Markus Hartel
The Pulse of the City
Hi Markus. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I was born in Duisburg, Germany, and grew up in a pretty rural area in the Northwest. I think that’s why the urban scenery and street photography appeals to me so much, as it was not available where I grew up.
Do you have any formal training in photography?
No, I have a background as a typesetter and darkroom work with a copy camera was as close to a formal photography education as it gets.
What motivates your photography and drives your creativity
The hunt for the next great photography is a great motivator and the streets of New York are inspiring by itself. Other than that, I love to watch (foreign) movies and read quite a bit of everything. I try not to look at other photographer’s work too much.
The hunt for the next great photography is a great motivator and the streets of New York are inspiring by itself.
Of all the gear you’ve ever used, what’s your favorite?
The Leica M for its simplicity, the EOS 5D for its image quality.
You like to use short focal length …
The short lens –I prefer a 28mm FOV– renders a scene wide enough, which requires me to get pretty close to the subject, and as a result this FOV presents a certain intimacy to the viewer.
Do you think that street photography can be done with telephoto lenses?
Anything can be done, but I deem street photography with a telephoto lens as cheating, I mean, where is the fun of shooting from across the street. I consider a 50mm lens short telephoto and would not touch it for street photography.
For a rookie street photographer, approaching a short distance from a subject is the hardest step. How did you overcome that invisible barrier?
Start out a little longer, the aforementioned 50mm is not a bad starting point, a 35mm is almost ideal, and then work your way closer and wider. People will generally not get offended, when approached with a camera. I always make sure that my camera is visible at all time.
Have you had any problem with any subject to photograph?
In eight years of shooting street in NYC I had two incidents where the subject got offended, but I would normally agree with a nod and walk away, most times I bagged a shot already.
What do you like most about street photography?
There is a certain challenge in the unknown, you never know what you will get that day, and I like the fact that I can create a piece of art out of readily available subject matter.
What you see on a subject to make it a photo?
Technically, everything makes for a photo. A good street photograph tells a story in one frame, at a 250th of a second. The best street photographers are storytellers and even manage to add a pinch of humor or a good juxtaposition to their photos.
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