Day 2 of SnappedAway In-Depth Series with Aso Mohammadi. We talk about how he got into photography, his inspirations and obsessions.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and your photography style to our readers?
My name is Aso Mohammadi. I’m 25 years old and I live in Switzerland but I’m originally from Kurdistan. I started to study art in 2008. My work is super colourful, I do a lot of still life and also sometimes people.
How did you get interested in photography? And why did you pick photography as a medium and a form of expression. Why is it right for you?
I started to take pictures when I was 15 years old and my father bought me a video camera for my first trip to Kurdistan, I wanted to save everything I could see. At this time my father was working in a TV station in Lausanne. I was getting more and more interested in the visual, at the age of 17 I started art school. After 8 years I’m still excited like on the first day.
How did you learn how to shoot? And what did you find the most helpful source of information along this way (classes, tutorials, reading manuals, having a mentor)?
To be honest it is very easy. You just need to shoot and shoot and shoot again, of course attending art school can help but most of the time at school you are not free to do what you want. The solution for me is just to take pictures of everything even if the pictures are wrong its how I learn.
How about your photography style? Can you describe your journey to where you are right now?
I think I have 2 sides, one which is super colourful and the other which is a lot darker, as seen for example in my series FOLON.
Do you remember your first most inspiring photographer/ photobook/ exhibition in your life? And how about other photography masters? How do they inspire you and how do they influence your photography style?
I remember the first time I was in a photography museum I was maybe 11 or 12, it was a documentary work, I don’t really remember what kind of pictures exactly. I really like Rinko Kawauchi, her work is just amazing for me, I always travel in my mind when I watch her photographs.
How do you work? Are you after a specific project or a single frame? Do you come with idea first or the idea finds you when you are shooting? How do you find your project ideas?
How I work is very simple. I just need some colour paper to make a fake studio on a wall (most of the time in my room), then I just shoot between 5 and 10 pictures, it doesn’t matter for me if all is right or not at the begging. To finish the picture I continue on my computer. I don’t stop after I shoot the image, my computer work is an essential part of the process. Most of the time I work with only one idea. I keep pictures on my computer and browse through them some days or months after and then I sometimes find a good point of view and I start to work in Photoshop.
What is your favourite or memorable project/ photo you have worked on. Why? And also what are the two projects you would like to share with us.
It was probably in 2012 in my hood, me and a friend Nicolas Caviedes have built a studio in the street and for one week we’ve shot people around us and gave them the pictures for free. It was very interesting to see all this different people coming from around the world and sometimes with they traditional clothing. I would love to show you « FOLON » I’ve started this series when I was 15 years old during my first trip to my country in Kurdistan. I started with a video camera and it is still not finished after 10 years. And « cloth of wood », pictures of people wearing traditional clothes. I’ve started it with my family but I want to continue this project with some other clothing from other countries.
What do you personally find challenging as a photographer?
Maybe it is more than a challenge for me ! It is really a therapy, I need to watch photographs every day and to touch my camera and just shoot. It is like a drug right now for me.
Do you have your favourite lens? Why this specific one? Favourite camera?
No absolutely not, I can use a phone camera, a digital one or an analogue. The camera or the lens I use are not so important. I just need a black box and a hole for the light, that’s enough. My series Folon is the perfect example, I’ve used a lot of different cameras and lenses to mix all the pictures together.
What is one piece of advice you would like to offer a person starting as a photographer.
Shoot a lot! The more you practice, the better is your eyes after to know what is ok and what is not, personally it’s how I work I just shoot and shoot again.
Check our previous blog entry with an introduction to Aso Mohammadi’s work and stay with us for more of Aso’s photography.
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