1. Can you please tell us a few words about yourself, where are you from.
Moin, my name is Jonas Albrecht. I work as a self employed photographer in Hamburg, Germany. I also work as an assistant teacher in a special school. My second passion is music! I play drums in several Bands and also organise concerts and parties.
2. What is your photography story, how did you start? How did you get where you are now?
It’s probably the most common story: I got a small digital camera from my parents on my 14th birthday. The first pictures I took were from friends, flowers and actually everything I was surrounded from. Over the last years I worked with a lot of different techniques and motives like old houses, landscapes, macro-photography and so on. Finally my focus is on portraits and documentation.
3. What’s your favourite gear to use (camera, lens, film) ?
Hmm this is a hard question! I guess most of my Pictures are taken with a Pentax ME and a 50mm. It’s one of the smallest SLRs that exist. But for most jobs and portraits I love to use her bigger sister, the Pentax 67. Currently with the 90/2.8. She is a heavy and large Cam and has one of the brightest and largest viewfinder you’ll find!
When I need a smaller setup, I love my Yashica mat 124 g. It’s a 6×6 TLR with a 80mm. It’s perfect for street photography. You just don’t get noticed when you look down through the viewfinder 😉 Through the crop factor, I have nearly the same view on all cameras.
4. What do you enjoy shooting the most? And Why?
I like to work with other artists and creative people. You can do more alternative stuff and maybe create something special. Also they often drink more beer 😀
5. How do you educate yourself to take better photos?
When I was younger I was a bit shy and not that confident in dealing with people.Photography was a bit like therapy for me, through that I learned a lot of communication skills and got more open with people. A few years ago I started to use analog film. This was great for my ability as a photographer. Through the limit of frames I learned a lot about my angle of view, overthinking more what I was doing.
I also love the realness in analog technique. You can’t choose from hundreds of photos. You have to focus on that small moments where you take the shot and trust more on your intuition. You have to be more emphatic and mindful about the picture you’ll take. That’s in my opinion also the most important thing in portrait photography. I always try to focus on that.
6. Have you ever doubted yourself? And what helped you to overcome that?
Haha yes, every time. But I think that healthy and every artist has that feeling sometimes. When I have those thoughts for me, when I hide other artists and works, I go back to myself and think about what I want to do.
7. What is the most rewarding part of being a photographer for you?
Photography is a drive that gets me out. It allows me to see different places and people, and create something that is there for a while. We all need a drive that keeps us alive;)
8. Among your works, which one is your favourite? Tell us the story behind it.
It’s my story about handcraft. I am working on this right now. It’s in the beginning but already my favorite! I take portraits of the people and workshops that still work in traditional and old fashioned to get a nostalgic view on handcrafts. I’ll hope that people understand that we have to go back sometimes and appreciate things that are done by hand. Don’t always float in a bubble of ones and zeros. That fits well along with my analog workflow. I’ll show the results on real prints, not on screens or Instagram to make that point clear.
9.What gives you inspiration?
This is top secret hahah. No, seriously I don’t know. But I am always delighted by minimalist black and white movies and photographs. As an example the film „Ida“ from Pawel Pawlikowski or „Roma“ from Alfonso Cuarón.
10. Exactly what it is you want to say with your photographs?
It depends on the project. In general I like imperfect and not polished things more. I want to create calmness and closeness in my photos and try to aim more into the quiet emotions. I like timelessness and don’t run after trends.
You can follow Jonas on instagram @zwischensequenzen and visit his website jonas-albrecht.de
