"The city resembles a jungle in principle"
A few months ago I featured photographer Thomas Birke, I grew more and more intrigued by this 27 year old photographer from Berlin, Germany, who is hauling his large format Sinar p2 8x10 through large metropolitan centers like Hong Kong, Tokyo and Paris, at night. So I contacted Thomas and asked him for an interview; he gracefully accepted my request.
Frans Peter
Thomas could you briefly tell me how you got involved in photography.
Thomas
On my ninth birthday I received a little point and shoot camera, and I have been snapping away ever since. At fourteen, I purchased my first SLR. Immediately, I was enamored with the craft and I loved viewing and talking about photography. When I was around twenty I began to share and discuss photography on the web. It was at this point that I became much more serious about it.
Frans Peter
Did you have any formal photography training?
Thomas
No. I studied Business Administration and Computer Science and work as a full-time IT Consultant. Everything I know about photography, I learned through experience and online. My favorite source for photography information has been the "Large Format Photography Forum" (1) I read countless numbers of posts and through practical application I found my personal photographic style. My one application for a photography school was for the Lette Verein in Berlin, but they rejected my portfolio.
Paris
Frans Peter
You call yourself an "urban photographer", how have you become so focused on big cities at night?
Thomas
I have lots of photographers that influenced me. And I thought a lot about what impressed me the most. I like staged editorial shoots like the ones of LaChapelle or the Nudes of Newton. I also love the point and shoot style of Terry Richardson. But what impressed me the most were always urban scenes.
One night I saw Fallen Angels by Wong Kar-Wai. The colour and complexity of the Hong Kong night scenes made an everlasting impression on me. As soon as I could manage it I was on a flight to Hong Kong to see it for myself. At this time I still ran around with a Medium Format Camera and the pictures I took were far from the stuff I like. Nevertheless, I have been totally impressed by Hong Kong and the level of density.
That a million storys were around you and so many people living close to each other. It is hard to describe that fascination, since it is an inner feeling, and most people even don't understand it. They see the grittiness and smell the stench and are disgusted. But not me, I am, by some mysterious way, enchanted. I wanted to tell people, but they didn't get it.
I saw images that conveyed the feelings I tried to talk about. So I concentrated more on the subject of megacities and photography and had two major encounters that defined my photography up to this date.
The first was an exhibition on urban development at the Tate Modern in London, where some Gursky works were exhibited - the quality totally blew me away. It were some of his older works, where he didn't manipulate the images digitally. The second was that I stumbled over the Neon Tigers book by Peter Bialobrzeski. This was it, the kind of photography that displayed the feeling I had in Hong Kong to the closest degree. I had the vision of pairing Gurskys quality with Bialobrzeskis vision and I knew that the outcome would be virtual windows that show what fascinates me. Images, printed on more than 4 square metres, that completely cover your field of view and give you the feeling of being there. So I read every bit and piece that would take me there. That lead me to large format and eventually to 8x10. I encountered countless problems, like traveling with so much gear, getting good scans and work digitally on Gigabyte files. Printing and framing the largest images in the best attainable quality.
But now, after five years of my Fallen Angels encounter, I have finally sorted out most issues except one thing.That being the financial side which kills me. I have been to Hong Kong and Tokyo now and these were sort of tests to see if my concept works. And after I have made some prints, I know it does. So now I have a hundred cities on my list that I want to cover. This will be my task for this decade and it needs all the focus I can attain. I tried wedding photography and editorial photography to make some money - but I found out that these were only distractions to my true quest, and so I am now 100% committed to urban large format photography.
Hong Kong
Frans Peter
Can you describe how you set up a shot? I assume you don't take a stroll with an 8x10.
Thomas
I usually scout the city I am shooting in advance using Google Earth, Google Maps, and flickr intensively. On Google Earth there is a feature that allows you to see the height of any location. So you can spot hills that might provide good views and get a basic feeling for the city's structural height. There is also an application, that blends in the sun data, i.e. where it rises and where it sets. On Google Maps there is street view, which allows you to see if buildings might block a view or what you can expect generally. On flickr I search for panorama shots from famous locations. For most cities, some high-resolution images are available. Then I scan the shots to get a feeling where the interesting parts of a city are. And where other good viewpoints might be located. I make a list of potential locations.
