which camera(s) do you use most often?

Right now, I'm using my girlfriend's old Canon Prima Mini point and shoot. I also have a Kodak S100, Nikon FE, a Olympus Trip, and a super old Ilford medium format. But I'm not loyal at all; I'll use any camera. The simpler, the better though.

Which words/adjectives would you like to see connected to your artistic work?

Whatever words the pictures conjure up, I guess. It would be nice to hear words like 'intriguing' or 'resonant' or 'powerful' but I don't have any control over what people feel, you know? So all I can do is show them my work and hopefully they enjoy it for their own very unique reason.

Is there anything you really have no interest in photographing?

I'll pretty much take pictures of anything. I'm not huge on photos of graffiti, or kids holding guns, or things like that. It's not that I don't like those things; it's more that it just doesn't interest me in that sort of way.

And anything, anyplace or anyone you could take pictures over and over again?

I can take pictures of my girlfriend Tine (who is a much better photographer then me) all day and every day. If I'm standing in a room and she's in it, I always just end up taking shots of her. I can't help it.

The new age. Take a look at his work!

Elena Ayllon

Elena Ayllon

Madrid, Spain

flickr website

At what age did you start taking photographs? What lit your interest back then?

I started to think about photography when I discovered that life seems more beautiful when I look through my camera.

Nature and outdoor photography seems to be one of your major interests. What is it that you like particularly about these themes?

There are so many colours out there…

You have a portrait series called "New Generation". What is the idea behind this project?

I like freethinkers; the “New Generation” comes from the idea of a new youth, strong and full of culture.

Also, is there any particular reason you decided to shoot the portraits in black and white?

I just really felt it that way in that moment.

Although you have a particular set that is titled "Les reveurs", I felt that much of your work embodies a certain notion of dreaminess. Would you agree?

Life should be full of “reveurs”.

How did the connection of Tokyo and Madrid come into place?

I spent all my childhood in Tokyo and grew up as an adult in Madrid.

Would you say that being connected to two different cities shows in your artistic work?

I have a Japanese heart but a European vision.

When summer ends, do you mostly feel sad or ready for a new beginning/season?

I love the changing of the seasons, I always feel ready for a new beginning.

Dreaming through the lens. Take a look at her work!

Jörn Schirok

Jörn Schirok

Berlin, Germany

website/blog

You only shoot on film, and don't edit your pictures. Why is that?

One day, I had my father’s old analogue cameras in my hands and these machines just fascinated me. I was already experimenting a little with digital photography, but it didn't captivate me as much. I remember that after using analogue cameras for a while, my good friends bought a "real" DSLR. I thought this would be our breakthrough. Take one picture with all the different apertures and exposure times. But we didn't like the style of the pictures. I just love old things, I love the "click" when I press the shutter and I love to wait for the development of the films. I know that you can make up the old style on Photoshop. But I never liked to work with the computer and to sit there using all the small buttons and making adjustments. I know that editing can be a very beautiful part of the creative process of producing a picture, but eventually, for me these pictures are not "real". This opinion is connected to the documentary style of my pictures, too. When I take a picture of a sunset and somebody tells me what a great sunset this was I don't want to tell him that I just made it up on the computer.

Streaming through the work on your blog, the viewer is traveling to some far away places it seems. Which probably is the picture taken the farthest away from the place you actually live in?

I always liked to travel and I furthermore already lived two times for one year within a totally different culture. So I spend year in Uruguay in in school and took some pictures there, too. But it was all with a digital camera from Aldi (one of the cheapest supermarkets in Germany). On the blog you'll also find pictures from my social service year in Jerusalem.

You're living in Berlin. Do you consider it a 'city of art(ists)'? Do you think that living there has an effect on your work as an artist?

It is a city with loads of artist, that's a fact. Living space is (still) cheap, so young people can afford to not work, but to just live with their parents’ support and to put some colour on some random material. But Berlin is the city of flagpole collectors, too. I mean you can find almost everything here, since it's a big city. But I just experienced something which I think wouldn't have happened to me in another German city. I went to a random coffee shop nearby to ask if they want to exhibit some of my works. This is something quite common here. In this café, they don't only exhibit pictures. There are also works of an Australian artist and another artist showing his work there is from France. They are organizing und curating whole exhibitions with vernissages. I think this is really great! 

