Looking for something special
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| Steven Kohlstock Photography by Klaus Lange |
Steven Kohlstock is a German photographer born in 1982 who started his creative career as an autodidact in Barcelona. After that initial experience, he studied photography at Lette-Verein and art history at Humboldt University, both in Berlin. Curiosity is probably the best word to describe his creative process. His photography focuses in portrait and fashion but as he says he is always looking for something special, that thing one cannot describe. His works have been published in some of the most important magazines in the world such as Vogue, ID Spain, Harper’s Bazaar Spain, Mixte Magazine, Vice Germany, Jpeople, Kaltblut Magazine, Focus, Wrap, Spex, Die Welt, Icon and Maenner Magazine. Some of his portraits are part of the group exhibition Corpus Delicti that explores how contemporary photographers perceive and stage the body, addressing issues such as intimacy, gender, and sexuality. This exhibition features works by Sonia Szóstak (1990, Poland), Simon Lohmeyer (1989, Germany) and Steven Kohlstock with the male gaze on the male body and it will be open until next 21st October at the Ballery Galerie in Berlin.
You started in photography in Barcelona, what could you tell us about that period?
Back then I felt a bit stuck in Berlin and I wasn’t very happy with studying communication. Something was missing. I bought myself a new camera and I took it with me on a trip to Barcelona. My friend Kitti was doing an Erasmus there and I stayed with her for three weeks. During my stay I fell in love with a catalan photographer who influenced me a lot in the beginning. We became a couple and I decided to leave Berlin behind and start a new life in Spain. In Barcelona everything was new and exciting for my eyes and I felt inspired all the time. A few months later he broke up with me and I felt very depressed. This is when I started to take lot’s of black&white street life pictures of the city with my analogue camera. Looking at those pictures today, I can tell that I was very melancholic. After a year living and working in Barcelona (for instance as a party photographer) I decided to go back to Berlin, coz I missed it and I wanted to apply for a photography school. That chapter was closed.
What did you attract to photography?
I was always very attracted to art. When I was little I was painting and drawing almost every day. My parents supported me a lot and gave me my first camera when I was 12 years. I took it with me everywhere. Going on a school trip without my camera seemed impossible. When I was traveling with my family I loved to take pictures of buildings, like churches or abondoned castles. Over the years I lost my passion in the idea of becoming a painter. Little by little photography was taking over.
You work a lot in fashion projects, what are the main differences between your more personal projects and the ones for the fashion world?
I don’t think that there are too many differences. I love fashion photography and I’m very passionate about it. Working with designers, stylists and choosing the right models for the right locations can be very magical. I think my personal works influence my work in the fashion field and vise versa. For instance, all pictures that I have produced for the Corpus delicti exhibition are of course very personal. Taking nude pictures of a person is always kind of intimate and the model needs to trust the photographer. The connection is very important. When I was thinking of ideas for the show I wanted to combine nudity and fashion. For every model I used different up and coming designers. And when you do it well, the right fashion makes nudity even more exciting.
You studied art history. What artists influenced you?
Helmut Newton influenced me a lot. I’ve always loved his work and the humor in his photographs. While I was studying I did an intern ship at the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin. I had the chance to work very closely with curator Dr.Matthias Harder during the preparation for the exhibition „World without men“. I loved to see all the details which are important to make a big show like this happen. I spent a lot of time in the archives handling Newton’s vintage prints and I even met his wife June shortly before the opening. This is when I realized I wanted the same for me :-)
But there are a lot of other artists which I admire. I love Albrecht Dürer and Botticelli. Dürer for his understanding of making himself a personality at a time in Germany when painters where considered to be craftsman. And Botticelli for his understanding of beauty which is so modern to me and hasn’t change much the last 500 years. His faces are just timeless.
You are presenting a collective exhibition under the title „Corpus delicti“. Our body is really a crime?
Our body is definitely not a crime. Nadine Dinter chose a very playful title for the show that actually explains the reception of nudity quite well. The naked body is the most normal thing in the world, but still it evokes so many contradictions. Talking about the fashion world, independent magazines are much more open nowadays and it is possible to show a penis in an editorial. That seems almost impossible for bigger fashion books. Sometimes I wonder why.
When we published a picture of our poster for the show on Facebook, it was immediately deleted from that page. Just because we showed a female breast. I’m amazed by that. So, you can see that the title was picked well.
Your work is focused on portraits, what do you look for in the portrayed?
I believe that a photographer should be able to photograph any person in an interesting way. But of course some people are standing out. The word photogenic exists for a reason. I always look for something special which is hard to describe. I just know when I really want to photograph a person. Ninety nine percent of the time I’m not disappointed.
What is your creative process, there is space for spontaneity?
Of course there is! I can only say that I always try to plan everything as best as I can, but you need to be open for last minute changes. For instance, when you realize that your favorite outfit looks like shit on the model or you realize that there is no harmony between two models and you do spontaneously two editorials out of one. You have to do what works best for the pictures otherwise it doesn’t make sense.
When do you feel that you are in front of a good photograph?
When suddenly all details in the picture are connecting and you see through the viewer of your camera that the the whole surface becomes a simbiosis.
What could you tell us about your future projects?
My biggest project for 2019 will be switching homes from Berlin to Paris. That is quite exciting. And there is project in South America waiting which I wanted to work on for years. And it looks like I finally make it happen. But I can’t tell more now.
Could you explain us a dream that you had while sleeping or a childhood memory?
I’d rather not try to explain my dreams, haha. But I can only say about my childhood that I’m very grateful to my parents. They always supported me and it never mattered how I changed my plans. I was a happy child.
CORPUS DELICTI
Works by Sonia Szóstak, Steven Kohlstock & Simon Lohmeyer
At The Ballery Galerie, Berlin
20/9-21/10, 2018
A selection here
An interview by Juan Carlos Romero
Photography by Klaus Lange
Steven Kohlstock stevenkohlstock.com
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