As a photographer, I have very little experience. I started in 2024 and have been shooting with a Canon EOS R50 ever since. I began with the 18-45 mm kit lens before moving on to the 18-155 mm. Like all beginners, for many months I sought formal perfection: sharpness, focus, depth of field. My early results were sometimes decent and sometimes embarrassing. I also considered buying a better camera and some better lenses.
Then one day I discovered Olga Karlovac, Eva Polak, Roxanne Bouché Overton and all the other photographers who consciously choose not to offer a realistic representation. It was an epiphany: photography doesn’t have to be perfect; on the contrary, it is often precisely imperfection – deliberate blurring, ICM, grain – that stirs emotions and evokes atmospheres. So I realised that the saying “The best gear is the one you already own” is really true. I no longer need a better camera or better lenses. For what I like to do, my little R50 is more than enough. Now I seek out and use deliberately imperfect or faulty lenses: an old, scratched Soviet lens with an 85 mm equivalent focal length, a recycled Retropia lens, even a pinhole camera. I also apply DIY filters made from recycled materials. And, of course, I make hard adjustments in post-production.
I’ve now turned my attention to black and white and dramatic mood. I don’t have a favourite genre: I travel light and always carry my R50 with me with a prime pancake lens or a light zoom lens, so I photograph whatever inspires and moves me, depending on the light and subject. Above all, I look for contrast. When I used to shoot in colour, I placed great emphasis on colour contrast. Now that I’ve switched to black and white, I prefer low-key for shots and post-production.
Among my favourite photographers are Daido Moriyama and, more generally, the Japanese ‘Provoke’ movement, Michael Kenna, Yasuhiro Ogawa, Alan Schaller, Luke Tayama, and, of course, Olga Karlovac.