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| Category: | Professional Interviewed |
The work of Mattias Klum - Photographer Mattias Klum talks to ePHOTOzine about working for National Geographic and saving the planet.
Posted: 9th April 2009
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Jargon Buster: OffMattias Klum first picked up a camera in his teens and since 1986 he's worked as a full-time freelance photographer. He loves natural history and cultural subjects and his work has graced the cover of National Geographic on many occasions. Here's why he likes photography so much and why he wants to persuade people to take action.
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| Photo by Mattias Klum. |
How did you learn photography? Was it something you picked-up and enjoyed straight away?
"I'm autodidact, always trying to, in my own way, visualise things that I care about in a personal way. It was something I "enjoyed and picked up" as a young teenager."
Can you describe your style? Is it something you consciously do or something you have just grown to have?
"I really can't, because I have pretty much developed my own style, since the mid-90s."
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| Photo by Mattias Klum. |
Do you go out with the intention to snap a few nice images or do you produce images to tell a story?
"Both. If I'm walking with my dog, and I bring a camera I just might shoot standalones, therapeutical images. But if I'm on assignment or on a project, the overall story is a backbone structure, I try to fill it with personal images."
You have many projects you're working on. Why do you do this? Do you feel your photography can make a difference?
"These are a number of project that we are working on parallel, some of them are introduced and initiated by us, others are pitched from magazines, companies and NGOs etc. We do believe that a powerful set of images, a film, and some honest and knowledgeable and relevant content can in fact change things for the better. I want to inspire people to act!"
Why are you focusing on the Baltic sea?
"In a sense it's "my backyard". It's a vulnerable sea, but at the same time a tremendously beautiful and unique sea. With increasing industrial pressure, overfishing, toxic contamination, we need to inform people about the status of things. What kind of sea do we want our children to inherit?
Do you think photographers could be causing some of the problems we have? (too many people visiting the same locations etc.)
"I do think we have, regardless of what we do in life. We need to make smart choices and this goes for photographers too, so for example when producing an article for National Geographic Magazine with a very large readership we will never be too precise for this very reason."
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| Photo by Mattias Klum. |
Do you do post-production work or is it all or mostly done in camera?
"Only in camera."
Do you think you have reached the 'top of your game' or do you still feel you have things you can improve?
"I improve every day, and I hope I do until I die!"
How do you decide what to take a picture of? Do you work for clients who tell you what to do or do you have creative freedom?
"I am completely free."
Where has your work taken you? And who have you worked for?
"To more than 80 countries, some of the most amazing places on the planet, and some of the most destroyed too. Most of the major magazines and institutions in the world such as National Geographic Magazine, National Geographic television, Smithsonian Institution, the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, GEO, Audubon, Stern, der Spiegel etc."
What equipment can you not be without?
"My leather man and obviously my cameras and relevant lenses."
Tell us about your current exhibition?
"Featuring photographs from the National Geographic cover story, “Malaysia’s Secret Realm” and the November 2008 article “Borneo’s Moment of Truth”, this exhibition documents the rampant destruction that has already claimed 75 percent of Borneo's lowland rain forest and now threatens its native Orangutans and pygmy elephants, as well as the reclusive, forest-dwelling Penan tribe. Through a combination of deforestation, the loss of biological diversity and an accelerated rate of global warming, the natural history and people of these forests have been pushed to the brink. The loss of Borneo's rainforests could be one of the major ecological disasters in our lifetime. I hope that these images act as a call for all of us to examine the roles we play, often unknowingly, in the demise of one of nature's last Edens.
Being there is a retrospective about a photographer in mid-life. This exhibition showcases some of the highlights from my work over the years, and allows me to share some of the remarkable things that I have experienced including getting very close to some of the world's most fascinating, people, places and species."
Being there is a retrospective about a photographer in mid-life. This exhibition showcases some of the highlights from my work over the years, and allows me to share some of the remarkable things that I have experienced including getting very close to some of the world's most fascinating, people, places and species."
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| Photo by Mattias Klum. | Photo by Mattias Klum. |
Any final tips/words?
"Yes, try to concentrate/focus on things that matter to you personally. If you can totally concentrate on the image or the story and really have this sensation of flow, grade images will come to you as a reward."
Visit Mattias Klum's website for more details.
Visit Mattias Klum's website for more details.
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| Photo by Mattias Klum. |
Exhibition location:
National Geographic Store
83-97 Regent Street
London W1B 4EW
Tel: 020 7025 6960
www.nglondonstore.co.uk
83-97 Regent Street
London W1B 4EW
Tel: 020 7025 6960
www.nglondonstore.co.uk
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