Interview with Martijn Jebbink

This week’s Interview with Martijn Jebbink, a very talented Photographer. I have known him for quite a while actually and I had the pleasure of watching his photography evolve over the years.

You can find him on Instagram as: @martijnjebbink_photography

His website: martijnjebbink.com

Enjoy the amazing Interview ;)

Can you tell us a bit about yourself ?

Hi everyone. I am Martijn, a Dutch street-, landscape and architecture photographer. Since 3 years I live in Rome with my family.

I grew up in a small town in the Netherlands, surrounded by an impressive forest. In that environment I developed my way of looking at the world. At first, I didn’t see my own place in it, it just seemed odd to me. I couldn’t connect. However, as I grew older, I developed a keen eye for composition, both in social settings and the natural world, and found my own path.

I enjoy creating photos that evoke questions or a sense of mystery — fragments of a little story, with ample space for your imagination. As you'll see on my website and Instagram, I have a fondness for skies filled with clouds, and for some reason, birds often appear in my photos, seemingly out of nowhere. Of course, there are people too, not as the centerpieces of the universe (I don’t believe we are) but as silhouettes, immersed in a larger context.

How did you get into photography?

Well, first I should answer the question when I started to really look and to use my senses. In a tough period in my early life, I learned that the world around me, filled with immense creativity, could give me strength and joy. The only thing I had to do, was to feel and see both the light and the darkness.

When I picked up my first camera a few years later, like so many of us I frantically started to document my surroundings, family and friends. However, it was only 5 years ago when I realized photography offered so much more than documentation. I started experimenting with different types of cameras and lenses. Lately my photography has become more and more personal, because (on a good day) I am not recording just a scene with a piece of technology, but trying to communicate with you and others.

How do you approach storytelling through your photos?

Photos can tell stories on different levels at the same time, I think. Visible stories about the people or things captured, like a couch drifting by in the Tiber river, or two people arguing on the street. If we capture these things, and I do that often, it’s more about documenting than about telling stories if you ask me.

To me it becomes more interesting if there is a second layer, with a hidden story in the photo too, about something that may or may not have happened before the moment the shot was taken, or a future action you imagine when looking at the shot. As a photographer I am always trying to sense these hidden stories too.

And then there is a third level I think, when you can feel a certain photo also tells you something about the photographer. The fact that you can imagine her or his thoughts and feelings, but can never be sure, makes it all the more interesting.

How do you define street photography in your own terms?

For me, an important starting point for street photography is that, now that everyone has a camera in their pocket, a photo should have a sense of urgency. So when I am walking the streets I keep asking myself ‘what story wants to be told here?’ And second, street photography in my opinion is quite intrusive (I really recommend reading what Susan Sontag has written on this), so I always try to look at bigger scenes, at context and composition, not just individuals. I think it would be a big waste when 50 years from now we look back on this period, to find only portraits with blurred backgrounds.

Black&White Photography or Color? And why?

That really depends, my preferences evolve as I change as a person. For quite some time, black and white has been my favorite for its power of undistracted storytelling. Colours can absorb much of our attention, so when I want to tell a straightforward story with not much more than light, scene and composition, I often leave the colours out. However, lately I am having a lot of fun with more abstract colour photography, using different types of cinematic filters. With colour photography, I have to work harder and to use my senses in a more intense way to feel which parts (and therefore colours) of a scene should be included, and which ones can be left out without losing the whole point.

How do you capture emotion in your photos?

That’s a very good question. And maybe using the language of words is not going to help me here. Because that’s one of the things you begin to realize when you look at photos, that the ‘why’ of a certain image that touches you is just very hard, if not impossible, to put into words. It’s all about feelings, and feelings are so very personal, dependent on who you are and how your life has evolved. I don’t really know on a cognitive level why I am taking certain photos, I just feel it’s what I do. But as I said earlier, magic happens, and emotions can move between me and you, through a photograph. If someone says they are touched by a photo you took, it’s very interesting to ask them what it is that moves them. Of course it’s never the exact same thing as what moved you, but I think that’s really beautiful too.

What gear do you use?

Oh, I am afraid this will be embarrassing.. because I use quite a few different types of gear. But okay, here we go: for most photos, I use my full frame mirrorless camera (a Sony Alpha 7R) with a 20-70mm lens and one or two prime lenses (especially 35 and 50mm). And recently I am using more pocketable cameras with fixed lenses too, I have 35 and 40mm types from Fuji and Ricoh, both with telelens converters (to reach 50 and 60mm).

What are your favourite subjects to shoot?

Well, I guess the Silhouettes are my personal favourites. The people in these photos may seem a bit lonely or isolated, but they are always on their way to arrive somewhere.

To me, there's immense strength in our fragility, trying to live our lives and to be happy in this crazy, beautiful world. In my artwork I like to show us humans in a bigger environment, overwhelming and protecting us at the same time.

Is there a type of photography or genre you haven’t explored yet but would like to?

In the future I would love to learn all about portrait photography, especially portraits of women. I think there is still a lot of photography being made – especially by men - that in my opinion does not do justice to the personality and identity of the women, and there seems to be a lot of typecasting. I think it’s about time for male photographers to enter the modern world.

What does photography mean to you?

Photography means the world to me! What shall I say, it’s a very very important part of my life, of my longing for meaning, of expressing myself, of connecting with other people, of enjoying the immense beauty of this world. I don’t think I will ever stop loving photography, reading about photography, looking at the work of others, creating new things and experimenting with photography myself.

How did you find your photography style?

Haha, I don’t believe in that idea of having a defined genre or style. Of course, when you look at my photos, there might be a certain kind of consistency visible – and others will probably see this much clearer than I do. But for me, it just doesn’t work like that. I go out, and I don’t have a clue about the types of photos I will come home with. I have tried sometimes to force myself in making a certain pre-determined type of shots, but they are usually very boring. So now I am basically just following up on what I feel. The Italians have a very beautiful word for this: ‘sentire’. It means ‘to feel’, but it also means ‘to hear’, ‘to listen’ or ‘to sense’. So yes, I am making very sentimental photos!

How important is lighting in photography?

Photography is (literally) drawing or writing with light, and to me the use of (natural) light has a direct link to the strength of a photo. If you change the exposure or ISO in your camera for example, you will immediately feel a big difference in the way you perceive a certain scene. As photographers I think we should for example not be afraid of creating negative space – and the use of light plays an important role in that. The process of balancing the shadows and highlights in my visual work gives me great pleasure, and I find much inspiration in the old masters in painting like Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Vermeer.

How important is composition?

For me personally, composition is a very big thing. I have learned over the years to always look for lines and compositions that really contribute to the scene. Today these aspects are always in my mind when taking photos, but more on an intuitive level (just like the cameras I use are now part of my unconscious mind). Taking wider shots can also help you with the composition, because you can change your ideas in the editing process (as long as your shot is not too tight or too unbalanced, of course). As you can see, I really like strong diagonal lines, so I need to take those into account when I am out on the street. Recently, I am using composition more loosely, to create more abstract images.

What are your thoughts on AI in photography?