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Florian Wenzel
@flopunktwe
Photographer based in Germany
Introducing Florian Wenzel
At the beginning of 2019, Florian won week 9 of our Best of the Week contest. Today, we are happy to do an interview with him!
Florian is a photographer based in Ulm, Germany. Over the past two years and with the pandemic, he has been able to develop his eye and create beautiful content locally. He has also been thinking a lot about his ecological impact and how he could compensate for all the flights he took before. He eats vegan, uses his bicycle whenever he can and his approach to photography has changed as well: “I’m mostly shooting around my hometown and try to only head out when I’m pretty sure the conditions will be nice – so I reduce long drives that lead to no good pictures in the end.” He thinks that being able to get impressive pictures of the simplest scenes says something about you as a photographer.
He learned to forecast the (foggy) weather much better by paying close attention to three different components: humidity, temperature, and the sky. In the interview, Florian explains how he tries to predict the weather and how he learned to deal with the given circumstances to still enjoy the moment. A good lesson for him was when he traveled to the Faroe Islands, on a mission to create content for Crosscamp – one of his most exciting projects so far.
Florian’s goal is simply to be happy with his work and with himself while keep learning new things: “I try to define myself not by how much money I make. Success for me is when I’m happy with my work and that is something I’m really struggling with – because often I’m my biggest critic.” He explains how he tries to combat negative criticism with constructive and positive thoughts, and also talks about the editing of one photo that he feels represents him. “For me, the blue hour is just magical. A world where everything becomes quieter and thoughts become clearer. I have the feeling that in these hours everything is more meaningful. People become silhouettes and words become more important. And for me, this image represents that feeling.”
Want to know more? Then, keep reading!
Interview
Welcome Florian! In the beginning of 2019, you won week 9 of our “Best of the Week contest”. Today, we are happy to see you back for an interview! What do you think have been the greatest developments for you since early 2019?
Hey there, thanks for having me again! A game changer has been that I learned to forecast the weather better, so now I know if I will have the right conditions to visualize the image that I have in my mind.
Mostly I check if there is a chance of fog or a veil of mist over the ground. For that I look at the humidity which should be at least at 95%, temperature, and if the sky will be/was almost free of clouds. When these three components work together, all you need is a moisturiser (river, moor, wet meadow, etc.) to achieve the desired conditions. Now I‘m also traveling way more spontaneously and more locally because I think your familiar surroundings can look beautiful under certain conditions. Sure there are planned trips, and sometimes it’s nice to just go with the flow and take everything how it comes.
During the pandemic I explored my home region more which showed me that beauty isn’t far away, like the Swabian jura or just some local fenlands like the Leipheimer Moos. It’s a beautiful part with many bird species, a little wooden footbridge and some nice fields and trees. Especially in the morning where the landscape is covered by a white hint of mist.
In general, how do you make sure you evolve and grow as an artist, either personally or professionally? What have been some great learning resources/experiences for you?
I took a little break – not from photography but from social media. We look at so many images daily which sometimes can be a sensory overload and in my opinion it influences how we see. There is such an abundance of photos that at some point they all look the same to you which doesn’t help you grow at all as you don’t see anything new. It’s rather counterproductive. That’s not me saying that all photos on social media are less amazing – there is an incredible amount of talented artists out there!
"Normally, if I feel stressed or unbalanced I try to take a break from social media for one or two days."
Now, I wasn’t really present on social media in the last month’s because I didn’t have the urge to post something or be active, but I never take a break from taking pictures. I often think about the discrepancy between these two aspects. I think that I’m more a photographer than an “influencer” (I don’t like that word by the way haha) but especially for brands or tourism boards it’s often more interesting to hire someone who can do both or is more active on social media. Taking a break helps me to be motivated again and enjoy the perks of social media.
Success never comes without challenges and setbacks. What would you say have been the most challenging aspects so far and what did you learn from them?
I try to define myself not by how much money I make. Success for me is when I’m happy with my work and that is something I’m really struggling with – because often I’m my biggest critic. It is very tempting to criticize negatively, thinking that I‘m not good enough, that everything that I do follows a repetitive pattern, etc. For me it’s quite difficult to handle that because at which point is it a style and at which point do you start repeating yourself and stop being creative/innovative? Where are the boundaries? If somebody knows you can hit me up!
"On the other hand, I try to teach myself to also criticize myself constructively and see the positive side of things."
When I recognize I’m in the negative thinking cycle, I try to remember that photography brought me so much. Friendships, laughter and a lot of good stories to tell! And I will remind myself that photography made me who I am now and that my past self would be really proud of me.
You have worked with several clients and brands. Could you tell us about your most exciting project and what made that project so special?
I would say that the most exciting project was for Crosscamp. It’s a new brand which was launched by Hymer, the biggest camper van producer in Europe. They needed content for social media and for advertising material. So especially images but also some promotion on social media to gain traffic for the new brand.
