UMMA
UMMA – Ann Arbor, Michigan
photographers on tumblr
Photographer Interview: Olli Syrjäkari
As an urbex photographer, it’s natural for me to check out other abandoned building photographers. The problem is, most of what I find is HDR garbage.
That’s why I love the work of Olli Syrjäkari of Finland. His abandoned work keeps the shadows and mystery of the places he explores. When I first saw Olli’s work, I felt like I met a fellow traveler. It was great to learn more about his photography.
Who are you, where are you, and what do you do?
My name is Olli Syrjäkari and I live in Tampere, Finland. Pencil pusher by day, photographer by night.
How did you get started in photography?
I’m not sure when it started. Probably when I got my first smartphone with a decent camera. Three years back I left my hometown to find my real home. By that time I bought a small interchangeable-lens camera, and it was then that I got serious about photography. Most of my photos are taken with that 100-euro camera. I did eventually upgrade but I went with the philosophy that the camera quality doesn’t matter until you know how to compose and find the light.
What do you like about your photography?
I love how my photographs raise questions and emotions. You could say my motto is “emotion is everything”. Also I think it’s therapeutic that I get to relive those moments that are already gone. I tend to hate most of my earlier work. I think for me that’s essential in order to become better.
You dabble in abandoned photography, and I love your sense of mystery and exploration. You also have a great eye for light and shadow. Where do you get inspiration for your style/ideas?
Thank you. When I see great photography, it really inspires me to get to that level. It makes me grab the camera and get out of the house, do something great. In all that abandoned photography I do, with the shadows and the light, I love that contrast. How things can make me happy and sad at the same time.
I recently realized something. All those places I explore, urban decay, homes people left behind, they get certain emotions going on in my head. Like I mentioned – happy and sad, also yearning, wishful, at peace. I also mentioned I left my hometown where I lived almost three decades, and I wasn’t happy, just a walking corpse. In my new hometown I have felt rootless, alone, anxious, scared but also very happy and content, at peace and hopeful. Something those families have felt when they left their rural homes and dying smalltowns in search for a better life. Narcistically, I think I have been photographing myself.
What kinds of themes do you explore with your work?
Sorrow, hope, dark thoughts, rural exodus, abandonment. How shadows can exist while there is light present. How the shadows are eventually winning, light is always just temporary. It needs to be maintained while darkness is the default.
In my nature photography, it’s basically empowerment, conservation, how life finds a way. I love to mix these themes, nature and abandonments. How nature reclaims what we have left behind. What comes after us? How we are temporary here, the light. Nature and entropy are the shadows, but they are the good guys here. We are just visiting and we are very bad guests.
Any upcoming projects or shoots you’re working on?
I am having an exhibition next summer, in Tampere, Finland. It will be free of charge but I am hoping to sell some photos to cover the costs. I am also planning to sell prints and licenses to fund my future explorations and exhibitions. Besides that I’m planning to get more into portraiture and people.
See more of Olli’s work at @siderocks, check out his Flickr gallery, and follow along on Instagram.
Photographer Interview: Alexia Liakounakou
Who are you and what do you do?
Ι’m Alexia. A writer and photographer living between London and Athens (Greece). I work in magazines and am the managing editor at Makeshift.
How did you get started in photography?
I began photographing with my mother’s camera at the age of 14. It was a Nikon FM3. My first subjects were my school friends. At 16, I photographed my best friend in my first ‘semi nude’ project.
What do you like about your photography?
That what you capture is slightly – or very – different from what you aim for. It’s always a surprise. It keeps me on my toes.
Where do you get inspiration for your style/ideas?
I think I am very influenced by paintings and Japanese art. I also get constantly influenced by other photographers; old and contemporary.
Fill in blank: “For me, a camera is my way to…”
turn reality into fantasy; escape
Your photography has a documentary approach. What kinds of themes do you explore with your work?
It’s both documentary and ‘art’ photography (I don’t like distinguishing things too much, or put labels on them).
My major themes are urban landscapes, flowers, and human bodies. I lately have an obsession with hands.
Any upcoming projects or shoots you’re working on?
I’m planning an exhibition in Greece (Feb-March 2016), and I’m now shooting street, mostly. I now use my phone camera a lot.
I want to shoot nude women again, in the near future.
Follow Alexia’s work on her personal site, @languorouseye, and on Instagram.
Photographer Interview: Daniel Donnarumma
The Bubbles
Down The Rue
I’ll Get Lost With You
Flowers and The Lighthouse
Daniel Donnarumma and I have followed each other for a bit now, and I always love to see his landscapes and exploration photos cross my feed. Based out of Rochester, New York, Daniel shares lots of his travel and nature work on his @danieldonnarumma Tumblr blog and Instagram account.
Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Dan Donnarumma. I live in Rochester, NY, but I’m originally from NYC. I’m a photographer, Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai practitioner, adventurer, lover of music, art, and films, as well as animals (especially greyhounds, sloths, and cats), a dreamer, a nerd, and someone that wants to travel the world. For a living, I work at a non-profit that works with employed or unemployed individuals assisting them with finding work or training.
How did you get started in photography?
I’ve always had a strong affinity for photography ever since I was little kid. When I was in high school, I’d regularly buy Kodak disposable cameras to basically document my time hanging with friends, going to punk and hardcore shows, and being idiots. I still have a bunch of my photo albums from this time, and it’s always cool to look back on them.
As I got older, and my interest in photography grew, I bought myself a Canon DSLR and eventually figured out how to work it properly. At first, I thought that I’d automatically take amazing photos just because I had a DSLR. When I quickly realized that wasn’t the case, and that I’d have to actually learn how to properly compose a photo, use the camera, etc., I started reading photography books, studying the work of photographers I admire, and teaching myself photography.
What do you like about your photography?
I have to say that this is a really good question, and I really had to stop and think about this for a moment. I’m constantly picking apart my photos and thinking about what I don’t like about them, that I tend to overlook what I do like about them.
One thing that I love about my photos is that they are a way for me to really express my emotions, whether it’s in the actual mood or image of the photo, or in the title of it. For me, that is very important. Photography is an outlet for me to be creative and to share with others the craziness that goes on inside my head, and that is something that I do truly love about my photos and photography in general.
Additionally, I love that my photos are a means to document my experiences, and to be able to share them with others. There’s so much beauty in this world, and my goal is to see as much of it and to share that with others. My photography has forced me to focus more on traveling and doing things that I might have found excuses not to do prior to really getting into photography, and that’s something I’m truly grateful for.
You have a nice variety to your photography subjects: landscape, urban, nature. Where do you get inspiration for your style/ideas?
First and foremost, my biggest source of inspiration is the work of other photographers. There are seriously so many amazing photographers and artists at our fingertips nowadays, that it it’s insane. I spend probably way too much time on Tumblr, but I am able to find so much phenomenal work that it’s nearly impossible not to get inspired to be creative. I’m currently crushing pretty hard on the work of Sebastiao Salgado and Theo Gosselin, and their work makes me want to drop what I’m doing, drive as far as I can, and take tons of photos a long the way.
Secondly, music is a huge source of inspiration for me. When listening to a certain band or song, I tend to get sucked in and ideas, thoughts, emotions just start flowing. I’ve been listening to the bands of Dan Barrett a shit ton lately -Have a Nice Life, Giles Corey, Black Wing – and that has really been inspiring in a way that I haven’t felt in quite sometime.
Traveling is also something that very heavily inspires me. I live in an area that is surrounded by a plethora of lakes and parks, I’m a few hours away from the Adirondacks and Canada, so it’s hard not to think about wanting to see everything this area has to offer and not want to photograph all of it.
Fill in blank: “For me, a camera is my way to…”
Express my thoughts and emotions, and an outlet to share my experiences with others.
What kinds of themes do you explore with your work?
Lately, especially with some of the titles of my photos, I’ve tended to focus on more sullen or melancholy emotions. Those are emotions that I sometimes struggle with, and I tend to find myself drawing on that with my photos. Additionally, I do try to instill a sense of yearning or a desire to just adventure and experience life, because that’s something that I still really aspire to do, and it’s something that has exponentially become important to me as I’ve gotten older. Ultimately, though, if a photo of mine is able to elicit any kind of emotion in someone who’s viewing it, than that to me is the icing on the cake.
Any upcoming projects or shoots you’re working on?
As of right now, I’m planning on traveling through the Midwest for a month this coming summer, and I can’t even begin to express my excitement. I’m really looking forward to documenting those travels, as well as just getting to spend some time in the national parks out there.
I’ve recently started to explore a few projects that I’m really excited about. Both projects involve my fiancee, because she’s awesome and puts up with being my model for me. The first one is my attempt to focus on the freedom that travel provides, the lasting memories that they create, and how that may affect us. Secondly, I’ve started taking more portraits of my fiancee and I, since she’s my partner in crime, and I can’t imagine traveling without her. My photos, more often than not, tended to focus on places that I had experienced, but very rarely on the people that I got to experience them with. Since she’s practically always my travel buddy, I want to focus more on how she and I get to experience new places together.
Catch more of Daniel Donnarumma at @danieldonnarumma and Instagram account.
