Interview Perpetual Exhibition Influx Gallery
Sandra Sachsenhauser
1. What inspired you to become a photographer?
I was fascinated by photographs as a child and loved browsing through photo albums. As a teenager, I took a lot of photographs and used them to create mixed media collages.
I learned photography through self-study and workshops and it shaped me into a photo artist. I always liked working with photos as a basis and creating something new from them. The creative aspect is my focus.
My motto is: Passion for Photography- Capturing Reality- Inspiring Creativity
2. Your work often focuses on abstract architecture and fine art photography. What draws you to these subjects?
In architecture I see beauty, elegance, and pride. The different shapes, angles and colours are like a mirror of my soul.
However, capturing architecture with my camera is just the beginning of my artistic work – it’s like a painter needs a canvas and paints.
3. How do you approach capturing images of architecture and transforming them into abstract art?
My artistic work begins with the computer where my creativity and imagination is implemented.
To discover the beauty of a photograph, I ask myself: Is there a play of light and shadow in the subject I’m looking at? Or an interesting reflection in a building or water that needs to be highlighted?
Maybe I only use a small part from a building because I want to transform it into something new?
Another fascinating topic for me is the mirror effect. By mirroring the architecture, I create something new, 100% symmetry, a new world!
I started my surreal photography and use of multiple exposure in Dubai. The perfect place where I captured the rapid growth and creation of breath-taking skylines live with my camera over many years.
In this way I generated an almost inexhaustible pool of material, which I edited artistically according to my ideas.
4. Is there a specific message or mood you aim to convey through your work?
My desire and intention is to focus the viewer’s perspective to show the beauty and elegance that I see in a photograph.
Maybe I’ll inspire people to perceive their environment with open eyes.
5. What are some of the challenges you face when photographing architecture?
The most important thing is to find the perfect spot, for example to photograph a skyline. Often the perfect angle can be found on a busy street, or from a higher floor in a nearby building. Sometimes you need a bit of luck to get access to the perfect vantage point.
6. Can you tell us about a time when you had to think creatively to capture a particular shot?
I particularly needed creative thinking when learning multiple exposures. At the beginning it was exciting to find the right motifs for the 2 to 3x exposures.
7. How do you select the locations and subjects for your photos?
In the 12 years I lived in Dubai, I was able to watch entire districts, skylines and fascinating buildings being created by great architects. This gave me endless opportunities to take photos.
Now I focus more often on individual buildings with interesting architecture in different cities.
8. Do you have any tips for aspiring photographers looking to capture abstract art from architecture?
It is important to master basic photography and editing techniques. You don’t need the latest and most expensive photo equipment and there are a variety of great options when it comes to photo editing programs.
A focus of architectural photography is to pay attention to straight lines and angles in buildings.
Reflections, the play of light and shadow, different perspectives are important to get interesting photos.
It is important to find your own style that sets you apart from other photographers.
9. Can you share with us your favourite project or photograph that you have worked on?
This is very difficult because I really like a lot of my photo art work. Two photography projects have found a special place in my heart.
The first image is called ‚EXIT‘ and shows an Emirati man walking around the corner of a building, who I caught just in time for the perfect moment as his back almost disappeared. With high humidity, bright sunshine and 35 degrees Celsius. The transformation into a black and white image with very little light fascinated me.
The second picture is called ‚THE WAVE‘. It shows the Meydan Bridge in Dubai with the Burj Khalifa in the background. This picture was also taken by me in midsummer when it was over 40 degrees.
I like the momentum and dynamism that this bridge exudes.
10. What are some of your future aspirations in the field of photography?
There are so many fascinating buildings by great architects that I haven’t photographed yet. Interesting cities with their skylines are also on my ‘to do’ list. It’s also always exciting to try out new image editing techniques and expand your own style.