“I do believe that photographs can tell stories.”
Name: Andreas Oetker-Kast
Hometown: Kiel, northern Germany
Style of photography: probably best described as documentary style
Type of cameras: Leica M9, Bronica RF 645
Website: www.andreasok.com
What gives you inspiration?
Life. I can draw inspiration from stories I read, hear, see, people I meet, events I go to, work I see, songs I hear. I find it in the place I live in and other places I have lived in previously or that I just visit – yet there’s no need to always travel to far distant and exotic locations. Inspiration can knock on your hometown door when you least expect it. Basically, life is inspiration in itself – you just have to be open to the stories it will tell you.
What are your influences?
Photographers like Walker Evans, William Eggleston, Stephen Shore, Alec Soth, but also painters like Edward Hopper or musicians like Neil Young.
Why did you choose these photos?
The photographs I chose are from my book “auf der suche nach / looking for / wonderland”, which I self-published as a book/DVD combination earlier this year under my own imprint bt:st verlag. It is part of a long term project about the concept of “home” as an emotional place – and is a personal account of the experience of America. So the photographs chosen somewhat represent the atmosphere I feel whenever I travel in that country, which has over time become a second home for me.
What does photography mean to you?
I do believe that photographs can tell stories. Maybe in a more abstract, not so classical introduction-main part-climax-conclusion kind of way. Especially when you put two or more together, they start a relationship, they influence each other, they communicate. That’s what I love about photography. It’s my tool to tell stories about something that is important to me, that inspires me, moves me. Whatever the inspiration does to me, what I “talk” about definitely has become a part of me and photography is my preferred way of expressing this. But I also just love the act of photographing – looking, seeing, deciding, in the end the sound of the shutter, everything.
