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worldstreetphotography · 7 years

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Interview: Kay Von Aspern

This month’s featured artist is von-aspern. A street photographer from Europe!

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Full name.

Kay von Aspern

City and country where you live.

Vienna, Austria

How you started with street photography?

I started with street photography 10 to 12 years ago. I lived in Hamburg, Germany and just bought my first digital camera to explore the city with it. For the first time I took a lot of pictures of graffitis, but after a while I got bored with that and I decided to take pictures of people in their surroundings. At the beginning my influence of the classical masters was low… But that changed of course. I started reading photo books and visiting exhibitions.

Why street photography?

I didn’t choose street photography knowingly. Honestly I even don’t like the notion, but this is the phrase which is known. I simply like wandering around with my camera and to take pictures of things I see. That’s all.

What and/or who inspires you?

I am inspired by fresh air, the feeling of personal freedom and the place I am walking through. This is enough motivation for me. If you mean inspiration by another photographer I could name a lot I really enjoy. But I got a lot of inspiration by my friend Siegfried Hansen. He is a stunning photographer with a really special eye and was also a great teacher in the beginning for me. Other good friends with a camera are Christian Reister, Mario Cuic, Luis Corrales, Alexander Magedler and of course my companion Elisabeth Schuh. And there are lots more of people who inspire me. Also some famous photographers of course.

Could you name a few of those “famous” photographers?

For example Henri Cartier-Bresson, André Kertész, Ray K. Metzker, Martin Parr, Saul Leiter, Ernst Haas, just to name some of them. There are lots more and it’s impossible to list them all.

How often do you go out to capture moments?

I always have a camera with me. If I see something that keeps my interest I make a picture.

Do you take photos also of your personal life? If so, how do you approach it compared to your street photos?

Of course I do. My personal pictures of friends and family are even the most important photos for me. But most of them are private and not created for public viewing. Some of them are set up with people posing, some of them are natural and candid. The main reason for taking pictures of my personal life is that they are keeping important memories. There is another sense behind them compared to my free or commercial work.

What do you look for when you go out on the streets?

I am open for everything. It depends on my mood, the location, the daytime, the people and sometimes also the kind of equipment. I like it when elements in a picture are communicating. A color can talk with a tree, the tree with a human shadow, the shadow with an animal. I enjoy it when everything is in a rhythm.

Do you interact with your subjects?

In most cases I don’t interact. I see myself as an observer of the public and try not to get too close. From the photographic view I prefer it to show people with environment. That’s also the reason I rarely take portraits in the public. That doesn’t mean I try to become an invisible photographer. It’s the opposite. I show my camera, everyone can see that I am taking pictures. Sometimes people notice that they have been photographed and ask me what and why I took a picture of them. I am always polite and tell them shortly about my passion and sometimes I also show them the pictures on the camera display. If people are very friendly to me I also send them a small print. And – very important I think: I give them my business card with my website address. So they can have a look at my work and contact me if they like.

Your pictures have space and sense of place and surroundings by keeping your distance, a good way to not interrupt the moment. Do you ever take close-up photos? How different do you feel when taking close-up photos? Do you feel you are interrupting the moment?

I rarely take close-up’s. I don’t like to jump into people’s face. There are always exceptions, but normally this is not my way of photography. I feel uncomfortable with that. That has not so much to do with interrupting the moment, but with a natural distance I prefer to have. I am talking here about street photography. When I take pictures for other reasons, like documenting for example a party or portrait work there are no distance borders in general.

How do you challenge yourself to improve on photography?

It’s easy to say. Shoot, shoot, shoot. There is nothing better to improve than practice. I think one of the most important thing in photography is to train your eyes and to develop a personal sense for exploring the world. After a while of walking the streets you will notice things and actions you might not seen before.

I don’t read a lot about street photography anymore. At the beginning, I followed lots of known and unknown photographers and to see the work of other street photographer was very important and helpful. But within time it becomes less important. Maybe I got saturated, I don’t know. At the moment there is no special kind of photography which I spend most of my interest. But I always have sympathies for surreal and/or humorous work.