When I am finally in the city, I visit these locations during daytime and stroll around, try some framing with a small point and shoot and check lots of bridges, fire escapes and hills.
Only when I am actually there I get a feeling if the location is interesting. I can then make a decision if it is a good sunrise or sunset location. In the evening or early morning I return to the selected locations with my equipment, set it up, take 2-4 exposures and that's about it. I have been in Tokyo for 3 weeks for example, and managed to get about 67 sheets of film.
Frans Peter
Do you see your photography as Urban Landscapes? The reason I ask is that I hardly see people in your overwhelming "Blade Runner" surroundings.
Thomas
Yes you can certainly call it Urban Landscapes. The absence of people is due to the technique of course. During twilight I usually have exposure times around 4 minutes - no one stands still for that long. Though there are some interesting exceptions, like old men standing on the street and debating for hours or somebody standing near a window making a telephone call. So occasionally individuals will appear visible among the swirls of moving people and cars. Regarding the landscape aspect, I made a fascinating discovery in Tokyo: The city resembles a jungle in principle. There is the shrub layer, consisting of millions of 1-3 story buildings, then there is the canopy comprised of 4-12 story buildings and the emergent layer, towering high above the rest, represented by skyscrapers. The millions of air conditions and antennas on the rooftops mimic leaves and branches.
Everything is interconnected through a liana meshwork, consisting of roads, railway tracks, stairs, pedestrian overpasses, elevators and escalators.
This way to compare the city to nature is furthermore nurtured by the fact, that there seems to be no order or master plan. Every kind of architectural style and period is represented and all stages of weathering can be found.
Frans Peter
I have this feeling by looking at your work that you love Asia. How do you compare, photography wise, Asia and the western world.
Thomas
Asian mega cities are much more dense. Hong Kong for example has fewer inhabitants than London or Paris, but it still has 10 times the density. You don't see it in statistics, because they have lots of green hills between the high-rise residential areas, but photography wise this is much more interesting for me. The images look more spectacular; you can find so many interesting things on one sheet of film.
In Europe, everything is ordered and everything has its space. In Asia, buildings merge and synergize each other. Another aspect is safety and acceptance.
In Asia I have never been harassed by security guards or police, thousands of people walked by during some shots and all just took a quick look, smiled and moved on. In London I once took 4 images and got stopped by security twice. In Berlin or Paris I could hardly do a shot without anybody asking suspicious questions.
Tokio
Frans Peter
Can you tell us what cameras, lenses and film you use?
Thomas
I use a Sinar p2 8x10 and own three Schneider Lenses - 5.6/150mm, 5.6/300mm and 12/800mm, with Slide film (lot of Kodak e100g recently) but only for the resolution. I like the contrast of print film much more, the added dynamic range is far better to digitally manipulate the images later. I will do a test run with the new Ektar - if the resolution is like promised, I will jump back to print film again.
Frans Peter
One last question: What do you see yourself doing in the future? Or is there one city which is a "must do" project.
Thomas
I see myself working full-time for my project. I intend to work my list of cities, starting in Asia. Later I want to move on to North America, then South America and finally Africa. I will fit the European photos in between.
This Year I hope to do Hong Kong, Shanghai and Bangkok. Everything is tied to the financial aspect though so to help finance the project I intend to sell my images as limited edition prints and I will have my online photography shop up and running shortly.
Frans Peter
Thank you Thomas for sharing your thoughts with me.
Thomas
Thanks for the interview! It was interesting to think about the questions and helped me reflect.
Thomas Birke
A lot more of his work on his website.
(1) http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum
photographs:
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Copyright ©Thomas Birke, All rights reserved. This photo is not to be used as free stock.
Use without written consent by the author (Thomas Birke) is illegal and punishable by law.
Frans Peter Verheyen is the THIAPS publisher
Edited by Lori Andrews
This is the second interview in a series about various photographic styles.
Copyright ©THIAPS 2010, All rights reserved.
