#5
inSomnia
Photography Magazine
Designed and published in France © 2018 inSomnia Photography Magazine and inSomnia photo collective inSomniacollective.org Cover photo by Simon Rüeger Design by Sasha Yermilova Text by Nathanaël Coetzee & Sasha Yermilova All images and text published in this book by the inSomnia collective are copyright protected and the sole property and ownership of the photographers and editors. This publication may not be copied, printed, manipulated, edited, distributed or used in any form without written consent by the copyright owners and publisher. All rights reserved.
www.inSomniacollective.org
inSomnia
Photography Magazine
#5 One year, inSomnia is one year old. We always started this journey imagining it would keep going on and yet as we look back we are so grateful for having been able to make it this far. We've been so fortunate to share and meet new photographers, being able to talk about our pictures promotes the works of others and just showcase what photography is about, sharing. Sharing our vision, discovering the vision of others, new cultures and new ideas. We hope to continue this journey as it is you, our readers, followers, photographers who make this journey worth the while, what you provide us is far beyond words. Every issue is a new discovery and this one remains special, and it will always be, not because of the work, but because it is the first issue after one year. A year of hard work building, questioning, wondering and even fighting, mostly with ourselves «Are we taking the right decisions? Doing this the right way? Should we do this or should we rather do that?» And yet all these questions still remain. Each issue is a special, different, interesting, but this one is one of the best. So, thank you, for sharing, for supporting, for participating, but mostly thank you for your photography. We hope you enjoy this new issue, it took time, dedication. But it was done with our heart. Thanks for the supporting The inSomnia Collective.
The collective Portfolios
Edyta Korupczynska p.6 Miyuki Kurosaki p.18 Konrad Rogozinski p.32 Simon Rüeger p.44 Aleksandra Chajkowska p.56 Sasha Yermilova p.70 Nathanaël Coetzee p.82
Interview
Lukás Procházka p.94 Lorenzo Catena p.102
Featured Victor Borst p.112 Sabine Schols p.118 Tito Mindoljevic p.124 Kristina Vislianska p.130 Keith Vaughton p.136
Group Select
Edyta Korupczynska
Facebook: Edyta Korupczynska Instagram: behind3blue3eyes Flickr: follow*light
Miyuki Kurosaki
Facebook: Miyu MK Photography Instagram: miyupixi
Konrad Rogozinski
Facebook: Bylejaka fotografia Instagram: byle_jaki Flickr: Konrad Rogoziński
Simon Rüeger
Instagram: Simon_rueeger
Aleksandra Chajkowska
Instagram: aleksandra_chajkowska Flickr: Aleksandra Chajkowska Facebook: Aleksandra Chajkowska
Sasha Yermilova
Sasha Yermilova
Instagram:Â severina_brown_photos
Nathanaël Coetzee
Facebook: Nathanael Coetzee Instagram: nathanelcoetzee Website:nathanaelcoetzee.com
Interview
by Nathanaël Coetzee
Lukás Procházka
Website prochazka.com Facebook Lukáš Procházka Fotograf Flickr Lukas Prochazka
Could you introduce yourself and explain how you got into photography? Hello, my name is Lukáš Procházka, I come from Slovakia and currently I am studying photography at Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín, Czech Republic. I first “tasted” photography when my granddad showed and later gave me his very first camera, that he had bought from his summer job at the university. It was German Exacta Varex VX. I was immediately drawn to it. I am a very curious type of person, and even before photography I tended to deconstruct things in order to understand them. Photography is a very gadget type of artistic medium, so I was quickly able to figure out the technical part of it. Developing the artistic part came much later and was more difficult to me. What is art? What it is not? How do we read it? Why do we need it? Why do I create? It is very important to answer these questions before having ambitions to create something worthwhile.
"I think the creative process in general is very mysterious and fluid mechanism, so I tend to leave it and let it lead me."
