How was the Wheels & Waves this year? The festival has grown a lot, and that’s really positive for the international custom scene. There’s great potential and I’m really curious to see how it develops. You had a book published with photographs from the Wheels & Waves Festival, which you discovered in 2012, what motivated you to shoot nonstop for three days? I must say, first of all, that if I had known beforehand all the stress behind making the book, besides my job as a photographer, I would not have done it. I went to the festival in 2012 and 2013 and was so mesmerized by the colorfulness of this community, that throughout six days I only left the camera aside when sleeping and showering. I’m a photographer because through images I can tell a story better than with words, and in the Wheels & Waves Festival every second there are dozens of stories in front of the lens, there are so many that it gets really tricky to capture them all. At first, I didn’t think of a book. In the 2013 edition, on my way there, I couldn’t wait to start shooting. The idea of the book came to me during that year’s event. I wanted to show much more than just pictures of motorcycles; you could easily see those in magazines. You’ve said black and white photography provides all the colors you need, those that have more depth; did you start shooting in black and white? Tell us about your beginnings as a photographer. My first years as a photographer were everything but successful. Before that I was a musician and was singing in different bands for almost twenty years. At the beginning it was only rock, after that, rock with some punk rock and everything that could be mixed in it. When I finally got into photography, I was shooting everything, without any concept though. As the years passed by, I gained more experience regarding lights and shadows, and a lot of ideas that reflect what I do these days. Black and white photography serves as a means of expression, when the photograph is in color, the meaning is different. Nevertheless, I also shoot color. When I signed the contract with the gallery in 2011, I started to think more, to see things differently, and eventually I changed the way I photograph. The gallery and the collectors usually have high expectations. If this is positive for my photographic work, is still to be seen. Any way is not easy to be an artist. You have to think it thoroughly before, not just because of the economic implications; my head burns every day thinking of what I am supposed to shot and how I will do it. It would be easier to sit in the cash machine of a hardware store and then turn on the T.V. But what’s easy can be done by anyone, that’s why I’m a photographer. How many cameras do you have and how do you choose one or the other in relation to the subject you’re shooting? That’s an easy question to answer. I use two cameras, one that employs medium format with film and a Leica M. Usually I prefer the Leica because it’s easier to handle and light weighted. All the pictures in the book were shoot with the Leica. In your Einsen project you show bodybuilders in a very personal manner, focusing more in their eyes than in their bodies, what did you learn from them regarding ideals of beauty? The Eisen project shows bodybuilding in its purest form. I leave the interpreta-
tion of the images to the audience. What is beauty? It’s something quite complex that cannot be fixed on external characteristics. I like when my sitters look straight into the camera. It gives me a profound vision; it’s a very intimate moment. Do you need to spend a lot of time with the person you’re going to shoot in order to know what you want to highlight or is it more about something that catches your eye straight away and attracts you immediately? Not long ago I photographed Ville Valo from HIM in Helsinki. He is the example of a person that can have 25 appointments a day. But my condition in order to shoot him was that we needed to meet before taking out the camera. I cannot photograph anyone in an impersonal manner within their intimacy. We were together for ten hours, and I shot two pictures in the last thirty minutes. They’re two very personal images of a very sensitive Ville Valo. A project like that resembles meeting an old friend. Drinking wine and walking through the city. Telling each other stories and in any second the moment arrives, but you cannot force it. It’s a process. Tell us about the German Feierlichkeit project, did it arise from the desire to show how heterogeneous and diverse Germany can be? As a German, is not easy for me to define my cultural background, much less as a Berliner. It’s different with the Bavarian; at least they have white sausages and beer. The German celebration adopts its culture from the celebration of the aguardiente. Surely, some of the pictures might be compared to a double standard spring-break party in Cancun, but in its essence the project shows the Germans as they are: bottoms up! In Psycho you show that emotional aspect latent in every human being: euphoria, madness, violence. Are you drawn into these extreme feelings, capturing them at their maximum expression? Psycho is my baby. In no other project I have been so immersed in the action like in this one, matter of fact, in order to achieve those images I suffered innumerable contusions and bruises. Pure adrenaline. Tons of psychobilly sounds from the stage and the audience shaping what’s expected in the pit; dozens of psychos pushing and throwing each other to the floor, the music picking up its pace and the environment turning each time more aggressive. And there I was, in the middle, with my Leica. I remember falling to the ground and receiving many kicks on the ribs. I stood up and a punch in the stomach, but before falling again I managed to shoot a picture. I went home shattered and with my heart pounding. That’s Psycho. From all your travels, which country, city or town has captivated you the most and has marked you forever? So far, the most impressive journey I’ve done was by myself to the Amazons. I went on a small boat with my camera in direction to Manaus. I use to spend the night in a hammock hanging in-between trees by the side of the river. There’s nothing better than waking up to the sound of the jungle. This issue’s theme is SILENCE : lately which situation has rendered you speechless? Being in Colombia, some pointed a revolver at me while I was holding the camera, I was dumbstruck.
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