You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.
Epicurus
It's 03:33 as I write this. Thursday morning. I've sat for a few hours with my mother, trying to help her relax and stay calm as her dementia is progressing.
Adversity isn't fun while it happens. 9 out 10 times you won't ask for it and few people see how it helps you grow as a person.
There is a quote which comes to mind now: Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one
I don't enjoy adversity. I suspect few people do. We want a quiet and relaxed life with hiccups limited to a bare minimum. We want hiccups because we stole sugar (a saying from my mother tongue).
Growing occurs after adversity. After pain. It's darkest before the dawn. Metaphors to show us to keep moving.
Perhaps this is too much pop philosophy for Sunday afternoon but I know it will help someone. Because I feel better here where I'm sitting at 03:44 on a Thursday morning listening to the refrigerator humming.
If you enjoy my ramblings and would like to support me you can have a look at my Paystack page.
Interview with Tobias Hartmann
I found Tobias’s work on X and from there connected to his Instagram platform. The first thing which pulled me to connect with him was the amazing street photography. From there I learned he also enjoys moody landscape photos which to me are just as amazing.
And now onto the meat and potatoes…
Hello Tobias, thank you very much for agreeing to the interview. Can you give us a bit of information on yourself and tell us how did you get started with photography?
Thanks for the Opportunity.
I am a very emotional person and trust my intuition a lot. I am now 42 years old and have a 5-year-old son, who is of course a big part of my life. I am interested in psychology, art and love coffee. I feel most comfortable when I read books, hike, climb or drift through cities and, above all, take photos. Photographically, I am at home in street photography, but I also really enjoy landscape and portrait photography. Anyone who knows my pictures sees little daylight and if so, then only in combination with fog. This is because my everyday life is very loud. I have a lot to do with people and have spent most of my life in Frankfurt, a big, loud and hectic city.
That's why I've always been drawn to the night; it's quieter, the air is fresher, the city is quieter, and it's the same with the foggy days. Both make the world smaller and make it more bearable for me. Maybe I'm a little oversensitive, but that's what makes me more attentive. Nevertheless, I always like to be out with close friends and rarely alone. I really value the exchange with like-minded people and that enriches me immensely.
I certainly had my first contact with photography in my early childhood, as both my father and my grandparents were artistically active and, among other things, with photography. However, I only really became aware of the medium during my training as a designer. Here at school we had a whole photo laboratory, a photo studio and a very good teacher.
The result was your own photo book, from the first picture to the self-bound book. An experience that remains in my memory to this day and still inspires me. In the phase of my life after my training, I had nothing to do with photography for a long time, until I found my old camera in the basement in 2017 and was curious to see whether it was still something for me.
On your X (formerly Twitter) page you write about how much you enjoy Fuji-X cameras. In your opinion, what makes them a good camera to take photos with?
Because of my job, I spend a lot of time at the computer and back then I was pretty good at design programs and also Photoshop with image editing.When I started photography again in 2017, I had to get used to it again, but I quickly realized that I didn't enjoy photo editing that much; I'd rather be outside and take photos.So I started building my portrait sets in a way that required little post-processing and then I found the Fuji XT-4 and learned more about the built-in film simulations and settings.
That was sensational.I spent a lot of time learning more about it and experimenting until I found, or rather nailed, the settings that got me extremely close to the end result I wanted.I was even able to shoot directly to jpg without having to use the computer.Perfect for me because I could put the focus where I wanted it, namely when taking photos.
I've been a fan of Fuji cameras ever since.They also have the advantage of being ideal for hiking.Weather and water protected, not too heavy and not too expensive and still professional equipment.The Fuji cameras also have this super nice aesthetic that is reminiscent of analog cameras, which makes taking photos even more fun.
Your photos are a mix of street photography, portraits and landscape photos. To me they have a beautiful and quiet quality about them - each one tells a story. Do you have a favourite genre and how did you discover your style of photography?
I'm a bit undecided whether to say street or landscape photography, but I think it's landscape photography. I just love hiking and combined with photography it always feels like a great adventure to me, especially when the weather is good. Hiking in the Alps or in the forest gives me even more than exploring the city. Maybe it's also because I'm in the city more often, because hiking tours always require a little more preparation and follow-up.
My style was quite an ordeal that contained a lot. You can find it very difficult to find a style, like I did. For a long time I didn't really know where photography would take me, I tried out a lot, incorporated too many influences, in particular I didn't use social media to my advantage and didn't pay enough attention to my own taste. I actually had to hit the brakes first. I had become so far removed from myself that taking photos really hurt. I had to take more and longer breaks. Then I deleted my Instagram account and started to reposition myself about 4 years ago, after a long break. Here I also found myself with the help of photographer friends and some coaching. Twitter and NFTs also came into my life during this time and I found the community and people on Twitter that I had always been looking for. People who have more to do with art and artistic photography.
