Spotlight 7 Week 21: itzick

[curated by smoothdude]

On Flickr.

1) Where are you living now and how does it effect your photography?
I am living in a suburb of Copenhagen (Denmark). As consequence the Danish way of life, culture and social structure have a decisive influence on my photography. But therefore of course I can't say that my photography is a full description of the Danish way of life but rather to a certain extent a reflection on the Danish society and culture.

This is certainly right for the niche called Street Photography and I consider myself as a Street Photographer. As such I don't create situations or stage pictures, but observe and try to catch pictures I find interesting and telling a story. The pictures I take are my own interpretation of what is interesting in life and of people in Denmark.

2) How did you first really get into photography?
To be honest I can’t remember when and how it happened. As a child I was fascinated by the ability to make/create pictures. I got an old Kodak box camera as a present. That camera had very few adjustment possibilities such as; sun, cloudy and rain as well as people or buildings / landscape and some distance marks/alternatives.

The more systematic/serious photography I started at the age of 22 when I bought a Yashika SLR camera that a year later was replaced by two Pentax spotmatic cameras. Ten years later for different reasons I stopped being active on that front and after a pause of about thirty years in December 2006 I bought as an extra X-mass present for myself a Nikon D200 and started again to be an active photographer.

3) You get very close to your subjects, why is that?
You are right. Typically I crop the images very close to the subject. The idea behind it is that if I want to convey a certain feeling to the viewer I would like to make that message as powerful as possible. As I mentioned in my first answer I am not staging my pictures. That leaves me only few possibilities to play with. One possibility is to crop all the disturbing elements out.

4) You seem to favor B&W over color, what is it about that medium for your portrait work?
Once again the B&W gives you another tool to enhance the subject and removing the distracting elements. It is simple and powerful. The B&W gives you larger space to play with.

5) What are your long term goals for your photography?
I wouldn’t say that I have long term goals for my photography. It is a hobby and so it will stay. But I would like if possible to publish a photo album and participate in exhibitions.

6) What is your favorite portrait chosen for Spotlight Seven?
This is a tough question as you might guess I love all those pictures that you choose. Btw those pictures were taken in four countries Israel, England, USA and Denmark.

But if I have to choose and it seems that I have too I will say that the picture “only a child” is the picture that touched me more deeply than the others.

It was taken in the late sixties at a Bedouin market in the Negev desert in Israel where that little boy helped his father as a “shop” keeper.
I will save you from the description what other children in this age are doing.

7) What drew you to the 6 Million People group?
I received an invitation to join the group and when I read the purpose of the group I knew that I have to contribute as much as I can to achieve the goal of 6 million images. It is even if only a little one but it is a tribute to that part of my family that is among those 6 million victims.

8) Do you purposely shoot with that group in mind?
It will be very nice if I could answer yes I do, but I don’t. When out in the streets I have only one thing on my mind and it is to capture an interesting subject. In which group to place the image is an issue I consider only at the moment that I upload it to Flickr.

9) Share with us a photographer or two on Flickr who has influenced your work.
I like to “surf” on Flickr and see pictures and quite a lot are good, really good. But I don’t have any particular photographer that I can say that I was heavily influenced by.


10) Finally, show us a photograph on Flickr that you wish you took.
Sorry, can’t help you as it never occurred to me to think so. I take my pictures and I am happy with them. I appreciate good pictures taken by others but I never considered the idea of “I wish I took that photograph”

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