Φωτογράφος Ruud Claessen

—Έχετε φωτογένεια;

—No! I much rather be behind a camera.

—Πώς ξεκίνησες να ασχολείσαι με τη φωτογραφία;

—In 2008, I was already doing amateur photography for a couple of year. To do something different for a change, I asked my uncle if I could photograph his wedding. It was his second marriage, they were not asking for a photographer, so there was little risk. I ended up liking it so much, that I decided to do it more.

—Ποια είναι τα πιο σημαντικά στοιχεία μιας καλής φωτογραφίας κατά τη γνώμη σας;

—Above all, the photo has to have a certain impact. Wether that's an intense emotion, a good vibe, or just a spectaculair visual impact. After that comes the technical part. So a good lighting, composition, etcetera. But for me, the impact is the most important part, by far.

—Αγαπάτε τα ταξίδια;

—Yes, but with moderation though. I'd love to do 3-5 destination weddings a year. I don't think I'd enjoy doing 10, 15 or even more.

—Τι σας αρέσει περισσότερο στο επάγγελμά σας;

—It sounds like a horrible cliché, but it's true: Every wedding is different. You never really know what's going to happen. Surprises can happen at every moment. Besides that, I think it's a great honor to be asked to create lifelong memories for the people that are getting married. 5, 10, 25 or even 50 years after they get married, people still remember who took their wedding photos. It's pretty wonderful that you can be an important part in people's lives.

—Τι σας αρέσει λιγότερο στο επάγγελμά σας;

—Basically: The postprocessing. I have a horrible concentration when it comes to editing. I love editing my 50-75 favorites from a wedding, but after that, it gets hard for me to keep focused.

—Ποιο θα είναι το μέλλον της φωτογραφίας;

—I think the future of wedding photography will be a further evolution of the direction it's going in right now. More journalistic stuff, more moments. But besides that: technical advances. Faster camera's, better low light capabilities, and other accessories like drones, light field cameras, and stuff like that, giving photographers even more tools to being creative.

—Τι το ιδιαίτερο υπάρχει στο φωτογραφικό είδος στο οποίο εξειδικεύεσαι;

—I love many aspects of it. I love the fact that people are in a good mood, they take the time to look good as well. People get married in beautiful venues, and you as a photographer gets to be a part of so many people's special day. That's amazing.

—Πώς αντιμετωπίζετε την κριτική;

—I try to extract what people really mean with their comments. Some people have difficulties in finding the right words to give feedback, sometimes making them sound rude. But I always try to figure out what's the real message there.

—Υπάρχουν τάσεις στη φωτογραφία;

—All the time. But me personally, I try to not let trend be the main thing in my photography. Trends are a nice touch, but I want my photography to be timeless.

—Με ποια κριτήρια θα πρέπει ένας πελάτης να επιλέγει φωτογράφο;

—1) Do you like the photographer's work? 2) Do you like the photographer? Simple as that.

—Ποια πράγματα δεν επιτρέπονται σε καμία περίπτωση κατά τη φωτογράφηση;

—'Allowed' is a big word. I'm not the one to say what's allowed or not. However, I don't like to unnecessarily intervene in a wedding. With the exception of the posed shots, I don't like having to tell people what to do, where to stand or how to look.

—Ποιες λεπτομέρειες που συνήθως περνούν απαρατήρητες μπορεί να παρατηρήσει ένας φωτογράφος;

—A good wedding photographer can see beauty in many things, and has a better eye for good light, and good compositions. And also: a photographer is aware of what's going on and can respond quickly when something happens.

—Τι επηρεάζει την αξία της φωτογραφίας; Ποια στοιχεία;

—Not only is beauty in the eye of the beholder, but the same thing is true for value. A photograph that might not seem like much to a photographer or ti someone who wasn't there, can be the couple's favorite for many reasons. Never make assumptions.

—Ποιο πρόσωπο αποτελεί το σύμβολο του 21ου αιώνα κατά τη γνώμη σας;

—I can't look into the future. Sorry ;-)

—Ποιον θέλετε να φωτογραφήσετε;

—Kind, fun and creative people that I have a great chemistry with.

—Έχετε επαγγελματικά ταμπού;

—Not really. Except for stuff that's prohibited by law, off course.

—Με ποιους σας αρέσει να τραβάτε φωτογραφίες;

—Too many to mention.

—Τι σας ανησυχεί και γιατί;

—Sometimes I worry about the future. What will happen if I don't get any more bookings? But I think that every professional thinks that way every now and then. On the other side, it helps me improve and stay on my toes.

—Ποια ήταν η πιο εντυπωσιακή στιγμή στη ζωή σας;

—I can't name just a single one. There are thousands of great moments that are impressive in their own ways.

—Ποιος είναι ο ορισμός της επιτυχίας; Πώς μετριέται η επιτυχία;

—Success to me is finding a perfect balance by doing what you love, making a good living out of it, but also having time to live. Because even though I just love shooting weddings, I wouldn't want to shoot 60 weddings a year and have no personal time left.

—Είναι προτιμότερο να είστε αρεστός ή να σας σέβονται;

—Liked by my clients, respected by my colleagues.

—Ποιο είναι το μεγαλύτερο σφάλμα που έχετε κάνει ποτέ στη δουλειά σας;

—Not that many, luckily! I once accidentally switched from RAW to TIFF during a wedding. That was a pain in the ass. It cost me a lot more work to process the images, but the clients were happy.

—Όταν πρόκειται να ταξιδέψετε, τι παίρνετε μαζί σας και γιατί;

—A small but versatile camera kit. Definitely some analog cameras. And off course, the traveling essentials.

—Σε σχέση με τον εξοπλισμό που σας ανήκει, υπάρχει κάτι που εύχεστε να μην το είχατε αγοράσει. Γιατί;

—Nope.

