Small things big - Nature in focus
The winning picture of the month June shows something completely different! So far, many portraits were included in this year's selection for the campus calendar. The current image is also a kind of portrait, but it shows one of the smallest inhabitants of this earth. Johannes Kirchherr from Stuttgart has taken the fly into focus. What's behind the picture and why it's never too late to switch jobs, the POP graduate and photographer tells us in a short interview.
An unusual client
As a photographer, you get to see a wide variety of faces and personalities. One of Johannes' newest and most unusual "clients" is a small garden fly. The picture was taken as part of a homework assignment for Deutsche POP. The assignment was clear: create a portrait of a living creature. Johannes wanted to challenge himself and his art and chose a rather difficult and fidgety client. Of course, photographing the fly didn't work out right on the first try. From this experience, the photographer also took away an industry wisdom:
"Photography is always an exchange between photographer and subject. If one doesn't want to, it won't work for the other!"
He adds, "If you're in a funny mood or nervous about it, even the tiniest creatures seem to notice. A fly just doesn't do what YOU want it to do." For Johannes, this task was above all meditative. All that waiting makes you think intensely about yourself and your connection to nature: "In macro photography, you find real grounding and peace," says the POP graduate.
From cook to artist
Trained as a photo and media designer, Johannes left the POP about 3 months ago. Like many of our students, he only gave in to his creative passion quite late. Originally, Johannes is a trained chef and had already been working in this professional field for over 20 years. In such a stressful environment, burnout was unfortunately unstoppable at a certain point. But for the Stuttgart native, that very moment was a kind of sign, or positive turning point,
"because it was only then that I realized I actually wanted to dedicate my life to creativity."
He wanted to use the break to find and ground himself. Johannes promptly discovered photography for himself. The path was very clear from there; so the ex-cook fought for his retraining and put all his energy into photography. The radical career change has paid off for Johannes; he has turned his passion into a profession and couldn't be happier. "You should do what makes you happy at some point", he tells us. The newly trained photographer is even getting assignments for employee shoots, portraits and architectural photography.
Simple tip for beginners: Keep going!
"What has helped me well are photographer groups and sharing on different platforms in different industries. You have to position yourself as broadly as possible and accept any help you can get."
We congratulate Johannes on his winning image and wish him all the best on his new creative path!