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?