You made a project named “Portrait without portrait”. What inspired you to create it and why did you chose this title? After my other granddad passed away, I became more conscious when visiting grandma. I felt the loneliness and emptiness in her heart and I started to pay closer attention to things in their house, things that had emotional traces not only to my grandma but also to me. My whole life during the visits to my grandparents, these details have burned into my memory. All the objects, colours, scents, all the parts of their delicate personalities are telling me the tale of these two people. I can imagine grandma or grandpa without these objects, yet they remain the same grandparents I know. However, I cannot fathom a single one of these objects without my grandparents.
As far as I remember, very little has changed in the house. It has always fascinated me, how life in this house had stopped yet had continued; how it had stayed in motion while remaining perfectly motionless. In fact, the photography offers exactly the same to me. It captures a moment, a thought within it, but the story continues outside its frame. With each visit to my grandparents, I had the feeling of returning to an isolated world, to a singular reality, the boundaries of which exist outside of time and space, just like photography. It is always a portrait, although it doesn’t have to capture a face. I created these photographs without any expectations. It was a way to pay respects to my grandparents. I have isolated their lives into photographs, that was my motivation behind the photographs. If by any chance other people can relate somehow, feel something joy, sentiment, sadness, then I can only be grateful for the connection I share with that person.
Could you tell us about your creative process, Was there any difficulty while making it? I think the creative process in general is very mysterious and fluid mechanism, so I tend to leave it and let it lead me. However, my key essence was to capture the ambience of the place and aura of people living in it. So the only rational decision on this project was the selection and the order of the photographs. My former teacher Ms.Petra Cepkova was a huge help in this. She showed me and taught me that sequence order is a powerful tool in photography; it can lift or totally drown your story. By the emotional standpoint, it is still difficult; I think that anyone putting out a very personal work is vulnerable. Topics on emotions like love, grief, fear, frustration no matter how authentic they are, they can be misunderstood, misleading, you can be biased, delusional or simply not mature enough to cover them, you are always rethinking it, or at least I am, but at the end as a creator I think you don’t have a choice, you have to let it go.
Is there any pictures which for you stand out more than others? The one with glass blocks and flowers still resonates with me. For the full context the house was built in 60’s and 70’s in Communist Czechoslovakia and it captures the essence and style of this era. These glass blocks were popular building components. Light softens and dims when going through the glass, creating this mysterious sensation with the objects in the room.
Did this project have an impact on the other projects? I think it had more impact on my personality as a whole, so then consciously or not it had to have an impact on my other works. I can’t trace any direct influence, but I still enjoy looking at the world around me through traces, indirectly, looking for hidden processes and revealing them.
Interview
by Sasha Yermilova
Lorenzo Catena
Website lorenzocatena.com Instagram lorenzo_catena Flickr Lorenzo Catena
Tell our readers something about yourself. First of all, thank you for showing interest in my work and for this interview. I was born in Rome in 1987 and I currently live and work in my hometown. I am an Architect and Photographer member of the Italian Street Eyes collective.
Do you "label" yourself as a photographer? As an architect, I have certainly started to photograph with an architectural approach. However, in a short time my vision has spontaneously changed, my passion has grown. Now I no longer photograph the architecture itself, but rather the continuous formation of spontaneous choreography between the city environment and the people, looking for abstraction and sentiment. But I don’t forget or deny my background as an Architect: it leads me to compositions and equilibrium in space.
"I take inspiration from things or people I do not know, from what is distant from me and something I want to know or connect with."
What do you want to express with your photographs? I think one can find different moods and feelings such as loneliness, anxiety, melancholy and humour in my photographs. I look for the suspension in the moment, I want to give the impression that something is about to happen.
What are your favourite styles in photography and why? (even if it is not your personal style) I believe that it is not necessary to bind only to a photographic style. Experimentation and contamination between different approaches reinforces my vision and contributes to the search for the uniqueness of a shot.
