Benji Kontz

I discovered photography at the age of ten with a couple of old, manual M42 cameras. Although the built-in photo cells broke in an almost weekly rhythm, sometimes because of their age, often because of mine, the quality of the lenses was good enough to get me motivated. As I have always been interested in birdwatching, birds were for a long time the main subject of my photographs. After having graduated in Natural Sciences from Athénée de Luxembourg, I went on to study Law at the Sorbonne. It was in Paris that I virtually got addicted to black and white photography. Indeed, as in Law, during the first two years, we were rarely allowed to express our own opinion, I was looking for a different outlet for my creativity. In addition, black and white suits Paris particularly well. Only recently, while doing a course of studio lighting in London, I have rediscovered colour photography. I have often thought about photography as the art of those who can't paint. Indeed, in photography, you might not need a talented hand, but you do need a talented eye! You have to work with forms and light as they present themselves, as well as with the totality of subjects present in the viewfinder. In fact, it is very difficult to lie with a photograph. Even though the photographer can choose how to frame a subject through his lens, as well as using all kinds of optical illusions, he can only ever push the viewer towards a different interpretation of the picture. Therefore, to take photographs is to work under given constraints and to even use these constraints in order to obtain the desired result. In a paradoxal manner, it is the mechanic, the optic and the chemistry, all of them exact sciences, that allow me to express myself in an artistic way. This is what fascinates me about photography!