Week 8: AUDIENCES and INSTITUTIONS

The questions we are asked weekly and the ones we are asked to answer in our research journal are often excellent for becoming aware of many things.

When I first received a camera, I realised that I had some skills in taking pictures, but I didn't take it seriously. No matter what work I took on, it always ended up leading me into the direction of photography. It took me over ten years, however to realise that photography interests me more than anything else.

First I got a job in an advertising agency, which had Honda as its main customer. Here I learned the importance of perfection and professionalism in commercial photography. In the beginning it influenced me a lot and I tried to use every technique to create the perfectly exposed picture with the ideal lines and distributions.

The most interesting thing in product photography was learning how many emotions you can steer up in customers with a picture by using different means and how these have to be executed by the photographer.

When I decided to start taking pictures, I realised that I had to put in a lot of effort and I had to learn a lot. My career has taken me all over, from selling professional photography equipment to exhibiting prominent photographers.

Through years of organising workshops, I was lucky enough to see photographers at work. It was interesting that practically everyone created their own rules and approach to work. I am now working on such rules for myself and notice that it helps me a lot in my own work.

I wouldn't consider myself a professional photographer. I would only start considering myself as such, if I could create a story with my images that I was completely happy with; One which I would tell with my pictures, and one which would also be understood by the viewer, triggering something within them. I'm trying to work on that right now.

My goal is not to hang my pictures in galleries. I would like to approach this in a more public way, involving the viewer. Institutions like galleries always have more or less the same audience. I love bringing art into public spaces, where it meets very different kinds of people. That is best combined with interactivity to be able to meet the viewer for more than just a moment.

For me, the artist Candy Chang is an excellent example with her worldwide project: Before I Die.