Photographer Interview: Freddy Clark
Freddy Clark is a food, product, and beverage photographer, as well as a hobbyist of other kinds of photography.
I got to know Freddy’s work thanks to the Google+ On Taking Pictures podcast community (listen to it – it’s a great show), and I was excited to learn more about his work and his ambitions.
Where are you and what do you do?
I live in central New Jersey, outside of New York City. For my day job, I’m a Product Manager in Technology for an investment company. I’ve been a part time photographer, doing portraits, weddings, and events for about five years now. Recently I started a food/product photography business called Santé Photography. The goal is to have a focus on food and beverage photography for commercial work.
How did you get started in photography?
I had been doing family photos and videos since my daughter was born in 1998. Little by little I realized that the pictures meant a lot because of the subject, but I wanted to learn how to make them look more professional, so I started to read magazines and what ever I could find on line, over my crappy dial-up connection.
I taught myself how to edit digital video after I got my first video camera and then got a job at a local Photo/Video Studio. Officially I was doing the wedding video editing, but I took the opportunity to learn as much as I could about shooting video and stills. Over time I realized that I really enjoyed shooting stills more than video. I started second shooting weddings and things great from there.
What do you like about your photography?
Depends which day you ask me. Some days, there’s nothing I like about it.
You do a few different types of photography: products, portraits, still life. Where do you get inspiration for your style/ideas?
I try to keep my eyes open as I move through my day. I don’t really believe in inspiration. I think it can be a crutch for people. You want inspiration? Keep making pictures. Is everyone going to be brilliant? Nope. Ansel Adams said something like he felt it was a good year if you got a few good pictures from it. Look at the website of a photographer you really admire. You’re seeing their best, not their entire Lightroom catalog or hard drive like you do your own. You don’t see their crap, but you do see your own crap, so people think the good ones were inspired, but they are not. Just keep working.
Through the work, you will get better and maybe come up with a few that others can attribute to inspiration. The muses come to you when you are working. Not the other way around. I make pictures of things and people that interest me. If I like it first, then I’m on the right track.
What about food/beverage photography gets you excited?
The lighting. I’ve gotten the feeling that people look at product shots as less than artistic. Try doing a really good job lighting a few different reflective surfaces without having blown highlights or weird reflections. It’s hard to do. Not taking anything away from other photographers, but nailing the lighting on product shots will make you really know how to use your lights and make you better at portraits or even seeing light on the street. I find it to be a challenge.
What kinds of themes do you explore with your work?
The above mentioned lighting. That and trying to connect with a person or place. Lately I’ve been bored with pretty pictures. I’m trying to find another level beyond the sunset, the guy in a red jacket walking down the street or the pretty landscape. I’m not there yet…I’ve thrown out a lot of pictures lately, but I feel like there’s something right around the corner. I can almost see it, but I just keep missing it. Finding another meaning, another level another element. If it has good light and interesting to look at, sometimes that is enough. I don’t know, sometimes it seems like pretentious art gallery bullshit. Nailing the lighting on a product shot makes me happy, lighting a good looking plate of food does too. The rest of my photography, I’m looking for something else and I haven’t quite yet found it.
Any upcoming projects or shoots you’re working on?
I’ve been experimenting with some liquid motion photographs. It’s still a work in progress, a messy work in progress. Nothing ready to be shared yet, but getting there.
You can follow Freddy and see his work on Twitter and his G+ profile.
Photographer Interview: Enrica Brescia
Scrolling through my Flickr feed every day, I know an Enrica Brescia photo when I see one. Lush, rich, and always fashionable.
I was first attracted to Enrica’s work in the Canon EOS M group on Flickr. New to the camera, I wanted to see what others were doing with it. And Enrica’s photos, often paired with EF lenses, caught my eye. Now she’s one of my favorite portrait photographers.
Who are you and what do you do?
I am an Italian photographer based in Rome. I’m a fashion and portrait photographer.
How did you get started in photography?
I started to get into photography at the age of 15. I’ve always had a huge passion for art, particularly photography.
What do you like about your photography?
With my photography, I like the atmosphere that I can attribute to my shots.
Your work includes people, still life, landscapes – and it’s all so beautiful and rich. Where do you get inspiration for your style/ideas?
I take my inspiration from photography books and from the big fashion photographers from the history of photography.
What kind of themes do you explore with your work?
No themes specifically, I try to capture the souls of people.
Any upcoming projects or shoots you’re working on?
Many, but I can’t reveal anything 😉
See more of Enrica’s work at her @enricapph Tumblog, Instagram account, and Flickr gallery.
