5MINS with Jordi Huisman
Jordi Huisman was featured in Issue 11 with his strong and architectural series ‘Rear Window’. Now over a year later, we caught up with again Jordi and delve into his current projects, inspirations and influences in his photography, techniques and what the future holds.
Hello Jordi, would you mind telling us about yourself?
Hello there! I’m a 33 year old documentary, editorial and commercial photographer from the Netherlands. I’ve been making a living from photography for ten years now. I studied engineering and photography before my professional photography career. I like to photograph the public space and architecture and such for my personal work.
How did you get into photography and why?
I always had a thing for drawing since I was little. Then around the age of 20 I discovered photography, when I bought a 0,02 or something megapixel camera and went experimenting with it. One thing led to another and three years later I started studying photography at the art academy. Photography felt very natural to me, I always tend to think that’s because it has similarities with drawing.
Your series of work ‘Rear Window’ was featured in #PHOTOGRAPHY Issue 11, the series really shows the personal relationship with particular buildings. The images are very clean and strong, what techniques did you use to get this look?
The main technique used there is a long exposure. I used to do it with a 4x5” camera, but since a year or two I use a digital medium format camera, which produces amazingly flexible files for post-processing. And it’s much faster than the 4x5” camera, which I like a lot. I do some editing, but not very much.
Much of your work is architectural, experimenting with space and shape. What draws you to take images like this?
I’m not sure actually, it’s just a subject that draws my attention. I always notice particular shapes, and I like to catch that in a photograph. I think that I like the way an architectural scene easily becomes very graphical.
Who or what inspires you?
Work of other photographers mostly. My favourite series ever is still The Long River by Nadav Kander, although the book Verkerhsprojekte by Hans-Christian Schink has been a more recent source of inspiration. What I see on Instagram inspires me too, in a way. Since about a year and a half I find myself checking out a lot of work on Instagram. But the down side to it is that I feel Instagram is more about one-hit wonders than about solid bodies of work. I have to watch myself not trying to produce those one-hit wonders but keep on making more lengthy series.
Which of your projects is your favourite and why?
That must be Rear Window. It’s a project that feels closest to me, it originates from a strong personal fascination. And I like the fact that I’ve turned it into a world wide project, with a clear recipe for each new city. I spend hours on Google Maps looking for places that possibly suit the series, and I like that effort. A lot of locations that eventually end up in the series, I don’t find online by the way, but when I’m walking around.
Lets talk about ‘Going Elsewhere’, that series really caught our interest, the various subjects creating different shapes and formations flow extremely well. What is the concept behind this project and what did you look for in choosing such varying subjects?
The concept behind it is very intuitive, I don’t have a plan in mind and then go out shooting. There are pictures in there made between 2008 and the present day. It’s an on-going series, photographed while going places. The series grows and evolves slowly. Most of the time it’s months after I took the shot that I realise that it fits in the series. I like the series for that reason, it hasn’t got a clear recipe like Rear Window does. It once started in a period where I was just discovered the work of Rinko Kawauchi.
Your images are taken in many different locations, how extensively do you travel for photography?
I get my fair share of traveling now and then. I try to do about two cities per year for Rear Window, and assignments take me places abroad as well. I wouldn’t describe myself as a traveler, but I do notice that my photographic sense is more aware when I’m abroad. I do travel extensively in The Netherlands, but that doesn’t really count I guess.
Lastly, what plans do you have for the future of your photography?
I’ll continue to work on Rear Window until I feel the series is ‘complete’. The plan is then to make a proper book of it. That is probably going to take a couple of years. In the meantime I will be exhibiting the series where I can, and there’s a good chance I will get new ideas for series along the way. Just recently I started working on a series again I started three years ago. Maybe it will lead to a full body of work this year.
