Express yours ideas or emotions through photographs without taking into account the constraints imposed by a formal style or another one.

Please, introduce yourself to our Greek readers. When was the time that you realised that you would like to be a photographer?

I started taking pictures 4 years ago. It was an accident, I did not want to be a photographer. In fact, I do not know what it means to be a photographer today, when almost everyone is photographing almost anything.

 Did you ever regret it?

No, I do not regret yet...

Why you take pictures of children?

I'm not photographing children for themselves to bring a certain world of childhood into the visual space, as Sally Mann did, for example. In my pictures, the children, the adults, a horse or a dog are characters that complete a composition. I am not interested in emotions specific to a particular age, or in the facial expression of a human being. But I am aware that the presence of a child in a photo brings the emotions and the narrative that are specific to his or her age. If you want an example, in the photo with two girls, apparently twins, photographed from the back, it is not essential that they are children. Important is that it creates the illusion of "duplicate", which makes the photographic environment itself: creates the illusion of the duplicate of reality.

What’s your favourite photographic (or not) book?

I do not have a favorite book. I am reading books of memories, diaries. I prefer the philosopher E.M. Cioran that treats the human being in its relationship with the world with a subtle humor.

What is your favourite movie and why.

Again, I have not a favourite movie. But i like the movies that have been made in the former East Europe.

What is your worst photographic habit?

My worst photographic habit? I really don't know...maybe an excessive continous shooting (?).

Which piece of kit could not be without?

I have no a photographic kit, because i use, basically, a mirrorless Fuji with fixed lenses. Sometimes i use analogic only for medium or panoramic format.

Tell us your favourite photographic quote

A quote...I have now in my mind the words of Bazin. He declared that the invention of photography was “the most important event in the history of the plastic arts because it has freed Western painting… from its obsession with realism and allowed it to recover its aesthetic autonomy". But i will not explain here the fundamental importance of this idea.

What is the worst (photo) mistake you’ve ever made?

The worst photo mistake that I have done, it was, after i finished the school of photography, to reject, for a long period of time, the alternative ways to approach the photography.

Who would join you in your ultimate camera club?

With my friends who are intetested in photography. It is a little bit difficult to mentioned the name of a great photographer because I have a few in my mind.

What is your greatest photographic achievement to date?

The participation in the international photo project "The Home", one year ago in Cyprus.

Why does b/w appeal to you?

Maybe 80% of my photos are b&w. Of course, the colours are an important source of expressivity in plastic and visual arts. And, of course, colours, are important in documentary and photojournalism. I will no mention here the role of b&w to emphasizes the geometry of a photographic image. But, for me, the option for b&w is, in a sense, the first step to reject the character of realism of the photography, peculiar to this medium. On the other hand, a photography is seen as a space of different tensions.I think, the first tension is grounded in b&w option.Psychologically every one of us knows that, due to its mechanical reality, a photography has to be a perfect copy of the reality, not a simulacrum like a painting is.When we see a b&w photo, there will raise up a tension between what we see and ours expectations on a photographic image.And this tension will be found in our interpretation of that image.

What single thing would improve your photography?

 Of course, the practice.

What would you say to your younger self?

To avoid the mistake above mentioned.

If you could assist one(living) photographer who would it be?

Sally Mann

Which is more important good technique or a natural eye?

Axiom: The technic is fundamental in photography. A natural eye is important, of course, like in any others plastic and visual arts. In photography, the natural eye is important to build a good frame. For me, only a good frame, is not satisfactory every time. The technics of a photographic image (i.e. focus issues, exposure issues, multiple exposures, etc) is fundamental because the photographic medium itself means "the technology". Starting with Walter Benjamin's "aura", to fundamental problems of the philosophy of photography like  indexicality or intentionality, the technological character of the photographic image has gained more and more importance. If a photograph involved technology, we have to use, without any "consciousness problems" all the technic features that the photographic medium permits.

What are your future plans regarding to photography?

My photographic plans for the future are, on one hand, to finish my PhD@University of Bucharest, linked to the philosophy of photography and, on the other hand, I am interested to explore this (still) interesting medium through participations within photo projects, and to organize workshops and theoretical seminars on photography. I have just finished a workshop hosted by an art gallery from Bucharest.

Pls, do send a message to all of our readers who they are photographers, too.

My message to all those who are interested in photography is a simple one: express yours ideas or emotions through photographs without taking into account the constraints imposed by a formal style or another one.

Info: Corneliu Radu Sarion / Bucharest, Romania.

Licensed in Physics, PhD in Philosophy of Physics. PhD candidate in Letters with a thesis related to the problem of time in a photographic image. Former member of BULB collective. Lecturer within workshops of photography.