How much does photography influence your life? Deeply. I like to think that what I see every day, at any moment, can be reinterpreted as a possible scene. I am constantly looking for images, compositions that are revealed to my eyes.
What inspires you most of all? I have always been inspired by what is new in any field. I take inspiration from things or people I do not know, from what is distant from me and something I want to know or connect with. Basically, I am inspired by what I am not.
Are you working at some projects? If yes, tell us about them. Currently I am working on several projects, certainly the most outlined one concerns my collection of occasional meetings with people who were showing a strong sense of concern about something. The project is called "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" just because the characters in my shots seem not to be going very well. Obviously it is an ongoing project and which I think it is a potentially endless collection. Then, I’m working on another main project, more experimental, this project is going to be ready after the next summer.
Do some exact places inspire you to take photos? I think it's not a matter of place, but more of a state of mind, feelings and coexistence between light and shapes.
Can you take photos at places you are used to, for instance in your hometown? Or do you need to travel and find new places? I usually shoot in my city, although the historical and ancient context prevail a lot in my Roman shots. So, when I shoot in Rome, I focus more on the abstraction of places because I look for the hidden contemporaneity in my hometown. Surely traveling to new places feeds my curiosity and what is new and unknown fascinates me and inspires me continuously.
What is the most important for you in photography? Photographing makes me feel present in the moment. I like to witness the coincidences between people, animals, things in space and time. The coincidences that we believe can happen rarely or never, in reality they happen very often. Sometimes you just need to try to predict and anticipate them, with a little luck.
Featured Photographers
Victor Borst
What is your works about?
The focus of my work is mainly how people live in big cities, that is why I'm often in Tokyo. I always try to capture a moment of someone his/her life so you can get a brief glimpse how that person is living their life in a big city. In a city like Tokyo you can find another small stories to capture on every corner. A city of millions where you can get lost in the crowds in search of that one shot.
Which style of photography is closest to you and why? Street photography the closer to the people the better. You see a lot of work presented as "street photography" nowadays captured from a long distance with a tele lens. Most of the times those pictures lack the emotion, the feel of the moment and without any sense of the surroundings.
That’s why I prefer an 18mm or 23mm lens on my camera and just go into the crowd. In my opinion a much better way to capture the rush and craziness of the streets . My images are all about the people on the streets, but I always try to blend in the surroundings in my composition. That’s why I love to get up close to people and snap them with a wide angle lens, so I have my portrait but also the surroundings.
What is the most important thing for you in photography?
To be true to yourself and respect the subject you capture. Most of my work is candid but when I notice that someone isn't happy with my present I will stop making pictures and I will never make a picture of a person that can harm him or her in anyways. When, by accident, I make such a picture, I just won’t publish it. In my opinion, that’s one of the greatest responsibility as a street photographer.
What do you feel when you take photos?
Most of the times I can feel my feet after walking miles and miles to get that one gem of a shot ;﴿ But during the shooting itself, I don’t feel a lot. Over time you can feel your senses in a city like Tokyo and it can be even overwhelming, the rush, the crowds, the noise. So I try to shut down a part of my senses and try to listen to my instinct. When I see an interesting person or situation, I will act and make a shot without any feeling or thoughts about it.
Sabine Schols
Why is your work mostly in BW? I edit my photos in colour, but every time when I turn them into black & white I see and, more importantly, feel more. It’s like speaking your own language, the one in which you can fully express yourself and feel comfortable with.
Why take pictures of people? I shoot street, but not specific people. I try to have no contact, but sometimes I simply can’t resist a face. But that all depends on the mood I’m in. On my comfortable days I shoot people, and on my uneasy days I take overall street shots. I also like to get lost between the straight lines of a huge building. Concrete, steel and windows often have an overwhelming power on me.
What inspires you? Books, movies, but if you’re talking about photography, which you are, then it has to be light. I am a sucker for light, and shadows. But also characters get my attention, I don’t know how to say this without being offensive, but I mean people who are different from the rest. Of course I like taking photos of stunning women too, mainly their legs, but I find someone with, for instance, one leg or a beautiful wrinkled face, far more interesting.