A few months ago I featured photographer Thomas Birke, I grew more and more intrigued by this 27 year old photographer from Berlin, Germany, who is hauling his large format Sinar p2 8x10 through large metropolitan centers like Hong Kong, Tokyo and Paris, at night. So I contacted Thomas and asked him for an interview; he gracefully accepted my request.
Frans Peter
Thomas could you briefly tell me how you got involved in photography.
Thomas
On my ninth birthday I received a little point and shoot camera, and I have been snapping away ever since. At fourteen, I purchased my first SLR. Immediately, I was enamored with the craft and I loved viewing and talking about photography. When I was around twenty I began to share and discuss photography on the web. It was at this point that I became much more serious about it.
Frans Peter
Did you have any formal photography training?
Thomas
No. I studied Business Administration and Computer Science and work as a full-time IT Consultant. Everything I know about photography, I learned through experience and online. My favorite source for photography information has been the "Large Format Photography Forum" (1) I read countless numbers of posts and through practical application I found my personal photographic style. My one application for a photography school was for the Lette Verein in Berlin, but they rejected my portfolio.
Paris
Frans Peter
You call yourself an "urban photographer", how have you become so focused on big cities at night?
Thomas
I have lots of photographers that influenced me. And I thought a lot about what impressed me the most. I like staged editorial shoots like the ones of LaChapelle or the Nudes of Newton. I also love the point and shoot style of Terry Richardson. But what impressed me the most were always urban scenes.
One night I saw Fallen Angels by Wong Kar-Wai. The colour and complexity of the Hong Kong night scenes made an everlasting impression on me. As soon as I could manage it I was on a flight to Hong Kong to see it for myself. At this time I still ran around with a Medium Format Camera and the pictures I took were far from the stuff I like. Nevertheless, I have been totally impressed by Hong Kong and the level of density.
That a million storys were around you and so many people living close to each other. It is hard to describe that fascination, since it is an inner feeling, and most people even don't understand it. They see the grittiness and smell the stench and are disgusted. But not me, I am, by some mysterious way, enchanted. I wanted to tell people, but they didn't get it.
I saw images that conveyed the feelings I tried to talk about. So I concentrated more on the subject of megacities and photography and had two major encounters that defined my photography up to this date.
The first was an exhibition on urban development at the Tate Modern in London, where some Gursky works were exhibited - the quality totally blew me away. It were some of his older works, where he didn't manipulate the images digitally. The second was that I stumbled over the Neon Tigers book by Peter Bialobrzeski. This was it, the kind of photography that displayed the feeling I had in Hong Kong to the closest degree. I had the vision of pairing Gurskys quality with Bialobrzeskis vision and I knew that the outcome would be virtual windows that show what fascinates me. Images, printed on more than 4 square metres, that completely cover your field of view and give you the feeling of being there. So I read every bit and piece that would take me there. That lead me to large format and eventually to 8x10. I encountered countless problems, like traveling with so much gear, getting good scans and work digitally on Gigabyte files. Printing and framing the largest images in the best attainable quality.
But now, after five years of my Fallen Angels encounter, I have finally sorted out most issues except one thing.That being the financial side which kills me. I have been to Hong Kong and Tokyo now and these were sort of tests to see if my concept works. And after I have made some prints, I know it does. So now I have a hundred cities on my list that I want to cover. This will be my task for this decade and it needs all the focus I can attain. I tried wedding photography and editorial photography to make some money - but I found out that these were only distractions to my true quest, and so I am now 100% committed to urban large format photography.
Hong Kong
Frans Peter
Can you describe how you set up a shot? I assume you don't take a stroll with an 8x10.
Thomas
I usually scout the city I am shooting in advance using Google Earth, Google Maps, and flickr intensively. On Google Earth there is a feature that allows you to see the height of any location. So you can spot hills that might provide good views and get a basic feeling for the city's structural height. There is also an application, that blends in the sun data, i.e. where it rises and where it sets. On Google Maps there is street view, which allows you to see if buildings might block a view or what you can expect generally. On flickr I search for panorama shots from famous locations. For most cities, some high-resolution images are available. Then I scan the shots to get a feeling where the interesting parts of a city are. And where other good viewpoints might be located. I make a list of potential locations.
