about

...me.


I am both a geographer and a photographer, and therefore I have a geographical view. My imagery is documentary, and I almost always work in balanced light conditions. If I had to condense my work in three terms these would be symmetry, calmness, and topic. At the same time, I feel a longing for the unpleasant realities that our lives produce. Susan Sontag called it “needing to have reality confirmed”.

One example of my work is dealing with boundaries. As a geographer I see boundaries everywhere. Boundaries tell us something about risks and balance of power. Perhaps my interest stems from the fact that I grew up on the inner-German border. The iron curtain hung right in front of our city. And there I saw, that boundaries can be extremely dense and walls very high.

For the series “Maybe an image of nature” I visited zoological gardens and concentrated on their artificial landscapes. What fascinates me about these places is the illusion of freedom. Architecture is given the task to suggest, that animals are residing in their natural habitat. And so African and Arctic landscapes have emerged side by side. Animals are not seen in the pictures because they would attract all the attention. Maybe zoos best embody what connects my images: the hub ris of man.

I was born in northern Germany. I studied Geography but am now fully concentrating on photography. The centre of my life and work is Hamburg. I have been shooting digital medium format for three years. I edit the images gently and try to avoid retouching. Actually, I am waiting for a camera with an endless resolution...

Jens Nommel, 2022

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