Februar, marec 2011 - Adria Airways

But when you photograph food, don’t you use artificial light?
Yes, I do all the food in the studio, because that means I can control
the form, colour and so on. Only then does the food come out perfectly.
All the same, I do the lighting very intuitively. I’m familiar with the
technical side and, as I’ve said, I really know how to use it. You can see,
over there in the corner there are three new technical books that I need
to read. But when I work, I work very simply. Always under the principle
of “one sun”. The point is, it needs to come from one side, and you have
to sense that, end of story – no matter what you are doing and how you
are working. The sun is the ideal light. And the best thing is if it is shining
through minutely soft clouds, so there is not so much contrast. But
that is it, the best light. If you look towards the sun and you have the
right things “animated” in front of you, it’s truly magical. For me, without
a counter-light it is simply not a good photograph.
What menu do you stick to when you’re not dining in some fancy restaurant
in the company of world-famous chefs?
My wife Jana and I eat very ascetically. I am mainly a vegetarian. But
in restaurants, too, it’s not that simple. A lot depends on what kind
of food it is. For instance Heinz Beck, who has five Michelin stars and
is one of the top ten chefs in the world, cooks by the principle “Smart
gourmets live longer”. He is very careful about what food to offer guests,
what goes together and what happens to it in the stomach. The first
thing he asks a guest is whether they are allergic to anything, and then
he adapts his menu to that. How many restaurants do you know where
they ask you that to begin with? Well, whatever, right now I’m working
with Beck on a book about being a smart gourmet.
We talked twice on the phone, and both times you used the word “disgustabile”
for the latest technology, first when you were talking about
digital cameras, and then about computers. Why do you “scorn” technology?
I’ll tell you why. With Photoshop and similar programmes, you can
be really superficial and you can falsify a lot of things, so most people
think that, for instance, the colours are truly that vivid and strong,
but that’s actually not the case. You have to master the technical side. I
have the very top technical equipment: top camera, top lights, top everything!
And I’m also familiar with the technology. I did my own montages
before we even had computers. What good is the best typewriter,
if a person doesn’t know how to write?
It seems that you don’t work much with natural light, but more in the
studio.
Oh no, I use natural light a lot. When I work for myself, always.
You have taken all the photographs on the covers of Adria In-Flight Magazine.
Do you also read it?
I’ve worked for the Adria magazine since its first issue. Until recently,
I myself didn’t know that I took every single cover photo. You know,
sometimes it was hard in such a short time to find an idea for a photograph
that would match the current theme of the magazine. There have
only been a few photographs that instantly satisfied me. I strive to make
the photograph always something special. I’m very careful not to repeat
ideas. And of course I read the Adria magazine regularly. Quite slowly,
though, since I always have a lot of books in my satchel (laughs). I read
books everywhere. Even in the car. I read, and Jana drives. If nothing
else, I learn from the technical books. I would prefer not to read technical
things, but of course I have to, there’s no choice. I read a lot of books
in one sitting. I’m currently inspired by The Art of Simplicity by Dominique
Loreau, who has lived for many years in Japan. The book begins
with a short haiku: “In my room there is nothing. So I have everything.”
That’s the first sentence in the book. She wrote that so well! And back
at one time when I thought I was going to have a career designing furniture,
I said that a person will never know what’s hidden at the back
of his shelves or cupboards, if they are 60 centimetres deep. All those
things that you can’t actually see in a room, you’ll never miss, so you
can throw them away.
A
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