Stockland Martel

For the past two and a half years, Jan Steinhilber has been working on a personal project comprising portraits of birds—an ongoing series that was recently honored by the AOP. To me, the bird photos seemed like a departure from his commercial work, which is primarily automotive, conceptual still lifes, and crisp interiors and landscapes. So I asked Jan about the project and how these images fit in with his commercial work. Here’s what he said:

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“These are all real and living animals. I photographed them partly in my studio and partly at the locations where they are kept. They seem to be a lot different from my commercial work because the subject is different, but then, the light and the image composition are not so far from what I do in my commercial work.

I became fascinated with birds when I shot living birds for an advertising campaign a couple of years ago. These animals are so different and so far away from what we are. And they seem to look at you as if they know this. Even though there is a kind of a relationship between them and their trainers, it’s totally different compared to the relationship between dogs and their holders, for example.

And then, when you look at these animals, it is also amazing how perfect they are ‘designed’ by nature, in terms of functuality but also in terms of aesthetics.”

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