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Suggesting A Mystery

“The soft focus of my Diana camera blurs the outlines of the motif and creates a generalizing effect rather than a specified statement. Even if no definite story is to be read from the pictures, I still strive to create the sensation of a narrative flow of people, landscapes and objects suggesting a mysterious “Terra Incognita”, closer to the mind than to reality – an imitation of the irrational structures of dreams and memories.”

Jakob Thomsen

Jakob Thomsen. Born in Silkeborg, Jakob Thomsen is a Danish photographer currently based in Aarhus.He’s mostly self-taught when it comes to photography, but also took some photography courses at a local art school in Aarhus from 1995 to 1997.

Artist statement

“I often take pictures when travelling to seek out unfamiliar territory. I’m interested in places and situations that correspond with my own mental landscapes. I’m looking for some kind of reverberation between myself and my surroundings. I try to use my intuition.

I prefer to match and juxtapose my photographs rather than to see them as individual pictures, whereby I often end up considering some photographs almost inseparable.

So far I have not made any series that I consider as definite. I think of them more as sketch books; a way of seeing, how things work together.”

Interview with Jakob Thomsen

Jakob, what was your first camera and photographic experience?

My first serious experience with photography (apart from a few holiday, family and pet snapshots in my teens and early 20’s) was in 1994. I had been working in a bank for seven and a half years, and was getting bored with it. I wanted to change my life radically, so I had saved up some money to go on a trip around the world.

In 1993 I bought my first “serious” camera: a relatively cheap SLR camera and at the time very common Canon EOS 1000.

I quit my job, and in the spring of 1994 I set out on my trip equipped with my new camera and quite a few rolls of film. I was away for nine months on a fantastic journey, and I was thrilled to have a camera. It simply motivated me to turn around the next corner to see, if there was anything to take a picture of. The photos that came out of it weren’t anything special though.

Why did you become a photographer?

After my photography studies I was so hooked on photography and a need to express myself that I just continued on my photographic path, trying to find my own voice and how to express myself within the medium. After a couple of years – at a time, when I was running out of money – I was lucky enough to be offered a job teaching photography at the art school, in which I had been studying a few years prior to that.

I’m still teaching photography at the school, and even though my own photography has always been very important to me, I have never done anything to promote it, so I don’t think it would be proper to call myself a professional photographer.

What does photography mean to you?

Something meaningful and magic to occupy my time and mind with. A vent hole for my thoughts.

Which photographer has inspired you most?

I’ve been inspired by many photographers over the years, but my first big hero was Robert Frank – just like he has been to so many others before me.

He was the one, who inspired me to use photography to say something about myself rather than about the world around me. I was especially drawn to his later work (from 1972 onwards), where he has used his photographs to make collages, or he has painted on them or scratched them or added words or sentences to approach issues of a more personal matter.

Since then I have been inspired by William Eggleston, Stephen Shore, Edward Hopper, Robert Adams, Henry Wessel, Lewis Baltz, Ed Ruscha, Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand, Wolfgang Tillmans, Richard Prince, Daido Moriyama, vernacular photography – and the list goes on and on and on…

What’s your favorite photography quote?

I’m not good on photographic quotes. One quote I remember though is this one from Garry Winogrand:

“In the end, maybe the correct language would be how the fact of putting four edges around a collection of information or facts transforms it. A photograph is not what was photographed, it’s something else.”

For anyone interested in quotes by famous photographers, the website www.photoquotes.com is a good place to go.

How would you describe your photographic style?

I often take pictures when travelling to seek out unfamiliar territory. I’m interested in places and situations that correspond with my own mental landscapes. I’m looking for some kind of reverberation between myself and my surroundings. I try to use my intuition.

I prefer to match and juxtapose my photographs rather than to see them as individual pictures, whereby I often end up considering some photographs almost inseparable.

So far I have not made any series that I consider as definite. I think of them more as sketch books; a way of seeing, how things work together.

What’s important in order to develop an own photographic language?

“To my taste a photo should be suggesting a mystery rather than providing a solution.”

Vision and endurance. Don’t be afraid to copy your heroes, but at some point you need to break away from them. Listen to what others have to say about your work. Some advice leads to a blind alley for you; some advice will help you to better fulfill your vision. The difficulty is to find out, which advice leads where. Study other photographers. Be active – not just taking photographs, but also thinking about photographs. Allow yourself to feel uninspired. Allow yourself to fail. Sometimes new knowledge and understanding of photography will lead to a temporary creative crisis. Be frustrated, but have fun nevertheless.

What do you consider to be the axis of your work?

The soft focus of my Diana camera blurs the outlines of the motif and creates a generalizing effect rather than a specified statement.

Even if no definite story is to be read from the pictures, I still strive to create the sensation of a narrative flow of people, landscapes and objects suggesting a mysterious “Terra Incognita”, closer to the mind than to reality – an imitation of the irrational structures of dreams and memories.

My pictures are at times lonely and restless, at times quiet and melancholic, at times warm and nostalgic – they do not, however, provide the viewer with any answers (they may even defy interpretation), rather do they suggest, I hope, that the world can be perceived as an incomprehensible mystery.

What qualities does a good photographer need?

Vision and a driving force. And an understanding of photography as language and form of communication.

What does a photo need to be a great photo in your eyes?

To my taste a photo should be suggesting a mystery rather than providing a solution. But perhaps that’s even too simple, because in the end it really depends on the context in which the photograph is seen. Some photos may seem dull and uninspired at their own but placed in the right context, they suddenly become spot on. In fact, it’s a complex question, difficult to answer.

Where do you draw inspiration from for your photographic projects?

Photography books, blogs and websites, my students and my colleague, exhibitions – but perhaps even more from everyday life, from reading, from keeping up to date with the world I’m living in, from thinking about photography.

What kind of photography equipment and photographic supplies do you use?

For the last 15 years I’ve mainly been using a Diana Camera. However, I also like instant cameras (Polaroid and Fuji). I’ve always preferred analogue cameras, but I’m lucky enough to have access to both black and white darkroom and color darkroom, which does of course make it much easier to stick to “the old way” of dealing with photography. I do not mind making use of digital photo editing though.

What’s your favorite website on photography?

Right now, some of my favorites are: www.jmcolberg.com/weblog, blakeandrews.blogspot.com, harveybenge.blogspot.com, www.dlkcollection.blogspot.com, www.americansuburbx.com and I often use www.thephotographypost.com to see, if any of the above sites and others have published any interesting posts recently.

And of course I should mention the blog on photography, which I write myself: www.fotografiskskole.wordpress.com (in Danish, but with many photographic links and videos).

What photography book would you recommend?

I’m a collector of photobooks, and I just love them! I think that I have almost 1000 books, but I realized the other day that I’m running out of space for them! I find it difficult to recommend one book in particular, rather would I suggest you to grab any photography book that you can get hold on and have look in it.

My own first treasure was the Robert Frank exhibition catalogue “Moving Out” from 1995 – I’ve spend many hours looking and reading in it.

If I had a lot of money, I think I would go for the two William Eggleston box sets from Steidl: “Chromes” and “Los Alamos Revisited” – for a start. But I don’t.

Which advice would you give someone who wants to become a professional photographer?

Are you really sure that’s what you want? You could probably make life easier for yourself, if you chose another profession. You could still have great fun with photography, while having a “normal” job.

If you are really determined, go for it! But remember to have fun. Working as a photographer can be (and probably is) quite stressful, but it should not be painful. It should excite you.

Jakob Thomsen - www.jakobthomsen.com
Jakob Thomsen – www.jakobthomsen.com

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