Your online archive is quite rich, lots of photos from many different projects, all unique in their own way. Do you begin with the project in mind or the project comes out of discovering a pattern in your photos? Tell us more.

I work in both directions. I take a lot of pictures everyday by chance, when I see something that wakes up my interest. Most of the time this pictures will stay as a single in my archive. But I am working on different series and connect these singles afterwards to a series. On the other hand I have an idea for a special theme and try to create projects with a special content from the beginning. Mostly these projects have a reportage character, but not always.

How do you approach the editing of a project? I imagine you have literally thousands of photos to choose from which you reduce to a small amount. How do you select your babies?

Yes, I shoot a lot :) I am not thinking a lot about the “standalone pictures”. I nearly always have the feeling from the beginning on, that a picture might be a personal “top shot” or not. For my series the first look and impression over the pictures is a quick one. I try to separate from – for example - 500 pictures the 50 to 100 pictures which catch my eyes in the first moment. The second view is more intense. I try not to be too concentrated on the “power shots” and more to find the best connection between the pictures. I re-organize them in different positions, change the order several times and at the end there will be a final edit with 20 to 30 pictures, organized in a flow which satisfies me.

How would you describe your own style?

I am not sure if I already have a style. My photography is always my personal view. I try to walk open-eyed and find a special detail, a remarkable mood, a funny action or whatever and then put all these things in a frame. A good picture for me is when the different elements in a photo communicate with each other in a way that the result is something that makes it a pleasure to watch.

What is photography for you?

Photography means everything to me. For me it’s a perfect way to show how I see the world and life around me.

You obviously care about what your audience thinks and feels. Do you think you are transmitting your world and life around you? Have you gotten any feedback regarding this?

Yes, I think that I transmit my point of view. Honestly the online feedback (also mine) most of the time is reduced to a “Like”or a short comment. But I have some friends and colleagues in real life who give me a more extensive feedback of my work with constructive critics.

What is your personal definition of street photography?

It is taking photos in the public life. More or less with people or at least with human influences involved. It is non staged photography. But I don’t want to spend too many thoughts with creating the perfect fitting definition with that. I think this is impossible.

Through photography, what have you learned about yourself in the last year?

Street photography or photography in general is a cool way to understand the world a bit, it is a great way to to get to know new people.

What are your future goals with photography?

I started a new career as a professional photographer. This means I will now earn money with my passion. Next to my free work and projects I will create commercial photography. And I am sure that my commercial work will have a huge benefit from my experience as a street photographer. As an additional possibility I am also offering individual street photography coaching and – together with my friend and well known photographer Siegfried Hansen – street photography workshops in Vienna (more information on my website). And of course I want to show my work in exhibitions again. There are also ideas for one or more photo books in the pipeline.

Commercial photography is always an interesting challenge. The portraits in your website are part of it? How and when did you start commercial photography? Also, what lead you to it?

Some of the portraits have a commercial background. I started as a full-time photographer in January. After more than 25 years in the IT business it was necessary for me to start with something new.

How do you feel about making your passion your work? Many people think this is a formula for disaster, meaning that you can eventually hate photography because of paid assignments.

I thought about that too. I think it’s important not to stop free photography projects to keep the enthusiasm and passion alive. So at the moment also the commercial jobs are big fun to me. I love being a photographer in general, not just as a “street photographer” :)

Tell us about your collaboration with Sigfried Hansen for the workshop? What should participants expect out of your workshop and how does it work?

I think the combination of Siegfried and me will offer two different types of photography to the students. Siegfried is mostly strong graphical and level-oriented and my photography content is often more open, more classic and sometimes a bit humorous. I think that’s good to show to the workshop participants some of the different possibilities for accessing the world of street photography. The idea is that they learn how to change from being motive hunters to being collectors of situations and things. They will be able to develop new point of views, develop new methods and strategies of exploring the public. Of course we will also talk about the pictures which are done during the workshop and give some – hopefully - helpful critics. Last but not least is in Vienna, a wonderful and exciting place for street photography.

If you could have a conversation with ANY photographer for an hour, which photographer would you choose and why?

