Marina Richter, b. 1980 from Saarbrücken / Germany
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Perhaps I am "the German" from Susan Sontag's theory of taking pictures by traveling: "The method especially appeals to people handicapped by a ruthless work ethic – Germans, Japanese and Americans. Using a camera appeases the anxiety which the work driven feel about not working when they are on vacation and supposed to be having fun. They have something to do that is like a friendly imitation of work: they can take pictures." P.S.: my travels are microcosmic.
Tell us a little about where you live. How does your town/city/country affect your photography?
I want to leave this town. It is the town of my studies and of a big love. Both are over for years. It was a town of hope and fall. By now it is exhausted and I am glad about planning the move. It is an arrangement in waiting. My photos are very composed cuttings and something after reality. I am interested in how near an extract can be it´s reality. It´s not about the real pain or despair or luck, it is more about a gap. For me my photos are abstractedly and imperfect ever. I would be interested in what the viewer receives from this shapes. My photos are a reaction to this town. By now It´s like the view of a stranger. I can´t look away yet and I am not able to look there deeper anymore.
What did you have for breakfast this morning?
First a well tasting coffee with milk and sugar and then an activating black coffee. 6 min egg with paprika powder, salami, buttered bread.
Did you study, or are you studying, photography? If not, how did you learn?
My education touched it. I actually studied graphic design. I know a darkroom and the smell of fixer and stop bath. I was always afraid in the darkroom. I searched for somebody who could come along with me. Now I am learning by doing it myself and without any pressure or curriculum or foreign principles.
What are five things you can’t live without?
Ignoring bills, writing, americansuburbx.com, quotations, warmth.
I ask back: In the past, could not everyone be a photographer? I don´t think that the rising of digital photography is the date of the access of the mass into photography. Analog photo does not mean real complication, or? The jump into the practicable photography for everyone was much earlier than at the point, where digital P. became standard. There are people, who are interested in technology with the focus on future and progress and improvement. And these people work with the complexity of things and invest a lot of time in it. And there are people who are looking into the past and are interested in past inventions. I try not to lose in technical things. Photography is so much and a photographer can define himself on so many things. My rather questions are: what is a photographer. What has a photographer to achieve and how long and how intensive. Who is a photographer and who is a picture maker and who is an artist and what means what? Even before digital photography was affordable for everyone.
Describe your average day.
Wonderful.
What was the last movie you saw in the theatre?
The last film I have already forgotten. But the last impressing film I've seen was a documentary film about the women who have translated the books of Fyodor Dostoyevsky into German. Her name was Swetlana Geier. (Title: ,The Woman with the 5 Elephants’)
If every photograph should contain one key element, what would it be in your opinion?
I don´t know ... maybe geometry.
If you could go anywhere in the world to take photographs where would you go?
Marseille.
To get little tetra packs and "duplo" (a chocolate bar) from grandma, because older people were allowed to visit west Berlin... and we loved the stickers.
Who, or what, is your biggest influence?
My hurdles, blockades and fears.
What are your other hobbies besides photography?
Thinking, searching, writing, talking and discussing, sleeping, literature of Betty Friedan, Hannah Arendt, Brigitte Reimann, Siri Hustvedt, Simone de Beauvoir.
Do you think that the Internet is a legitimate place to showcase your work?
Yes. The internet is an important channel to transport my work. Actually, in design I show only finished work. In photography it is different. Processing and publishing follow each other instantly. On the one hand the internet can speed up my decisions and on the other hand it can interrupt my work. Decisions are made faster with the awareness of an audience. I am not really afraid of the internet. You can make mistakes there like in real life and you can handle these like in real life. For me it´s a careful approach to a viewer. But it also can be very irritating what people like and prefer in one's work. The internet can be very seductive and involving. Sometimes I feel a pressing demand. Flickr is a place where you get response and a consistent support which really can help. It can be a gently way to get attention. I admire the people who taking care of each other and following others work. And I also admire the people who transport others work and use their channels to announce and finding new or old work in a time-consuming area like the net. At the beginning of my Flickr activities I was fascinated by the self-confident young women, who seem to shoot without rules but even in aware of something. Sometimes the internet is an open door and other times the internet is a thick and overloaded place, where only the same artists began to grow.
Do you always have preconceived concepts of what you want to shoot?
No. I don´t work with a concept and that is quiet untypical for me. To develop an own method and way of working is my need. The photography is out off concept intentionally. So it´s very incomplete yet. I am really excited about getting attention. Most work on my photos until now is selecting or combine. I am working like a sculptor, who carves a figure out of an undefined stone.
Keep warm all the time. Keep my creativity free from money and limiting influences. A self defence course because of my early in the morning job. Enough candles. Visit my best friend after a too long break. Read english books to improve my awful English.
What advice would you give to your fellow up-and-coming photographers?
"You've achieved success in your field when you don't know whether what you're doing is work or play". Warren Beatty
Our last interviewee, Vicki King, wants to know: If the mood of your work were to be encapsulated by a song or piece of music, what would it be?
That`s an interesting question. There is no song. My pictures are silent.
Last but not least, what would you like to ask the next interviewee?
Do you feel supported by your non artist friends and family?
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Thanks for sharing with us, Marina!
For more of Marina`s work:
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