1. Are you a professional photographer? No, I'm not a professional photographer, I just do this as a hobby.
2. Why street photography? What fascinates me about street photography is the spontaneous moment, the event that is usually only partially predictable and I have to react to it very quickly
3. How would you describe your photography style? I would say my photographs are mostly very graphic. In the last year, however, this has dissolved a little.
4. What makes a good picture from your point of view? What do you look for in an image? For me, a good photo is a photo that captures me immediately and makes me look at it for a long time. The interesting thing about this is the fact that I can't explain why, because the composition of these photos, which I like is often very chaotic, unfortunately I can't explain it in more detail.
5. How do you educate yourself to take better photos? To be honest, I'm not developing myself any further in the photographic field, especially not in the technical field with Photoshop, I just do the black-and-white conversion and the tonal value correction. What helps me right now, is the occupation with other photographers, I discovered Harry Gruyaert, a photographer whom I admire very much, without wanting and being able to copy his style, of course, he helps me to find new inspiration.
6. Where in the world would you most like to photograph? I have to admit that I've never been to America, but I would love to go there, especially to Las Vegas to photograph the hustle and bustle there.
7. Who would you most like to photograph and what kind of pictures do you avoid shooting? I would like to do a series about old age and getting older I know this is a very sensitive matter and I don't dare to do it yet. I don't take pictures of poor, socially disadvantaged or homeless people, I've seen terrible street pictures here that completely disrespectfully neglect human dignity. It is certainly important to point out social poverty, injustice and the violence that often results. But I only leave that to the very good documentary photographers.
8. Have you been confronted by someone whose photo you took on the street? What would be your advice on how to avoid confrontation when doing Street Photography? Sometimes I would really like to photograph people. But then I instinctively notice that there would be trouble here immediately, then I prefer not to do that. I think in the life of a street photographer a certain instinct has developed, with which people it could be difficult. I don't want to take pictures against my instinct. Especially since street photography is not popular in Germany and is even forbidden. Fortunately, I have never been in difficult situations. Only once did a man, whom I secretly photographed, ask me to delete the picture, which of course I correctly did.
9. Your favourite street image of your own to date and why? It's the photo" let's dance", It was taken not long ago and I love it because almost everything is right here, the colours, the composition of the picture and it was all shot in a millisecond by pure chance. Above all, I love this liveliness in the picture, which sets it apart from my otherwise mostly strictly graphic pictures.
10. Your favourite piece of equipment? I've been shooting with a Fuji XT 4 for four years, with which I'm absolutely satisfied.
11. What are your favourite settings (Aperture. Shutter Speed, ISO, White Balance, Focus, Manual/Auto, Image Format – RAW/JPEG) for Street Photography and why? Since I often stay longer in one place, I take photos in manual mode, which is very useful because the light situation does not change here and I can focus on the lighting mood and colour mood from the front.
12. Is photography art? Yes, absolutely, because photography, whether landscape or street, is always preceded by a creative process. In addition, photography tries to depict reality faithfully, but always with a very personal touch and interpretation, so for me, it is art.
13. Black And White or Colour? I used to photograph almost exclusively in black and white. I discovered colour for about a year, I can't say exactly how it came about, it was such an unconscious development it may also be because I photograph less graphically.
14. What are your thoughts on editing? I only use Photoshop for black and white and for tonal correction, but in no way to add content, by the way, I couldn't technically do that either. I completely reject Ki-generated images, which for me has nothing to do with photography in the true sense. Because your own creativity is missing here. Apart from AI in photography, the currently inflationary use of AI, in general, worries me very much. I have the feeling with many of what we create, we don't really grow with them internally, but these thoughts probably lead too far at this point.
15. Why do you share to Progressive Street and who would you like to see showcased from Progressive Street? Progressive Street is a very unconventional platform, I appreciate the humorous way we deal with each other and the fact that photography is still being seriously discussed. I also find a lot of photographers there who I like and who I find very inspiring. There are so many good photographers. So it's really hard for me to pick one in particular that I'd like to see in progresses Street.