Steffen Jahn
www.steffenjahn.com
Photographer | Stuttgart
Tell us about your background?
I started with an apprenticeship in a huge automotive-studio, one of the biggest in Europe. After this I traveled the world for 5 years as an assistant for many photographers. From New Zealand to Norway, from Los Angeles to Capetown. And 1998 I started my own studio in Stuttgart – right between the headquaters Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.
What inspires you?
Simply everything – the colour and texture of the grinded coffee at breakfast. The smell of a foreign subway-system. Strange tools in a hardware-store. Every day is full of shapes, colours, sounds and compositions – you just need to listen !
What are you able to do for a photo?
We do everything what is in the budget and what humans can survive… we shot images in 55°C on a Mojave desert airfield, we stood for days in a running car-wash at 5°C, we waited for hours near a smelly animal-crematorium for the perfect sunrise. Of course there are some nicer moments – flying very low with a special permission in a helicopter between New York skyscrapers is definitly one of those unforgettable shootings.
What is the material you are using?
I love to shoot on 8”/10” large format – you have the ultimate control over your picture, the huge groundglass makes the composition of the image much easier, the big polaroid is a fantastic proof to discuss with your art director and the final chrome is always stunning. And the big camera forces you to think about perspective and image-composition before you set up the tripod. You are creating a picture – and not snap a pic. I´m still a big friend of analog film. Analog and digital is a difference like Stradivari and a Korg-synthesizer. Whether you like the digital plastic-look or not. So I use the whole range of analog-luxury-gadgets… Hasselblad X-Pan, sinar 8”/10”, Fuji 617, Leica M6. Not only the artist moves his tool – also the tool moves the artist.
What are the moments you like to size?
I´m not the reportage-type of photographer – running around with my Leica collecting images like Cartier-Bresson. Most of my pictures are already existing in brain before I touch the camera. The camera is just a tool to capture the virtual image, and as a control-freak, I try to bring all the desired elements together at the right time at the right place.
Your favorite artists?
It sounds old-fashioned – Edward Hopper is my favourite painter. I love the tranquility in his pictures. And he sees and understands light – and he could get hold of the light and can transform it to an image on his canvas.
The nicest exhibition you have seen?
Its already some years ago – Michelangelo in Hamburg. When art and technolgy find together. Its quite similar to my visual approach.
The nicest moment in your life? Have you photos of it?
That´s the drama of being a photographer… you never have a picture of the most impressive moments of your life. You never have a camera ready – and that´s maybe good. Would it still be a great moment if you have a picture of it ? Is the snapshot able to capture your feelings ? Isn´t much more precious, if you carry this unique moment around in your heart – and not in your wallet?
Thanks Steffen Jahn for having taken his time to make this interview with us
Interview done by Flavio Monteiro for UAILAB
October 2005
Professional experience in on-line and off-line media. Art direction. Brand development (visual identity). Character creation. Development work for web, flash animations and presentations, creating web sites.
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