FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHER LUC KORDAS ON DOCUMENTING LIFE, PHOTOGRPAHY AND LONELINESS

In this interview, New York based fine art photographer Luc Kordas TALKED about his portraits and street photography. We also spoke about the power of photography, documentation, his travels, and the theme of loneliness and how it influences his personal work

What’s the best thing about the raw nature of street and reportage work?

That the images present life as it is, I'm not sure I would go as far as to say they portray the truth, but - compared to all the other genres of photography - they come pretty close. I also like the independence, the fact that I don't need a team, I can grab a camera, go and shoot whenever I want.

Do you feel like you have some sense of responsibility to document something whenever you set out to photograph?

As a documentary photographer for sure. Not as a street photographer though. When I go out in the streets I am more into finding beautiful, striking images, but I don't have any agenda. Obviously - whether I want it or not - I am also documenting New York's life, but that's not my main goal. When I moved to Coney Island for 3 years to photograph this peculiar place, I didn't think of documenting its life per se (although, again, in the process I surely did and those images 20 years from now will be a great insight into how Coney looked in late 10's of XXI c). I just thought it's an interesting place to be and to photograph.

Whenever you set out to shoot, how’s your process like? Do you usually have an idea or a general direction of what you want to capture on a specific day or you usually go with the flow?

I almost always go with the flow, I allow myself to be guided by light and instinct.

When you're photographing, do you see a reflection of yourself or is it more of a reflection of your subjects or something else?

There's definitely a reflection of myself in my photography. It's subconscious but I've noticed it a while ago, I photograph scenes similar to the ones I remember from my childhood or things that might be subconsciously on my mind. I'm naturally drawn to some things more than others and that's not a coincidence.

Loneliness has been a dominant subject in most of the online essays that you wrote. How does the universal feeling of loneliness inspire you? How much does it contribute to your personal work

Loneliness is a good example of photography reflecting photographer's thoughts and feelings. That essay was created when I felt quite lonely in New York and - subconsciously - photographed people that seemed lonely to me. But it wasn't planned - I only realized that I have a whole series on loneliness when somebody else pointed it out to me during a portfolio review, so that theme was coming through without me realizing. Another thing is that the lenses I use the most (50mm and 85mm) favor singling subjects out in a frame. I am not a huge fan of wide angle lenses for street photography, I rarely take pictures with multiple subjects in one frame, so that technical aspect also had something to do with it.

How was it to document and observe your surroundings, your travels and the people around you?

Camera became my close friend a long time ago, it was only natural that I would take it with me when I traveled and I have been traveling a lot in the past 15 years, moving from one country to another. Now that I've been taking pictures for so long, I realized a seemingly obvious thing: apart from my photos having a somewhat artistic function, being a creative outlet, they are also what photos were made to be: memories. When I take pictures I rarely think oh it'll be great to see those in 10 years. But now I see that this perhaps more mundane function of photography - to simply freeze moments in time - is also a big part of it. It's nice to look back at some random photos from 2010 and see what book I was reading at the time, what my room in Madrid looked like, what I looked like.

Do you have any memorable work/project that still resonates with you up to this day?

I have a series on ballet called Nocturnes that I really like. Those are b&w images that evoke a certain feel of melancholy. I think I did a good job of showing ballet and dance in general as something close to poetry, a secret delicate language of shapes and forms.

What are you most excited about this year?

I am going to Tokyo for the first time in a few months. The way I envision Japan is basically it being another planet. I feel like I'm going to find myself in a completely new unknown territory and that's always been exciting to me. That's why I travel.

Are there any projects that you are currently working on that you can share?

I just finished photographing Winter Jazz Festival in New York. The way I approached it was to use camera as a painter's brush. Long exposures, lots of blur and mixing colors and lights. I like when photography comes close to painting.

If you were a book, what book would you be and why?

This would have to be Julio Cortazar's Rayuela. It's set in Paris in the 60's, an era which my photography is kind of akin to (among other eras). In Cortazar's book people speak different languages, listen to jazz, read books, wander the street aimlessly. Someone called me once the ultimate flaneur, I could be one of the character's in Rayuela.