5Q2 - Marcus Glahn
In our format 5 questions to (5Q2), we talk to the artists of our Instagram takeovers about the work they show, their influences and upcoming plans.
In November 2020 we talked to Marcus Glahn, a Berlin-based photographer.
Marcus Glahn is a Berlin based photographer with a personal focus on social documentary photography. He graduated from the faculty of Art & Design at Bauhaus–University Weimar and works as an editorial and commercial photographer for newsweeklies, magazines, branding agencies and various cultural institutions.
Fototreff: Did you encounter a special challenge while working on the project you’re showing?
Marcus Glahn: When I visited Romania for the first time I feared that not speaking Romanian language will be a huge barrier to find the people I was looking for. But actually the German minority had a huge influence in the areas I was roaming. Despite to English a lot of people understood some German words and that helped to find the members. When I sometimes ran out of contacts.
Fototreff: Is there a photographer or artist who influenced you in a particular way?
Marcus Glahn: I am a big fan of the early portrait works of Bernhard Fuchs and the »Portraits« book was one of my first photobooks ever. I like the idea of taking full-body portrait photographs of everyday encounters in this very sensitive way.
Fototreff: Which photobook should everybody own?
Marcus Glahn: There are so many classic books like Frank’s »The Americans« or most works of Alec Soth which always make sense in a bookshelf. Personally I like books with a certain kind of humor like »Vinter« or »I love Borås« by Lars Tunbjörk. It’s outstanding how he made use of flash in everyday situations and collected moments you would not dream of. Another great example of books which made me smile is Peter Piller’s »Von Erde schöner« a collection of aerial photograph archival footage compiled in categories you will find out while browsing the book. A book I recently bought in a nice little vintage store and appreciate a lot is »Lumières.
Fototreff: Have you started working on a new project? Any beans to spill?
Marcus Glahn: Living in Berlin for about three years now, I feel embedded in the city more and more and recently started a project an a — to my eyes — very special street connecting three major city districts. It’s a center of interest to various communities without providing any residential properties to them. People come here for special occasions like work, religion, free time activities or just in transit to one of the other districts. Like in my featured work and other earlier works I am interested in peoples environments, diverse communities and the exploration of these subcultures in portrait-, still- and landscape photographs.
