JONATHAN CHERRY: What did you have for breakfast this morning?
ÖZANT KAMACI: Tomato/ cucumber/ feta cheese /olive oil with bread and coffee.
JC: Name 2 emerging photographers inspiring you at the moment?
OK: Martin Schoberer & Kevin C Moore.
JC: What have you been up to since graduating from University?
OK: I had the opportunity to get involved in teaching photography at university level, and i loved it! now I am in a new city (Toronto) and looking for ways to teach photography again.. in my opinion, there are many courses about the camera but not as much about photography as a medium.. I hope to confuse minds and open new doors for people who are interested.
JC: What is pause all about?
OK: It all started as a documentary project about planespotters around the airports.. after a few months, I became kind of a spotter myself, and started photographing planes, trees and everything else that I found around the airports.. I was influenced by works of Wolfgang Tillmans, Brian Griffin and David Moore.. one day, I saw some strange images of planes stuck in trees on my contact sheet.. and from that point onwards, the project evolved to become more of an enquiry about the medium of photography (rather than planes or trees).. after finishing pause, I looked back at the spotters again, as this sub-culture is still very close to my heart.. this time, I was inspired by the portrayal of admiration by romantic painters Constable and Friedrich.. the outcome was the ‘landing’ series.
JC: What is your current project all about?
OK: Lately I am preoccupied with exploring the complexity and/or simplicity of technology and nature.
JC: What is 2011 looking like for you?
OK: Making new friends in Toronto and hopefully stimulating debates on new ideas.
JC: Any pearls of wisdom to recent photography graduates?
OK: Make it personal.
JC: Other thoughts?
OK: Why do we look at photographs?
