Born in Germany, Katrin developed an interest in photography after inheriting a film Minolta from a childhood friend. After many adventures with film and a growing love for the darkroom, Katrin moved to Brisbane to study photography at the Queensland College of Art.

Katrin is now based in Melbourne and one of her current projects is documenting one of Melbourne’s ‘notorius’ suburbs. Her work has been exhibited and published widely around the world.

You can see more of Katrin’s work on her website and through the photography portal, Obsura Photos.

How have you got to where you are today?

Photography only came to me in a serious way some weeks after graduating from high school, when my best friend who I had grown up with died in a plane crash over Iceland. He loved making images, and I inherited his old Minolta. I packed the Minolta, left and spent some months in Iceland in the middle of nowhere, working in green houses.

When I returned to Germany, months worth of film were black. There was not a single frame – I’d loaded them all wrong. For quite some time, seeing the world through his camera was the only thing that made me feel ok.

From that, I developed my passion for the visual, and for storytelling. Making images quickly developed from something very personal into something that allowed me to share my curiosity of the world, and of our erratic ways. For a while then, I worked as a journalist for radio and print media, and interned with the photography department responsible for Germany’s old, infamous industrial sites (now museums).

It was there I fell head over heels with the darkroom…

I was handed a key to the facilities and would go in on the weekends; just images, darkness, music and I. It was glorious. My first ‘real’ project was documenting children with disabilities making theatre. But it wasn’t until a few years later that I ‘properly’ left my native Germany to study Photography at the Queensland College of Art in Brisbane.

I love getting together with fellow photo friends to share ideas, brainstorm, look at work, lend or get lent a critical eye. Photography can be a very insular thing; you mostly work on your own, so I think encouraging each other in this way is crucial. I am not very secretive about new projects that I embark on – to me, nothing compares to the sharing of passion.

My general and preferred way of working is spending a long time on a particular project. I return to the same thing over and over. However, once in a while I come across something amusing, puzzling or interesting unexpectedly, almost by accident if you will, and photograph it.

The images might never go anywhere, but it’s for pure love of making pictures. It’s important to be playful every now and then, and having fun with it. Some weeks ago, on my way to another project, I got stranded in Melbourne’s CBD due to the royal visit. There were thousands of people, many in their Sunday best. So there I was, stuck right in the middle of it, film loaded. A man stopped next to me and, glancing at my camera, said: “Oh, Hasselblad? Don’t waste it on the Monarchy!”. This I found funny, and I photographed. The whole do was very strange to me historically, behaviourally and otherwise, but I thoroughly enjoyed making those images.

In a few words, describe yourself…

Wow that’s tough. Passionate, love to love, laugh and dance, mildly crazy, not a fence sitter, sometimes anxious, got lots to learn, hungry, always longing.

What are you spending your time on at the moment?

At the moment, I am excited about summer, my mum visiting from overseas, a road trip with my lover, and a new long-term venture documenting one of Melbourne’s more ‘notorious’ suburbs.

Apart from this, I always work on my ongoing projects. I also spend a lot of time thinking about these things: the nature and limitations of (creative) vision, the true meaning of freedom, Anouar Brahem’s ‘Le pas du chat noir’, and the grandeur of Arctic silence (to experience this silence is one of my ultimate dreams).

Do you have a ritual for getting into the creative mindset? Or a creative process?

I don’t have a set routine for getting into the creative mindset as such. It’s more of a gradual but fluid process – a process that is my life, really. I never stop thinking about images and stories – I take them to bed with me, and more often than not, I’ll lose sleep over them.

Imagine if you could make work as dizzy as life itself! Passion keeps you up at night. It burns and burns in you like your own little Olympic torch – according to legend, once lit, it will never stop being aflame.

I also believe you have to be prepared for ideas and creative thoughts to come over you like a lightning bolt – no matter where you are. I always carry one of my little scribble booklets with me for that reason.

What or who inspires you?

To me, inspiration is not a finite thing. It comes from all directions. You cannot box it in or nail it down to a few other names in photography. It also changes with time, much as your visual approach or interests change.

While seeing great work (work that narrates, touches and urges you to think) by photographers I admire is a great source of inspiration, I would say that over the years, music has probably been my biggest. I obsess over music – I can play a song over and over.

At the moment, it is Bollywood Steel Guitar, and there is this song by Iranian artist Dariush called ‘Cheshm-e Man’. I only know a few words of Farsi and therefore cannot understand the lyrics, but I can feel the song in my every bone, if that makes sense. I will put it on my ears and walk and walk. It is so rife with longing!

When I was young, my Nan was a big inspiration. She was a painter. I’d sit for hours smelling the oils she’d layer on the canvas, and watching her carefully create a tale about a fantastical and mysterious world that did not as such exist other than in her soul.

What are you most proud of?

Pride is a funny term that I can never quite get my head around. I think thankful seems more fitting. I am thankful for so many things – to have grown up in the political North, which in turn has enabled me to pursue my dreams and turn potential into a reality. I am thankful to all the inspiring people who have mentored me and helped me find my vision along the way.

Most thankful I am to the people who let me into their lives to tell their stories. This is an enormous privilege.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A painter, a singer or an astronaut.