Difficult to choose. Maybe Lee Friedlander, Ray K. Metzker. And I hope I will meet Wolfgang Zurborn one day.

If you could go back in time, what piece of advice would you give yourself to take some shortcuts here and there based on your experience?

No advice.

What gear do you use? Philosophy: Digital or analog?

I started street photography with digital and analog equipment, depending on my mood. Now I am shooting my street work only digital. My digital gear was changing a lot. Canon DSLR, Leica M’s etc. At the moment I really enjoy the lightweight, quick and small Olympus MfT system. I prefer digital, because I take lots of pictures. Most of the time daily. It’s not possible to handle that with film. For my commercial work I use a Canon full-frame equipment and analog medium format for portrait work.

Some people state that gear is not important and only books and knowledge, truth is that if you don’t feel comfortable with your gear you are probably never going to be satisfied with your work. Why did you change so much your digital equipment? Never felt quite right? Please explain.

Yes, you should feel comfortable with your gear. But for me this wasn’t static. I had a Leica M9 (and for a short time an MP) and loved this camera a lot. It was a phantastic tool until the day I needed bifocals. From this day on the Leica M Rangefinder was an unusable thing for me. I wasn’t able to see the whole finder anymore, at least without moving the eye from left to right and vice versa and it was nearly impossible to focus quickly. So I switched for my street photography to the really small, quick and handsome Olympus OM-D System with brilliant AF lenses. And at the moment I feel very comfortable with it.

B&W or color? Why?

I switch from time to time. But mostly I use color. There is no philosophy behind that. Maybe there are more possibilities to create a picture with colors. It is the natural way to see the world. B&W makes things abstract. Which can be also fine. My usage depends on the individual situation.

What about post processing/developing?

I am shooting in raw format, import the photos in Lightroom for managing my picture collection and then process the pictures in Photoshop. For post processing I do exactly the same things which I did in my darkroom years ago. Lighten, darken, burning, dodging, changing contrasts etc. Nothings special here. Export in different sized JPG files depending where to show.

The selected picture (first picture on top).

Usually I don’t like it so much to explain a picture, because I think many street photos lose their magic when they will be explained. But I make an exception for the interview ;-) I did the photo some years ago in the Zoo Schönbrunn Vienna. The water in the background is the bathing water for the rhinos and the red car was part of an art installation. To me the young (also red) boy in the foreground looked like the driver who just leaves the place of accident. At least this was the little story in my head. A nice addon for composition things are the woman sitting on the bench and the flags as a diagonal line. To me it’s a working example of communicating picture details and a surreal moment. It’s one of my personal favourites of my own work.

Street Photographers on tumblr you truly admire.

Honestly I am not so active on Tumblr and I use it mostly just as an unedited kind of blog for my daily pictures. But just to name a few photographers: Eric Frot, Shin Noguchi, Ken Walton, Michelle Rice Chan.

What are some other projects you are currently working on?

There are several finished and ongoing projects on my website https://www.von-aspern.com

For example:

Street photography color: http://www.von-aspern.de/streetcolor/

Street photography b&w: http://www.von-aspern.de/streetblackandwhite/

Vienna carnival: http://www.von-aspern.de/carnival/

Wiener Wiesn: http://www.von-aspern.de/wiener-wiesn/

Around Salzburg: http://www.von-aspern.de/around-salzburg/

Perfect: http://www.von-aspern.de/perfect/

Do you constantly change/update your projects? When do you consider a project to be done and ready? If you ever do think that.

Depends on the project. It’s difficult to give a clear answer here.

Why projects and not single photos? Obviously you prefer projects to single random photos.

Yes, I think there are better chances to tell a more detailed and comprehensive story with a project than with a single picture. But of course it is also possible to tell a story with one single picture.

Where can we find you?

You can find me walking the streets in Vienna ;-). Online you can find me here:

https://www.von-aspern.com

https://www.instagram.com/kay.von.aspern_photography/

https://von-aspern.tumblr.com/

https://www.facebook.com/kayvonaspernphoto/

You will also find all contact possibilities on my website.

Any advice from your personal experience?

As I said at the beginning. Have fun and shoot, shoot, shoot :)

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