Photographer Interview: Becca Waterloo
Here’s one from one of my many favorites on Instagram, Becca Waterloo (@oolretaw – get it?). Becca is an architect and photographer in Chicago.
I love Becca’s use of light, her explorations around the Windy City (a truly great city), and collaborations with other creatives.
Who are you and what do you do?
I am Becca Waterloo, an architect working in the West Loop. I graduated from IIT in 2011 with a bachelor’s of architecture. Being a photographer is a weekend hobby,. I typically take portraits, engagement sessions, city hall weddings and family portraits. I also frequently co-host/attend Instagram meetups, #communityfirst is important to me and I love collaborating with talented Chicago photographers.
How did you get started in photography?
I’ve had a camera as long as I can remember, whether it was the film cameras you load and have developed at Walgreens, manual SLRs, and now digital cameras and smart phones. I have a couple of photography classes on my repertoire from high school and college. It’s just always been a personal interest since I was a little girl. Visual memories are important to me to keep.
What do you like about your photography?
With an architectural background, I love honing in on the details that people don’t really notice. I am obsessed with composition and geometry in photography, negative spaces, natural light, and color. I can’t get enough color. I am complemented for my ‘laser vision’ and noticing the things that people never see, so to have that natural eye is something I am thankful for.
I like your work for its variety – urban scenes, lush greenhouses, bits of where you are and what you’re doing. Where do you get inspiration for your style/ideas?
Thank you! I’ve always been drawn to texture and color (brick walls, graffiti) so thankfully living in an urban metropolis allows me to find a lot of that. I LOVE the West Loop and Pilsen because there’s endless amount of murals, stickers, graffiti, and opportunities, so I frequently bring people there for their portraits. Conservatories are also tied for a favorite place to shoot. You cannot beat the light anywhere else, and the textures, colors, and compositions are so easy to work with.
What kinds of themes do you explore with your work?
I think playing with light is my favorite thing to do. I am really bad with the technical side of photography, so I rely heavily on natural light and the subjects I’m given. I love negative spaces and silhouettes, so you’ll see a lot of places and things that are just shown through the lighting from that day. If a room is too dark, I don’t even bring out my phone/camera. I LOATHE the flash, and I time my shoots when the light is best and most flattering. An Instagram meetup is the farthest I’ll go with exploring, so my Instagram is the best way to represent how I see life day by day.
Any upcoming projects or shoots you’re working on?
I booked an entire year of sessions with my cousin, Sam, a personal stylist who hires me to take her photos for her social marketing. Having a monthly session with her let’s me toy and use her for ideas that I’ve want to try. They don’t always work, so I enjoy laughing with her when that happens. She doesn’t judge when I want to get artsy, and let’s me practice the technical stuff, because I barely ever use my SLR.
I also co-host Instagram meetups with my friends a couple of times a year, so follow along @oolretaw to learn about the next one!
Find more of Becca’s work on her blog, her Instagram feed, and her website.
Photographer Interview: Quinn Hall
There’s something magical about Utah. I call it America’s Surprisingly Beautiful State, just because the two times I’ve been there, I didn’t know what to expect. Photographer Quinn Hall captures the American southwest perfectly.
Who are you and what do you do?
I’m Quinn Hall – but I go by “strayfoto” across most social media. I work in environmental consulting doing GIS (geographic information systems – mapping) of fossils in and around the western states. Photography, although it’s paid a few bills in the past, is mostly a hobby, albeit one I’m quite passionate about.
How did you get started in photography?
I always had a point and shoot growing up, but I bought a Pentax ZX-50(?) in about 1997. A few weeks later I bought a Pentax ME Super at a pawn shop and I was hooked. Over the years I’ve worked my way though the Pentaxes, Leicas, bigger Pentaxes, and Hasselblads. I had a wet darkroom in my basement for about six years, but I moved and had to let it go. I’ve been about 90% digital since 2009.
What do you like about your photography?
I usually hate my own photography… Not really, but I can find things to complain about. I like the creative process most. It hardly matters what I’m shooting as long as I’m creating something. I like the post too – culling and editing, looking for something I may not have noticed in the field. Photography keeps me busy. I love a good project.
Your work really shows off the American southwest. Where do you get inspiration for your style/ideas?
I lead guided tours of Arches National Park during the summers and it’s interesting to see how people from all over the world photograph the park. Sometimes someone will look at a feature in a way I’ve never even thought of and I’ll use that and try to expand on it. Sometimes it’s the opposite – I’ll think “I’m going to go shoot over here just to avoid that crowd…” and it works because I end up seeing something most others don’t.
“For me, a camera is my way to…”
Stay busy. Create more, consume less.
What kinds of themes do you explore with your work?