—Πώς εκπαιδεύετε τον εαυτό σας για να μάθει να παίρνει καλύτερες φωτογραφίες;

—I do mentoring with photographers who are amazing in the aspects of photography that are my weakest points.

—Ποιανού δουλειά σας έχει επηρεάσει περισσότερο ως φωτογράφο;

—I've never been inspired by certain photographers. I like to look at individual photographs, and analyse what I like about them.

—Τι εύχεστε να γνωρίζατε όταν ξεκινήσατε να τραβάτε φωτογραφίες;

—I never thought that photography can be this exhausting! But in a good way.

—Τι θέλετε να πείτε με τις φωτογραφίες σας;

—When looking at my photographs, I want people to feel what they felt when the moment was actually happening.

—Τι σας παρακινεί να συνεχίσετε να τραβάτε φωτογραφίες;

—Getting great feedback from customers, and seeing myself grow and becoming a better photographer.

—Οι γονείς σας θα έπρεπε να είναι περισσότερο ή λιγότερο αυστηροί;

—They have been perfect.

—Εάν μπορούσατε να πάτε πίσω στο χρόνο, τι θα κάνετε διαφορετικά;

—I would push myself more and especially sooner. It took about 5 years before I started taking myself and my photography really serious. But since I started doing that, I have improved so very much. I wish I'd done that sooner.

—Τι πιστεύετε για τη ζωή σε άλλους πλανήτες;

—Nah. There's tons of places for me to explore on this one.

—Ποιοι είναι οι ήρωες σας;

—Everybody who believes in something, in themselves, and work hard to achieve that.

—Για ποιον δεν έχετε καθόλου σεβασμό;

—People who are arrogant, and bring other people down.

—Τι κάνετε στον ελεύθερο χρόνο σας;

—Cooking, eating, movies, riding my oldtimer bike, and some an occasional cigar.

—Ποια πλευρά του εαυτού σας δεν βλέπει ποτέ το κοινό;

—I think a lot of people see me as 'the funny guy'. However, I do have a very serious side. I'm a very contemplative person, and I can be fascinated by almost anything.

—Πότε είστε τελείως ικανοποιημένος με τη δουλειά σας;

—When one of my own photographs really moves me. When I think: Wow, did I capture that? When it makes me feel proud that I've created these images.

—Πιστεύετε στους παραδοσιακούς ρόλους για τους άνδρες και τις γυναίκες;

—Absolutely not.

—Κάνετε εύκολα φίλους;

—Quite easily. Although sometimes, at first I stay in the background a bit more. I like to evaluate people before I connect to them.

—Που θα θέλατε να ζήσετε;

—Tough question. I've always enjoyed living in the Netherlands, but lately, this feeling of joy has diminished quite a bit. Not because of the horrible weather, but mainly because of the political climate, the discontent of society, the tension. There's a lot going on, a lot of frustrations among a lot of people, causing the general atmosphere to be a lot less relaxed, in my opinion.

—Ποιο είναι το πιο ανόητο πράγμα που έχετε δεχτεί ποτέ να κάνετε;

—In photography...or... ;-)

—Υπάρχει ζωή μετά το γάμο;

—Certainly. When it's a good marriage, it enriches your life a lot. A bad marriage can bring you down by an equal amount though.

—Έχετε ένα αγαπημένο ανέκδοτο; Πείτε το μας.

—I can't. It's too gross.

—Συμπαθείτε τα σκυλιά ή τις γάτες;

—I own both. Although I've always considered myself as more of a dog person, I can thoroughly enjoy the relaxed but also stubborn attitude of cats. They have a mind of their own, which I can relate to.

—Ποιον ή τι μισείτε;

—I hate it when people aren't real. Off course, everybody has skeletons in their closet. But too many people pretend to be something their not. Relating to that: I also really dislike how much we're being lied to. In advertising, in politics, in a lot of things. There's very little sincerity and authenticity left.

—Το καλύτερο πράγμα στη ζωή είναι:

—Love, good company, good food, sex and friendship.

—Το πιο ενοχλητικό πράγμα στη ζωή είναι:

—Having to type VERY long interviews. Sorry, had to do it ;-)

—Υπάρχει κάτι γύρω σας που θα θέλατε να αλλάξετε;

—Yes, quite a few things. But that doesn't mean that I'm not happy!

—Τι θα θέλατε να αλλάξετε στον εαυτό σας;

—I'd like to be more patient, and to be able to focus better.

—Τι θα θέλατε να αλλάξετε στον κόσμο;

—Total cliché, but peace. There's too much anger, aggression and frustration. Terrorism, war, mass shootings. Things that are making the world ill. I wish that the world would chill a bit more.

—Μπορείτε να δώσετε μερικές συμβουλές για τους φωτογράφους που ξεκινάνε να φωτογραφίζουν;

—Be confident, but don't want too much too fast. Take your time to educate and train yourself. Being a good photographer is hard. You don't become one in a year, but that's a trend I'm seeing. People doing a couple of workshops and styled shoots, and calling themselves a professional wedding photographer after that. Workshops and photoshoots are absolutely nothing like shooting a real wedding. So take the time to develop the skills that are needed for doing that.

—Εάν έρθουν εξωγήινοι στη γη και είστε ο πρώτο άνθρωπος που συναντήσουν, τι θα τους πείτε;

—I'd love to tell them about planet Earth. And I'd love to hear where they're coming from, and also how they got here.

—Εάν σας ζητήσουν να γυρίσετε μια ταινία, τι είδους ταινία θα είναι;

—Probably something artsy, even though I hate that term. I love movies like The Grand Budapest Hotel.

—Αύριο θα πάω και θα κάνω...

—shoot a wedding!