Nexus sat down with our resident photo guru, Sven, to chat shit about his process and how photography became his passion. From him describing himself as a vibrant dark green to his inability to pick a career path, this Raglan local is one to watch and keep in your line of sight.
N: What was one of the first photos you remember taking?
S: Oh, the inside of my parents house. Specifically their dining room table. I’d just ripped the camera out of the box, and I was so excited. It wasn’t anything fantastic or groundbreaking, but it’s basically all I can remember off the top of my head.
N: You’re from Raglan, have you always lived there? What was it like?
S: Yeah I’ve lived there my entire life. Definitely enjoy the creative scene, and how small it is. I was sorta like the coolest guy in school. Sure, there were more ‘popular people’, but I wasn’t really in that sort of circle? But I realised after that being cool isn’t really being cool at all.
It’s one of those situations where everyone thought they were cool before they knew what being cool meant. Raglan is good at helping you find that niche.
N: Where do you see your photography going in the next five years?
S: That’s actually a really difficult question to answer. I’m kind of studying design next year, up in Massey, so my routine is changing a little bit. But I do think I’ll still be doing the same sort of stuff, like taking photos of buildings, places, people, or really anything that makes me happy.
But honestly I’m going to be heading to Massey next year to study design, so I’m not sure where I’ll end up.
N: What would you consider some of your inspirations?
S: I’ve been asked this question before and I always kind of trip over it. It’s hard to think of specific things, like I can never just say “Oh yeah, this inspires me”. It’s more of a creative release and desire to just take photos. Sometimes I’m just like “I need it, I need to go out and take photos”, and when that happens, I just fulfil that desire or need.
But in terms of subject matter and general image composition, I don’t know. I feel like I see the world a little differently sometimes. You kind of just have the compositions jump out at you, and you’re just there like “Right, I gotta capture that somehow”.
N: You mentioned going to study design, what’s made you decide on that?
S: Well I was actually studying Electrical Engineering for like a year and a half. I actually got really really depressed. So I just said to myself, “There’s not enough creative release in this, currently” right?
I love making stuff and I like engineering things. This all comes from my passion for creating things but there just wasn’t enough creativity going on in electrical engineering to keep me from staying on the right track mentally. At this point in my life mind you, I’m still very much passionate about it and if the time comes when I need to grind out four years of hardcore mathematics, and learn the fundamentals, I will do that.
N: So if you were asked to describe yourself as colour, what are you vibing with?
S: Ooh a colour? I guess it definitely varies based on mood. Cliche, I know. It could be anywhere from a beige to a green. This may sound kind of strange but I like to think of it like a vibrant dark green, if that makes any sense at all.
N: Do you have a favourite photo or a favourite piece of art you have created?
S: Yeah, I do. And there’s actually a really good story behind it.
I was with my dad and we were practising for my drivers licence out in the wops, somewhere out in Te Awamutu. We were driving like 80Km and the weather was crappy. It was raining and just generally miserable.
I had my camera out, just kinda looking about, and there were these power poles as we were coming up to an intersection. It had me thinking “Man, we’re going to come up to these and they’re going to line up”. I could just visualise it, so I stuck my camera out the car window, pushing myself out and timing it perfectly. Then…
Boom!
Alright I got it. Chucked it into, I think, Gimp? Something like Gimp at the time, and made it black and white. There was a fair bit of fog that day. It’s not really clear but it’s a good vibe. Yeah I think it’s thought provoking. I definitely have a few images that I like, but I don’t really say that to people so I don’t seem cocky.