I went through a Leica – lots of old cameras and Tri-X film. I spent a lot of time on “street” photography forums. In rural Utah there’s not a lot “street” style photography, but I think that time influenced my taste. I don’t mind people in my landscape/nature photos, and often find they add to the scene – in a national park a shot with people in it is more honest. I often go for form or composition over ultimate subject.
Any upcoming projects or shoots you’re working on?
I recently completed shooting a couple projects and I need to move those closer to a final product. I’ve been working on a project of shots I’ve taken while running and hope to push that a little further this year.
Follow more of Quinn’s work at @strayfoto, or on his Instagram account.
Photographer Interview: Maarten Rots
Color, shadow, light – these are the “paint” a photographer uses to make photographs. It’s fun to see when a photographer like Maarten Rots use these materials in an abstract way: pure color, pure shadow, depth, and layers, and light.
I like following Maarten because he’s a maker – a guy who tackles living, breathing projects like his March & Rock magazine. He creates tangible things with his abstract photos.
Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Maarten Rots and I’m a full-time artist with a camera around my neck. I live and work in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where I also graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in 2010, studying audio visual art. Besides capturing the world around me, I really enjoy taking the next step and try to figure out an interesting way to present my photography. One of the outcomes is my self-published photography magazine March & Rock.
How did you get started in photography?
I actually filmed quite a bit before really making the jump to still photography. I used to go out with my video camera in a way that’s similar to how many street photographers work, hoping to catch an interesting scene.
It was in the summer of 2014 when I had to replace my broken video camera when I decided to go for a DSLR. I quickly (re)discovered the power of the still image and have mainly been photographing since.
What do you like about your photography?
It helps me see the world through a different lens. Literally but also figuratively – by being very clear about what I decide to have inside and outside the frame I construct my own version of reality, with photographic evidence. There is a beautiful sense of abstraction to be found in everyday life and I really enjoy emphasizing that through photography. The challenge is to do it all in-camera, I refrain from removing or adding elements and filters. Everything is already there when I shoot it, what I see is what you get.
I love the style of your photography – it reminds me a lot of Saul Leiter. Where do you get inspiration for your style/ideas?
The discovery of Saul Leiter’s work has undeniably had an impact on my own development. I really like to create layered images, and that’s where reflections can play an important role. When there are people in my shots they are mostly passersby or entourage, whereas in Saul Leiter’s work they are much more the subject of his images.
I really enjoy the work of photographers such as Alex Webb and Harry Gruyaert – both members of Magnum, but I am interested in other fields of art as well. A more recent discovery is the painter Lyonel Feininger, whose abstraction – the way he abstracted reality in his paintings – is something I strive for with my photographs.
Victor Kossakovsky’s film Tishe (Hush) is one of the films that has been of influence on my work. Not so much style-wise, but the concept behind the film. He shot the whole thing from his apartment, capturing what was happening right outside his door. The conviction that an interesting story can be found anywhere is something he applied again in his 2011 film ¡Vivan las antipodas! – where he filmed life in opposite ends of the world.
Fill in blank: “For me, a camera is my way to…”
Capture and share how I see reality.
What kinds of themes do you explore with your work?
I function really well in urban environments and architecture takes an important place in my photographs. I like to explore and go to new places as often as possible.
I carefully construct the compositions in my photographs by taking different positions and distances from the situation I want to capture. I can take quite some time to find the best way to frame a shot as I try to restrict myself to take only a single image. In that sense I think you could compare my process more to that of a painter than a street photographer. I don’t want to rely on the “lucky shot” – I take care to make sure the image is as it comes out before I press the shutter release button. Abstraction has become a more and more important theme in my photography. Trying to capture multiple layers in a single exposure helps me add a level of abstraction as I construct a new reality.
Any upcoming projects or shoots you’re working on?
In July last year (2015) I did the first edition of my photography project, Siting. This project revolves around a simple concept: I photograph a fixed area for one week and choose one photograph each day that will be printed on a larger scale and becomes part of an exhibition afterwards. The area to work in is designated by the space I use to do the project; it serves as the center point of a one-mile radius, which then becomes the area where I can take photographs. The first edition took place in Amsterdam.
I am planning to expand this project worldwide, I have a few options for this year and chances are high that there will be editions in Las Vegas and Antwerp in the coming months.
Next to that I am always working on the next edition of March & Rock, my photography magazine. My wife and I recently bought a VW camper van which enables me to go and shoot in a lot of different places. This will definitely show through in coming editions of March & Rock!
To see more of Maarten’s work, follow him on Instagram. You can also read more about Maarten’s work on street photographer Eric Kim’s blog.