So I was able to take a new, much nicer path. A path on which I learned what I actually like, what I want myself and then gradually learned which techniques I can use to achieve it. This allowed me to seek more targeted inspiration and listen less to the flood of images on social media. That's a bit of a short version. I think it has also helped me tremendously that I have learned more and more about myself over the last few years. I have become more concerned with psychology and emotions again and this is of course reflected in my photography.
This is really great photography - it has all the elements: perfect lighting, great composition. Can you tell us more about this image: where you took it and also what type of emotion this images brings out for you?
Thank you for the really great feedback.
The picture describes me and my photography very well.Before this picture, I had a really busy week and an even busier day.The evening the picture was taken, I had so much frustration inside me, so many negative emotions, actually so much of everything that I didn't want to leave.But I have great friends who motivated me to go out and take photos that evening.
I do expressive photography, i.e. photography in which I can express myself.It was the first photo I took that evening and my intuition kept me in that place because the transition from complete darkness to a bright subway station seemed so descriptive of my own emotions that evening.But there was one person missing, not a specific one, just some random silhouette that would allow me to integrate into the scene.
Waiting is an essential part of street photography, so I waited for a person to step into the spotlight in just the right place.I really wanted the light from the sign lighting to spread over the person, and to enhance the lighting of the train station I used a street lamp to create a glow effect and more brightness on the left.Once this picture was in the box, my negative feelings disappeared.
The time of waiting, the anticipation of this scene, the fresh air and my friends, all of this turned many negative feelings into something very beautiful.This picture is one of many that reminds me again and again that negative emotions are not permanent and that you can always turn them into positive ones yourself.For me it's like taking a deep breath.
What are your thoughts on NFTs and how do you think they will shape the future of photography?
NFT is exciting. First and foremost, I saw this as an opportunity to meet like-minded people and monetize my art. It has to be said that the print market in Germany is not very developed. Selling images digitally is therefore a very welcome new development. Why the whole thing only worked in conjunction with crypto is a mystery to me.
I've been there for about 3 years now and I have to say that it's very special and that it's actually more about marketing, groups, FOMO and hype than about the art itself. But well, it's understandable, collectors ideally want not only sophisticated art, but also value. In the meantime, however, it has become clear that nothing really new has emerged here, the rules are still the same, only that the supply is much larger and the demand is even smaller, or let's say the demand is more specific.
In the future, NFT could really create a lot of positive innovations, but I think it will take a very, very long time, considering that in Germany, for example, many people have not yet understood the Internet. There is also the hurdle of cryptocurrencies, which limits NFT even further. In the time I've been making NFTs, I've paid more money to have my NFT taxes done correctly than I've earned from NFTs. It's all just way too complicated.
It doesn't help if the scene celebrates itself or creates new ideas. If the regulators continue to be stubborn and don't take proper care of it, NFT will remain a marginal phenomenon and never reach the mass market. And since the authorities have already noticed that they have missed the big years, they are of course primarily trying to get as much money out of the scene as possible.
You notice that and of course it slows down progress. But NFT can still exist and evolve and I hope so too. The scene is exciting, the ideas are very good and in an increasingly digital world, the tokenization of art, for example to license it, is a path that has a lot of potential. In addition, every art scene has its peculiarities. Seeing NFT as one of these art scenes gives the whole thing a very special charm.
My final question before I will let you get back to photography : ) - if someone is starting with photography today what is something you would tell them to focus on and think about when they take photos?
That's a very good point.Nowadays, once you get interested in photography, you are flooded with camera models, lenses, lighting, AI-powered light meters, and so on.There is so much on this technical side that many feel overwhelmed at first and then give in to technology and waste the first few years trying to find the ideal equipment. But ideal for what? Very few people have an answer to this question.
A tip that I would like to give is to ignore all the technology and buy a cheap used camera or an all-round camera first.The most important thing is to find yourself, learn mindfulness, learn to see.Develop your own taste, find out what you enjoy.Go out and take lots of photos until you get the first photo where you see yourself.From there, development can begin.
However, you shouldn't compare yourself to the pictures on social media, but rather continue to improve yourself.At some point you might know which camera you really need and so you can improve little by little and improve your own taste with precise inspiration.Among other things, conversations with other photographers are very inspiring and help a lot with your own development.It's also a good idea to find a mentor to help you be more mindful.
Check out
In this weekly section I browse the internet (mainly YouTube) and look for interesting videos to share with the readers.
Video
Deep dive with Ali Abdaal
At the time of writing this I haven’t had a chance to watch the video but it is on my to-do list. This channel is his second one and focuses more on longer form interviews. I’ve watched the video where he spoke to Sheehan Quirke and it is definitely worth watching if you have an hour or two to spare.
This video is about building community online which I think is something popular on Substack at the moment and imporant for anyone trying to break away from social media and the follower trap.
Substack
Neil Milton
I found Neil’s newsletter after searching for photography newsletters. The article about the state of street photography in 2023 was a really great take on things.
Connect
I know social media can suck up a lot of time which is why I limit myself when using these (or I try to). If you are on Instagram please share your profile in the comments, I like seeing photos from all over the world and connecting with photographers.
Thanks for reading :)