When I am finally in the city, I visit these locations during daytime and stroll around, try some framing with a small point and shoot and check lots of bridges, fire escapes and hills.
Only when I am actually there I get a feeling if the location is interesting. I can then make a decision if it is a good sunrise or sunset location. In the evening or early morning I return to the selected locations with my equipment, set it up, take 2-4 exposures and that's about it. I have been in Tokyo for 3 weeks for example, and managed to get about 67 sheets of film.
Frans Peter
Do you see your photography as Urban Landscapes? The reason I ask is that I hardly see people in your overwhelming "Blade Runner" surroundings.
Thomas
Yes you can certainly call it Urban Landscapes. The absence of people is due to the technique of course. During twilight I usually have exposure times around 4 minutes - no one stands still for that long. Though there are some interesting exceptions, like old men standing on the street and debating for hours or somebody standing near a window making a telephone call. So occasionally individuals will appear visible among the swirls of moving people and cars. Regarding the landscape aspect, I made a fascinating discovery in Tokyo: The city resembles a jungle in principle. There is the shrub layer, consisting of millions of 1-3 story buildings, then there is the canopy comprised of 4-12 story buildings and the emergent layer, towering high above the rest, represented by skyscrapers. The millions of air conditions and antennas on the rooftops mimic leaves and branches.
Everything is interconnected through a liana meshwork, consisting of roads, railway tracks, stairs, pedestrian overpasses, elevators and escalators.
This way to compare the city to nature is furthermore nurtured by the fact, that there seems to be no order or master plan. Every kind of architectural style and period is represented and all stages of weathering can be found.
Frans Peter
I have this feeling by looking at your work that you love Asia. How do you compare, photography wise, Asia and the western world.
Thomas
Asian mega cities are much more dense. Hong Kong for example has fewer inhabitants than London or Paris, but it still has 10 times the density. You don't see it in statistics, because they have lots of green hills between the high-rise residential areas, but photography wise this is much more interesting for me. The images look more spectacular; you can find so many interesting things on one sheet of film.
In Europe, everything is ordered and everything has its space. In Asia, buildings merge and synergize each other. Another aspect is safety and acceptance.
In Asia I have never been harassed by security guards or police, thousands of people walked by during some shots and all just took a quick look, smiled and moved on. In London I once took 4 images and got stopped by security twice. In Berlin or Paris I could hardly do a shot without anybody asking suspicious questions.
Tokio
Frans Peter
Can you tell us what cameras, lenses and film you use?
Thomas
I use a Sinar p2 8x10 and own three Schneider Lenses - 5.6/150mm, 5.6/300mm and 12/800mm, with Slide film (lot of Kodak e100g recently) but only for the resolution. I like the contrast of print film much more, the added dynamic range is far better to digitally manipulate the images later. I will do a test run with the new Ektar - if the resolution is like promised, I will jump back to print film again.
Frans Peter
One last question: What do you see yourself doing in the future? Or is there one city which is a "must do" project.
Thomas
I see myself working full-time for my project. I intend to work my list of cities, starting in Asia. Later I want to move on to North America, then South America and finally Africa. I will fit the European photos in between.
This Year I hope to do Hong Kong, Shanghai and Bangkok. Everything is tied to the financial aspect though so to help finance the project I intend to sell my images as limited edition prints and I will have my online photography shop up and running shortly.
Frans Peter
Thank you Thomas for sharing your thoughts with me.
Thomas
Thanks for the interview! It was interesting to think about the questions and helped me reflect.
Thomas Birke
A lot more of his work on his website.
(1) http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum
photographs:
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Copyright ©Thomas Birke, All rights reserved. This photo is not to be used as free stock.
Use without written consent by the author (Thomas Birke) is illegal and punishable by law.
Frans Peter Verheyen is the THIAPS publisher
Edited by Lori Andrews
This is the second interview in a series about various photographic styles.
Copyright ©THIAPS 2010, All rights reserved.