You seem to be more of a spontaneous photographer. What is it that catches your eye in specific?

Smooth light in general, especially sunlight in the early evenings or mornings. In the northwest of Germany, where I come from, the wind always comes from the west, where the sea is. So it pushes in clouds all year long. I lived under this grey cheese cover for so long. I fall in love with sunlight every time I see it!

Also one gets the notion that in general you seem to be more interested in showing situations rather than specific people of things. Would you agree?

I think this is because I mostly take pictures when I'm in a specific situation that I consider interesting. All these pictures in which you only see a person (certainly always only handsome people) might be beautiful, but not interesting at all.

If you could plan a trip for the sole purpose of taking pictures, where would you probably go?

The Moon! No, seriously, the whole life is a trip. That is the way I see it. I'm on a trip and take the camera with me.

Are you more often disappointed or more frequently simply surprised if a film turns out to be completely different than you had expected it to be?

There are very few positive surprises, much more negative ones. Looking through your recently developed films can be very frustrating. Maybe around 10% of the pictures I take actually appear on my blog. And this is, I think, a very high rate. Ask people with digital cameras. It's a little about shooting as much as possible.

Life's a trip. Take a look at his work!

Levi Mandel

Levi Mandel

New York City
tumblr website

What's in photography for you?

The ability to preserve ephemeral moments, allowing me to both revisit them in the future and share them with others.

Do you like to analyze imagery and visual art, or are you more interested in creating it?

As an artist, the obvious answer is that I'm more interested in creating work than analyzing it. That said, it's an important part of my practice to invest time in other people's works, other environments, other means of inspiration...

What are you studying in college/university? And what would have been your plan b if it wasn’t for that?

I study at Cooper Union, a somewhat conceptual school that requires no declared major. Rather than entering a program in say, photography, the school encourages students to explore all practices and mediums, allowing one to execute a piece or body of work in ways most appropriate to the concept. This opportunity has been crucial to my practice, as I have expanded my work from strictly photography to video and sculptural installations as well. I'm not sure what would have happened if I were not accepted into Cooper. To be honest, it wasn't an option I considered. I discovered Cooper Union after moving to New York, told myself I needed to be studying there, and applied.

You also have video work on your website. Do you like to think of it as a side-business to or rather a part of your “artistic work”?

Everything I make is a part of my "artistic work".

For both film and photography: do you think it's important to know basic theories and to be confident in various techniques to create art or can one just go out and "shoot away"?

My first actual photography class was last year. Everything I have made before that was self-taught, or better yet experimentation. Although it is important for one to know how to handle their camera, understanding photography down to a science is completely unnecessary. The beauty of art is you can make whatever you want; however you want to.

Risking that you might not like the drawing of such an analogy, I have to say that watching the Recital Video Zines I was reminded of the videos Amelie Poulain sends her elderly neighbor.  Have you watched the movie? Would you say there are similarities in the videos or the idea(s) behind them? 

I have seen Amelie, and although I have never considered my Recital videos and the videos within the movie related, I guess I can see a resemblance.

The video "Charles", appears to be a very personal one about your grandfather. Where do you draw the line between personal and public photography/video making?

There is no line nor should there be one.

And would you say, as I have been often told in journalism classes for instance, that a certain amount of showing one's personal life through one's work is even necessary to keep it interesting and to endow it all with your personal signature?

Again, nothing is necessary to keep art "interesting". There are no rules, this is what makes art special.

On your tumblr you keep a photo diary with one image per day. Do you actually just shoot one photo or do you often have to decide which one to upload?

The tumblr page is only curated down to a photo a day. Most often I shoot much, much more. Other times I won't make a photo for days. The tumblr page is nothing more than a photograph a day.

What are the plans for summer?

Right now I'm working on an ongoing series of 4x5 portraits, a book I'm self-publishing and a couple exciting photozines. Other than that, traveling, riding my bicycle, spending time with my cat, exploring new neighborhoods, making new friends...

Ephemeral moments standing still. Take a look at his work!