Jana Gumprecht, aka Edisonga, can really breathe easy when she is given free rein. For ‘Fields’ she follows her nostalgic instinct and tries to create an emotional relationship between the protagonists, the viewers, the landscapes and herself.
As a photographer you use the pseudonym Edisonga. How did this come about and why do you use a pseudonym?
It started out with the idea of leading an artistic existence in constant collaboration with one, or even various, working partners. I wanted to bring a pseudonym into this “group”. With this in mind, I remembered a very impressive, first working trip to Uruguay, where I met someone who went on to become a good friend. One night, while driving along a sandy road, without headlights and surrounded by thousands of fireflies, he told me that he was one of the last descendants of the Charrua Indians, and that his old nick-name was EDISONGA. So, in his honour and in remembrance of that lovely time...
Photography has been your main profession since 2015. What did you do before that, and what triggered the decision?
The decision to accept photography as my calling happened about 15 years earlier. At the time I had begun studying art with a focus on photography. This continued for quite a long time. In the meantime and afterwards I took professional detours, paying my rent as a makeup artist and later on as a stylist. I wanted to develop my own imagery without being subject to any financial pressures; but in the end there was no way to avoid a full time commitment to photography.
Your style does not appear to be commercial. Do you have free rein when taking pictures for clients?
During my slow process of drawing closer to commercial photography, I had any number of years and a great diversity of jobs, so that I was able to develop an imagery and an attitude towards taking photographs for my clients. In the process I have discovered that it is a very positive and constructive challenge for me to deliver creative and powerful work within the framework of certain predetermined coordinates and, at times, external conditions. My own personal projects are incredibly important for me to “breathe”. But on the whole it’s a lot of fun to be involved in a team with others and to give expression to their visions.
How would you describe your style and what type of fashion photography is it?
I feel like I’m constantly of a path of rapprochement to the subject of fashion photography. Purely simplifying it to clothes and poses is somehow too little; though it is also a great art. I’m unable to distance myself from the person wearing the fashion. I’m always deeply touched by the person in front of my lens, and this can happen very especially when me eyes follow them through the camera for a couple of hours or days. This connection is what inspires me the most. In that sense I barely separate fashion from portraits or even advertisements.
You photographed ‘Fields’ for the S magazine. What is the story about?
It’s about this connection. I tried to make tangible the romantic longing for that feeling between the protagonists, between them and me, between them and the viewer of the pictures, as well as between them and the landscape.
Do you prefer to work on location, in nature like for ‘Fields’, or in the studio?
Many ideas arise within the context of scenic or spacial inspiration. I really like it when people, landscapes and things come into relationship. In addition, I like to work with available light or applied effects that play with daylight. For sure, it’s also possible to produce all that in another way in the studio, developing its own particular charm in the process. Consequently, there’s no way for me to make a firm decision for one or the other.
What can you say about yourself as a video creator?
In my “still” images I also often work in a very scenic manner or I capture a fraction of what is, in fact, a flowing movement. To convey this movement fully in video is somehow a logical consequence, of course. So far, just like with my photography, I have worked very fluidly, indirect and moody, but I am, of course, a big fan of good storytelling, and I’d really like to have a try at a first short film quite soon.
You used Leica’s medium format S camera. It what way did the camera work for you?
I really like how the S feels in your hands. It’s not too light and not too heavy. The autofocus reacts very smoothly and fast to my frequently very mobile way of shooting – but it does need good light conditions to really prove its full potential. When conditions are right, the great lenses together with the camera conjure up exceptionally beautiful images, which are both soft and crisp, and sometimes also very pictorial.
What’s your next project?
Just a couple of days ago I was very inspired by a documentary about Jean Michel Basquiat. I’ve already combined painting and photography in a number of my older works. I’d like to do it again in a different way in one of my next projects…
