Your Full Name
Niklås Krauthaeuser
Tell us about you
when i had to buy a cheap digital cam for school i started with photography in 2004. after a short time i was working for suicidegirls.com and other alt-porn sites. after i finished school, i started to work in an advertising agency as art director, but the digital work bored me after a while so i saved money for a analogue medium format cam.
if i have a look at my way as photographer i can say that i came from total manipulation and composing and reduced the digital work more and more. i´m sure that i will continue the reduction of the post production in the future even more.
In your opinion, what would be the secret ingredients to become a great photographer?
if, a “great photographer” means, to be financial successful you need contacts, quality and to do something what isn´t provided so much on the market. if “a great photographer” means being a great photographer it is necessary to have ideals, ideas and to be very critic with the own work and never stop learning. what can i tell about great photographers? i just started some years ago and i still have to learn a lot.
Where are you located?
i´m living in Cologne/Germany but i´m dreaming of getting outta here (hopefully for Stockholm).
What is the most fascinating part of being a photographer?
people want to meet you all the time, especially girls.
Where do you get inspirations from?
everything can be an inspiration if you are interested. i´m interested in relationship conflicts, moralic conflicts, sexual conflicts and people in general. every strong emotion is a potential inspiration. i use my fears and joys, my doubts and experience of relationships often as key in my work. it doesn’t matter if you feel bliss or devastated, the stronger the feeling is the easier you can transport it into a picture.
Do you promote/ sell/ showcase your work? If so, how?
actually i´m really addicted to facebook. there is no easier way to spread your work. if i take a single picture of a person, his whole friends will see my works. if someone “like” or comments my work, all of his friends will see the gallery additional. basically this is working like a snowball effect. i´m planning some exhibitions with friend photographers.
If you have a long range goals in your life. What is it?
as mentioned above, i wish to proceed to do less and less post production, so i probably could do once pictures that are ready when the film is developed. apart from this technically fact i wish to be able to pay models for their work so i could realize more complex works i´m planning already for ages.
What types of assignment/ project are you attracted the most? Why so?
i like to work as a director: i think about concepts, draw storyboards, write lil screenplays, think about the light, the clothes.. like that. i would like to have more time to do this work properly and. i think there are just a few photographer working like that, even though i think that’s the highest kind of photography.
Who is a photographer that you look up to? Why so?
actually there are not a lot. its hard to impress me with photography, because the majority is just trying to sell something i don’t want to buy. model shots, advertising shots, celebrity shots .. whatever.
in my opinion there are just a few photographers who do work what includes, ideas, quality and style:
erwin olaf: because of his big commercial success erwin olaf is able to order everything he needs for his pictures. for every setting, he builds the whole room, instead of making a location research. even though he is working like an advertising photographer i absolutely love his detailed, emotional stories in one picture.
gregory crewdson: like erwin olaf, crewdson is also doing a giant effort to make his pictures look like a movie. compared with olaf he is working more outside and he looks very “American” for my European eye. i also like the intense of his “stories” and the detailed quality.
aaron hawks: actually aaron hawks is one of the first hasselblad photographer i discovered. i like his pervert works, everything is distorted like in a lynch movie. strange rooms, strange costumes, strange models and perfect light. he is into fetish, but he found a way to not look light dusty 80ies lack and leather shit.
alexander bergstöm, nan goldin, llyod hughes are great photographers as well.
Describe a difficult work/ project situation and how would you overcome it?
all of my projects are difficulty, because i have not a lot of time (next to my work), i don’t have the money to pay models (so i need to convince people for my ideas) and actually the research for a location isn´t often successfully. the only thing i can do is being very patient and never lose my targets. the biggest burden are people who wan to help and support and one day before or, even the same day they jump off. this people destroy all my work and effort.
What do you think about the Internet and how it is affecting our lifestyle?
since i´ve got internet i wont miss it. but i´m not sure if it had a big influence on my lifestyle. i show stuff to lots of people and give comments on every shit, but that’s not different in real life. internet is pretty good for porn and online gaming.
If you could turn back time, how would you do things differently?
hm. i would start earlier with analogue photography. and probably buy a lot of polaroid and roll films in advance.
How do you keep your work fresh? Do you need to consciously adapt your style or does it progress naturally?
i´m pretty critic with my work, so i proof to keep on progressing all the time. in fact nothing is scaring me more than not progressing anymore one day.
Name 3 of your favorite (art) books/ magazines.
erwin olaf – aparture
taschen – the new erotic photography
maurice sendak -where the wild things are
What is your life motto?
i dont have a life motto what remains long enough to mention.. i´m still young!
In what kind of a work environment do you do your best work?
a shared good dinner with a red wine a joint and a interesting person.
What do you like the sound of? Why so?
the “flap” of my hasselblad mirror. unique sound!
If you have online portfolio, what is the URL?
my website is a never ending construction. but on deviantart i´m already since 2004:
kalifbanane.deviantart.com
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