Edited by Odeta Catana, Photo Editor
What can you say about yourself, in a few words?
My name is Marco Beck and I was born 1990 in Hamburg, Germany and I still live in Hamburg. After my graduation I traveled to Australia and Asia. I love nature, especially the ocean, wide spaces and forests so I had an amazing time, also to grow as a human being.I’m a self-taught photographer and started taking pictures in an artistic way when I was 22. I still use my first camera which is a Canon DSLR. I bought an old Pentax analogue camera also, because I love the tones and soft capturing of light.
How did you start taking pictures?
I thought about buying a camera for my upcoming journey to Australia and Asia. Just at that time a Good friend of me wanted to sell his old Canon DSLR, so I got it. From this moment I fell in love with it. I started with simple Landscape and travel shots, but after a while it was boring. I wanted to create a deeper feeling in my pictures and I decided to show the interaction of humans with nature or their surroundings.
Where does your inspiration comes from?
Some of my mates are photographers so we inspire each other. Especially one of them is a really talented one and I learned a lot from him. We share the same passion and learned a lot from each other. Flickr is also a great base for inspiration. When I joined Flickr, I came across work by Gina Vasquez, Kiara Rose, 13th Witness, SamAlive and Reuben Wu. There are so many great artists there and they definitely influenced my way of taking pictures in the past and for the future.
In a portrait, what is important for you?
In a portrait the most important thing for me is the mood and atmosphere. The challenge is to show the soul of a person through the expression and eyes. Sometimes I like to capture the moment in between two emotions where you can see the real character of the model.
What kind of relationship do you have with your subject when you shoot?
Generally I try to be part of the place and all the different aspects of it. Emotions are very important for my kind of photography so I try to see my surrounding in a very emotional point of view. When I’m shooting I get kind of lost. Its one of the things about photography I love the most. When I shoot people I try to speak about how I feel and which kind of feeling I want to capture with the shot we’re taking together.
Do you think it’s important to follow a school to learn how to shoot?
I don’t have any photography education. The main things in photography can’t be thought very well. For me creating an image is putting your heart out there and the pictures I take are influenced by what I’m feeling inside. Its all about raw emotions captured in a shot.
It might be helpful to visit such a school for learning how to use editing programs and it’s always great to meet new people who are sharing your passion for photography but I don’t think that it’s very important to do.
What’s the photo you want to take and you never did?
Actually there are a lot of different things I would like to do like raw street photography or simple fashion shots. But I’m most interested in Concept Fine Art Photography because you can channel emotions into concepts in a very beautiful way. This is definitely something for the future.
What’s your photo-mission?
Its important for me to grow as a photographer by leaving my comfort zone again and again. Creating images is almost like putting a piece of yourself and your heart into it and if your art is honest, people can connect with it. That’s something very special. Photography is more than just shooting your surroundings. I’m a newbie but I will keep going my way and its exciting to see what’s next.
