10 Analogue Questions for Photographer Gerrit Starczewski

Although Gerrit normally shoots digitally as a professional photographer, he has been in love with film photography since childhood and won’t go anywhere without his Minolta x300 pocket camera. Find out what he loves about analogue photography, how his cooperation with Meissen ceramics started & which projects will follow his famous work “Dancing Shoes”.

Name: Gerrit Starczewski
Profession: art photographer
City: Voerde (district Wesel)

1. Hi Gerrit! Please introduce yourself.

I’m Gerrit, 28 years young and started to shoot as a child. I don’t do anything different now compared to then. The only difference is that now, I make a living from it. I shoot what I see. I shoot for myself. I don’t care what others think of my pictures. What’s important for me is that I can enjoy those captured moments. It’s delightful when I succeed in causing emotional impressions that will stay with my pictures’ viewer.

2. What prompted you to shoot on film and why do you still shoot analogue?

I shot my first pictures in the Ruhr Stadion in Bochum. My mother handed me a pocket camera, that’s how my first snapshots happened. I love to shoot on slide film. It already fascinated me when I was a child. Today, I love to put a finished roll of film into a box where I store around 100 shot rolls of film, not a single one labelled. Every week, I’ll send 4-5 of those rolls to be developed – I love the surprise effect! It’s always like Christmas when I finally get to see the negatives. Some are 2 years old, some were just shot a few weeks ago. I love the minimalism and honesty, the worth of film. With digital shooting I feel more like “too fast is annoying”.

3. What photographic equipment (cameras, films, gear) can’t be missed in your bag?

Minolta x300, and a Olympus pocket camera. Kodakchrome 100 and Kodak 400cn.

4. What or who are your favorite motives? What inspires you most?

I don’t do stage photos. I love to capture natural emotion. No matter if it’s on a football tribune or at a concert. Everywhere, where people act out of the ordinary.

5. If you could be the camera around somebody’s neck, who would this be and where would you shoot her or him?

Small children or handicapped people. I think that they have a very special way of conception.

6. What was the strangest, funniest or most unusual photographic encounter you ever had?

There are just too many anecdotes. Some can be found in my newest catalogue at www.star-photo.de.

7. Some years ago, you published the famous photo book “Dancing Shoes”, showing only famous musicians’ shows. Tell us more about it!

This series opened many doors for me. I shot musicians in this very particular, but also very natural way. The shoes of Oasis, Motörhead, Jay-Z, Pete Doherty. The series was shown all over the world: Shoes as the base and weak point of Pop.

8. Together with Meissen ceramics you captured those pictures and a football project on ceramics. How did you land this project?

The CEO of Meissen ceramics and I share our passion for the Footballclub Bochum. In addition to that, we both come from Hamminkeln and meet every year at the Haldern Pop Festival. There, we started thinking about doing something extravagant with special pictures.

9. Are there already new projects that you’re working on?

Recently, a big photo book featuring my best football pictures was published: “DER KNIPSER”, 284 pages thick. In summer, there’ll be a new edition of “DANCING SHOES” and ARD will shoot a 30-minute film about me and my art project “nakedHEART”, where I will shoot naked people with hearts.

10. Please share a tip that always leads to a great photo.

A picture always fascinates from a mixture of conception, the moment and empathy. I think that the best pictures are those, where you capture moments for yourself. Without the pressure of other people liking it, or thinking about how many Facebook likes you want to get. Express your soul with pictures.

Thank you for this interview!

Find out more about Gerrit and his projects on his website..

written by zonderbar on 2014-07-26 #lifestyle #interview #photographer #meissen #gerrit-starczewski #dancing-shoes #naked-heart #der-knipser #photo-ceramics