BRANDENBURG photographed by Maria Jatzlau
Who is Maria Jatzlau?
A twenty-four-year old woman who likes to take pictures.
Brandenburg! You are so wonderful?
Brandenburg is in possession of magnificent places. I am a huge fan of vast landscape and deserted streets. But above all, I am a fan of quiet! When I am exploring Brandenburg to look for the next locations for my shoots I am mostly alone. I need to be able to experience what is special about a place and how it looks in different types of weather and times of day to be 100% sure to come back there to take pictures. I grew up there and whenever I return from the city to the village I am fascinated all over again.
Blooming landscapes or asphalt jungle?
It is all in the mix.
Which painters have influenced you?
Unconsciously, many certainly. At present, I am a big fan of Johann König’s new superstar Johanna Dumet.
Good black and white photography is not about the removal of color? (Rob Sheppard)
For me personally, a crap photo in color is a crap photo in black and white also, because it just sucks (: D) and probably something within this photograph doesn’t fit. I also think it is very important to admit that. Sometimes out of 300 pictures you take there are only three or four you can relate to. Of course, there are photos that look better in B&W and ones that look better in color, however, that alone is not the art of photography for me.
Is it documentary photography you do?
I wish. I would say I move between different genres. My leanings are towards a hybrid between fine art, documentary photography and fashion photography.
The future is faster than you think?
Absolutely! It is good to be skeptical, to question and to reflect on things. At the same time, however, we should offer novel phenomena the chance to prove themselves.
Youth without cigarettes?
That would be some healthy and very mature alternative.
If animals could talk, which would be the rudest?
Definitely sheep, my gut feeling says.
When taking photos do you ever feel that you are using people?
No. The reason: because I do not force anyone to be in front of my camera. If someone does not want to be photographed, it is perfectly fine by me.
Who would you rather have photographed, Mary Magdalene or Maria Callas?
Maria Callas.
Curly hair is more than just hair it’s an attitude?
An inherited „attitude“ that needs a lot of attention.
If you don’t believe in yourself, you’re fucked?
Yes, if you don’t believe in yourself you are fucked. No one will do it instead of you and like it or not, one day you are going to realize that. This sounds like a Facebook quote on a wallpaper with “footprints in the sands“. But every person (often) is responsible for what they create and their own happiness or unhappiness that comes from it. Obviously, every one of us brings different kinds of material and mental conditions (social, monetary, etc. etc.). I think it is crucial to use these and to focus on one’s strengths, ideas and needs and to orient one’s mental horizon so as to show a healthy (!) amount of egoism.
Your latest diary entry?
I don’t keep a diary. But maybe I will take this as sign to start one again.
_Uwe Buschmann (copy editing Silvia Strauch)