Is the location important in your photography? I love my hometown Amsterdam, and I adore Paris, but nope, where I shoot isn’t that important to me. As long as it’s a city. Here I can walk for hours and hours. Just me, my camera and some pretty loud music playing through my ear buds.
Tito Mindoljevich
What defines your works? Millisecond of life, which opens the entrance into human soul and forces observer into deliberation…
The series is called "mentalist". Could you explain what is it about? When I was a little kid, my favourite game was to sit on the wall in the main street of my home town, observe people and imagine their thoughts. After some time doing photography, I recognised my game continued… seems that children games never end… That’s how Mentalist got a name.
What is photography to you? A way to express the inner me…
Kristina Vislianska
Why photography? It happened somehow on the intuitive level. I was tired of drawing and painting, so I took the camera in my hands and just went into the streets.
Do you want to express something with your photos? I do not ask myself what exactly I want to express with my photos. I just want to show what I see and how I see it. And that is mainly kitsch, trash, color and composition in the modern visual space.
Can you name some photographer as an example for you? I do not want to set an example for myself, because it is then very easy to get on the hook of the chosen photographer and to replicate their work. And it won’t necessarily be done in a good way. However, I often review Alex Webb's work from Cuba, I love the abstraction of Gueorgui Pinkhassov and the narrative in a photography of Thomas Dworzak.
How do you think, have you found your own style in photography, or not? Honestly, I'm sure that if the photographer will constantly think if he or she has his/her own style or not, he will never find it. For the very idea of finding a style will close his eyes from reality.
Therefore, I do not look for my style, but simply do everything on an intuitive level. I think those who see my work from the side will tell more ;﴿
Keith Vaughton
Why do you practice more colour than BW? For me, I think colour is the most difficult of the 2 styles to master and I find it more challenging as I’m always looking for colour, but it can also be very frustrating especially when I’m having one of them days when nothing is happening.
What made you get into photography? I always find answering this question rather difficult as it sort of just happened. In some ways I have always been into taking photos either on holiday or for special occasions like birthdays and Christmas and looking back at them images I probably had a good concept of composition and all the other things that make a good picture, maybe I should've done something then but you live and learn. Then about 67 years ago I decided to make some changes in my life and I wanted to do something creative. I still enjoyed taking pictures of the things I see so it sort of progressed from there and before I realised it, I had moved from shooting with an iPhone to a camera. When I’m out there on the streets, it’s like a form of meditation as I’m free from any worries and it gets me out of me which is priceless.
Which type of photographer do you consider yourself? I’m a Street Photographer as that is what I enjoy doing the most. But I have done other types of photography work like portraits I have even done the odd wedding plus I recently documented a Bare Knuckle Boxing Event which got a lot of coverage but Street is where my heart is. I think you can spread yourself a bit too thin by saying you can do everything, you just end up becoming a “Jack of all Trades and a Master of None”.
Your work consists very often of high contrasts, deep shadows and bright colours, can you explain why? When I first started out doing street I was a bit all over the place as I couldn’t get that right balance, but over time I was drawn more to colour. I love the mystery that can be created with heavy shadows and by adding that bit of colour only adds to the mystery. I’m not saying I have mastered colour and I don’t think I ever will but for me it’s progress not perfection. And let’s not forget I live Manchester which is known more for its rain than it is for its sun but I think I have proved that the sun does shine in Manchester.
Group Select
Dan Dunlop
Florin Stanca
Yoshitaka Kashima
Laurent Renaux
Daniel Baerwald
Sasha Ivanovic
Seregio Perez
Serkan Ataç
Thomas Kirsch
Niklas Lindskog
Aristides Mendes
Michelle Elaine Ayers
Susana Sezinando Freitas
Justyna Strzemieczna
Rytis Vilnietis
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#5
inSomnia
Photography Magazine