EVERYTHING AROUND ME BECOMES REFERENCE - Finding inspiration everywhere
Photography doesn’t start when I pick up a camera. I think a lot of photographers collect references. I definitely do. But for me, they don’t only come from photography. They come from everywhere. A piece of clothing, a building. A colour combination. A chair, a movie, a shop window, a poster, a person walking down the street, a song. Sometimes I don’t even realize I’m collecting them. I just notice something and think: I like that.And somehow, I remember it.
01 – I have always been interested in design
Long before photography became what it is for me today, I was already fascinated by architecture and interiors. When I was sixteen, I worked in an architecture office. I think that stayed with me. The way colours work together. The way a room can feel calm or powerful. The relationship between materials, shapes and space. The idea that something can be beautiful without being loud. That probably had a bigger influence on my photography than I realized at the time. Even today, I think you can see a little bit of that in my pictures. The minimalism. The way I use space. The importance of things simply feeling right together.
02 – I don’t really follow fashion
Not in the sense that I want to become a fashion photographer. I probably won’t be shooting the next Vogue cover. And that’s fine. But I still love seeing what’s happening. Streetwear. Interesting cuts. A great jacket. A combination of colours I wouldn’t have thought of. Brands like Diesel, G-Star, Pepe Jeans and all those things that feel a little cooler, a little more effortless. I look at Pinterest. I look at magazines. Vogue. ELLE. GQ. Not because I want to copy them. Because I want to know what is happening. I want to stay curious.
03 – References don’t always look like references.
Sometimes I save an image on Pinterest. Sometimes I tear something out of a magazine. Sometimes I just see something once and somehow remember it years later. A certain light. A certain composition. A colour. A gesture. A room. A feeling. And then, much later, I’m photographing someone and suddenly I think: „Wait. I’ve seen something like this before“. Maybe I remember the shape of an image. Maybe the colour palette. Maybe just the feeling. And somehow it becomes part of the photograph I’m making now. Not copied. Transformed.
04 – Movies do this to me too.
I watch films for the story, obviously. But I also watch them with a photographic eye. The light. The framing, the colours. The way someone is positioned inside a room. How a scene feels before anyone even says anything. I also love documentaries, especially about photographers and artists. I want to know how they think. How they work. What they notice. What influences them. Because inspiration doesn’t have to come from someone who photographs exactly like you. Sometimes it’s more interesting when it doesn’t.
05 – Music is part of this too.
Music has always been important to me. It changes the way I feel. And feeling changes the way I see. A song can make a location feel completely different. It can create a mood before I’ve even taken a photograph. That’s probably why music and photography have always felt connected to me. Both are about emotion. Both can create an atmosphere without explaining exactly why. And both can stay with you long after the moment is gone.
06 – I don’t want to photograph my references.
I want to absorb them. That’s probably the difference. I don’t want to recreate someone else’s picture. I don’t want to become a copy of someone else’s style. I want to take everything that interests me and let it pass through my own filter. Architecture. Music. Streetwear. Cinema. Interior design. People. Light. Art. Life. And eventually, somewhere in the middle of all of that, my own visual language starts to appear.
07 – Everything around me becomes reference.
That’s why I don’t think photography begins with photography. It begins with curiosity. With looking. With being open. With noticing things that other people might walk past. And sometimes the best reference for your next photograph isn’t another photograph at all. It might be a building. A song. A jacket. A movie. A room. Or just a moment you saw on the street five minutes ago. You don’t always know what will become useful. So I try to keep looking. Keep collecting. Keep paying attention. Because eventually, without even realizing it,