I had the freedom to decide where I would like to go and I decided to drive to the Faroe Islands for three weeks together with some friends. I thought that would be enough time to explore this little gem in the North Atlantic. Sadly the weather was definitely not on our side. We were stuck in fog and rain almost the whole time – we didn’t see the mountains and the fjords most of the time. We only had 1-2 days of sunshine in the end. So it was quite a challenging trip but I really learned to deal with it and make the best out of it. And if you are with the right people you can always have a good time.
When it comes to creating impactful images, a connection with the subject is important. Shooting mainly landscapes, how would you say that this connection manifests for you when photographing the outdoor scenery? How does shooting in nature make you feel different?
Ten years ago I started with conceptual self-portraits in landscapes that were only a few minutes away from my home. After a trip to Iceland in 2015, it moved more to landscape photography.
Now it’s kinda my way to isolate myself from the stress of daily life. Not that I want to run away from something, but sometimes everything is simply too much. For me being on a tour with beloved people or just a simple morning outdoors always feels like recharging my inner battery. I really love those mornings when you breathe in the fresh air of the first hours of the day.
"It’s like a flow state where I'm fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of taking images."
Related to that, you wrote in one of your Instagram captions: “Over the last years, I’ve thought a lot about my ecological impact. I have started compensating for all the flights that I have taken and realised my impact was greater than I had thought.” How do you compensate for your ecological impact when you travel, but also in daily life? And since you started doing that more consciously, has this somehow influenced the photography you were able to create?
Yes definitely! I’m mostly shooting around my hometown and try to only head out when I’m pretty sure the conditions will be nice – so I reduce long drives that lead to no good pictures in the end. This hasn’t influenced my photography negatively, on the contrary, I think if someone has to travel far away to get good pictures they are just not a good photographer and they’ve still a lot to learn to get impressive pictures of the simplest scenes.
Also, I have been vegetarian for 8 years and currently, I eat vegan. My girlfriend and some of my friends are also vegan so for me this step felt quite easy.
Out of all your adventures, what would be one of the most memorable moments outdoors that you were able to capture? What made this moment so special?
In August 2018 we did a hike in Graubünden, Switzerland. The weather forecast wasn’t on our side but we did it anyway. After hiking through fog and rain for four hours we finally reached the top of the mountain and had still no visibility. My whole body was shaking, freezing and in the night it started to snow. An hour before sunrise my alarm rang but we were still caught by the whiteout. I opened the tent every ten minutes, hoping that we would see something, and then I witnessed one of the most amazing sunrises. I reached for my frozen boots and woke everybody up.
"We were rewarded with an incredible view over the clouds. Everybody screamed because of the joy we felt."
Can you show us a photo that you feel really represents you, who you are as an artist and person? What made you choose this photo? What is the story behind it?
I took this image two years ago in the northern part of Norway next to our cabin. It was in late summer. We came back from a hike around 1 am and the mist floated above the ground. My friends already walked inside but I couldn’t resist walking down the road next to our house to enjoy this beautiful atmosphere. For me, the blue hour is just magical. Like a world in between where everything becomes quieter, thoughts become clearer and the lights start to flicker. I have the feeling that in these hours everything is more meaningful. People become silhouettes and words become more important. And for me, this image represents that feeling.
Would you like to explain your editing style/workflow using the before/after of the photo from the previous question? It would be interesting to know which steps you take, the things you consider, how you evaluate, etc.
I try to recreate and increase the light situation but keeping it natural. The same goes for the colors. So I’m working a lot with gradients and radial filters. I start with one of my base presets where I have some basic adjustments saved like noise reduction, sharpening, colors, etc. Then I start with adjusting the exposure, shadows, and highlights because I tend to shoot a little bit darker to save the highlights, and here it was already quite dark and I didn’t want to bring up the ISO too much. Then a radial filter to enhance the fog and the lights a little bit more and after that I straightened the image – that was already everything.
"For me to be happy with the result the colors have to be homogenous and the photo has to have a natural feel."
There shouldn’t be something that is distracting and I want to create an atmosphere which soaks the viewer into the photograph. There’s no precise manner to assess whether a photo is ready or not, it’s more a feeling. When I’m thinking, yeah that’s how I felt it and I don’t want to change anything – That’s when I consider a photo as finished. However, editing an image can take me sometimes 15 minutes, three times, or in the extreme 3 years because I can be very picky in this matter.
In some cases, I also may ask someone to hear what they think about a photo. I have two close friends (Marina Weishaupt and Jonas Hafner) who are also photographers and I ask them for feedback sometimes. I respect their work, I know they have similar values and know that they are honest to me.
What are your dreams and desires when thinking about your photography career toward the future?
I think I have a simple opinion on this. My only goal is to be happy with my work and myself. I try to learn new things like doing more storytelling and really documenting the trips that I make. So not only one good image but rather one good image with a few other photos, for example detailed shots or photos of what the people do in that moment, which helps to transmit the feeling and mood of this one good image. Also I try to get myself a little bit into cinematography but at the moment it’s nothing serious. I’m only interested in it and I guess I could combine it with documenting the trips.
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