Austrian photographer Alex Kals is a chilled person – his pictures are rough and beautiful all at once, spreading a very certain atmosphere. We’re happy to have had the chance to cover his recent works, read more below…

Contact: mail@alexkalsphotography.nl

Site: More Info

FMCS: Alex, please tell us a little bit about yourself, your work and your way led you to the place you currently are.

I was born in Innsbruck, Austria on 08.08.1974 and grew up in a city called Graz. I was quite difficult in my young days, hated high school of course but finished it. After that I started to travel a lot and got into surfing. That combination kept me alive and finally helped me a lot to shape my mind and to create good confidence.

In that period I started to photograph as well. I was studying a few other things in Austria before I decided to move to Amsterdam, Holland at the age of 27 to enter the Royal Academy of Art in Den Haag to study photography there.

Finally things were structured up in a descent way for me in Austria and so I really felt free to leave and to work hard on myself. The combination of discipline, luck, talent etc. put me on a good track and in June 2005 I graduated. Since then I am working as a freelance photographer still based in Amsterdam. Whenever I have time and a little bit of money I travel around with my camera. A new environment is always very stimulating.

I guess I will stay in Amsterdam a few more years and then maybe look for a new adventure somewhere else which might be very good for my development. But I will always come back to Amsterdam, it’s a quite addictive city which provides a pretty good atmosphere.

FMCS: If you think back in the days, what made you choose to pick up the camera and become a Professional?

I was always very interested in images. On holidays friends of mine gave me their cameras to take pictures of them or anything else. Without discriminating them I always found my pictures more interesting, and that definitely triggered something inside me.

As a consequence I bought myself a pocket camera at the age of 22. A few years later my first Canon followed. I started to show my photos to friends, and the impact on them was quite strong.

A while later they came to me to show them more. I didn’t have that kinda good feedback in other fields of creativity and it was good to receive it for something that I do with passion. I started to go to Art book stores and galleries as much as I could. There was no way out for me after that.

FMCS: If we talk about your motivation to take pictures and work on series, what bites you?

The process of growing! And picking up negatives from the lab to check the contact sheets. I slowly start being convinced of my work, but I am totally aware that I still have to work very hard to reach a good level, quality etc.

I am really curious what my work is going to look like in a few years. So far I had a quite ok development and also a little bit of luck. It allowed me to graduate, took me to interesting workshops, got me into galleries, and I have met some of my idols. But I am a very curious person anyway, and so I will see where it takes me.

Periods where things don’t go too well do motivate me as well. Like the famous pimp Iceberg Slim said- ‘After a good kick in the ass I always came back stronger’. I totally agree on that. Being able to cope with critics is also very important.
 
Further I want to be able to earn enough money to give a good life to a child just in case it happens one day and to stick to the cliché for a moment I just want to take out my best friends who really helped me out the last years for phat steaks and getting totally drunk on great quality liquor, yes that really motivates me!!!

I want to let them know that they invested wisely.

FMCS: What are you doing at the moment?

I am visiting a friend of mine in Portugal who is quite on the crazy side of life. He settled in a small village in the South West for surfing. There is a very special energy around here and so I am having a good time working on a free series.

FMCS: Let us know more about the artistic intentions behind your photographs

I want to have a strong impact on the viewer with the theme and my photos. I am trying to develop a subtitle image language and get as close to my theme as possible and end up stuck in it like a gnarly dog does when biting someone.

As much as I can I try to avoid the safe secure way of thinking. For my final project at the academy in Den Haag I also had to write a piece of work. I was trying to create a formula that puts the elements of passion and fear within documentary photography in good balance.

I was analyzing it from art-historic, psychological and philosophic points of view. Reading Nietzsche and Cartier Bresson helped me a lot to work on my style. While working I always listen very carefully to my instincts. The last years I was mainly focusing on the so called downside of society and my desire for esthetic give my work a bit of a poetic touch and so my characters look like heroes.

Lately I was experimenting with installations where my photography mixes up with film and sound. By that I achieved to take the viewer totally out of his context in less than a minute and let him trip into a different world that soaks him up. I want to grow on my current style in the next few years. Afterwards I want to slowly drift from that into experimenting more, setting things in scene and come up with some weird things where the viewer doesn’t really know what’s going on.

I think that quite good part besides photography in my daily life takes me with words, acting etc. And that’s where I also realize my abilities. Just confront the people with something they are not used to and don’t know how to think about it, using society and what surrounds me daily as a base. 

FMCS: Did you exhibit yet and are there shows coming up?

Well I just graduated one year ago so I need time to make people aware of my work, but I already had some quite nice exhibitions. In October my work from the project ‘Les quartiers nord de Marseille’ will be shown in a very prestigious gallery in Amsterdam and I am really happy with that.

You enter the place you always had a lot of respect for, and then there is your name on the wall at the entrance. That definitely puts my mind on a pleasant track.

FMCS: Would you say that Amsterdam is a creative place to be and how is the art scene there?

Well I really like it otherwise I wouldn’t live there. It’s a worldwide connected and respected city and so there is always something going on in all the different fields of art and culture and that really helps to feed your artistic and intellectual desires. Most artists are very relaxed and professional at the same time and there is not too many VIP’s running around and that creates a nice atmosphere. If you ever get to go there once in a while you will find it is a pretty inspiring place.

FMCS: Inspiration is always a big thing – what is it that keeps you rolling?

Girls, a good party, good food, chillin out, speeding in a decent car, listening to the favourite rap tracks, seeing my soccer teams win, meeting my family at Christmas…

There are a few photographers and artists from other fields I really look up to. Seeing their work in galleries and books really helps a lot. Good conversation with other photographers and interesting people in general can be so nice!!!!

Lately I ran into a few photographers I really look up to such as Antoine D’Agata for example. It was a great kick to talk to him. The last 3 to 4 years I also got very addicted to film and so I watch as much as I can and somehow I would really like to make films one day. Wisdom and creativity within books, music and daily conversations have so much power on me. It’s so marvelous when something hits you hard.
 
I still like to travel a lot and hopefully I get to see many more places and freaks. A decent session of surfing or snowboarding with my friends definitely keeps me busy. For a chosen few I want to be a good friend to count on. When it’s on I won’t be hiding at home.

FMCS: Thanks a lot!

Contact: mail@alexkalsphotography.nl

Site: More info