We caught up with italian photographer Alex Fakso for the first ilovegraffiti.de Smalltalk in 2010 Fakso began his career in the early 90s as a skate photographer. He subsequently embarked upon a more targeted personal quest which led him to record the entire process of graffiti writers in action, in both train and subway depots.
A skater and graffiti writer himself, he has a raw, direct, uncompromising approach to photography, and is always looking for images that portray hard, extreme situations. His choice of expressive language ensures that he is an involved witness to every scene. His images are strong, clear and immediate. He tries to alwaysfind the right moment for using his camera in order to offer very natural images.Read what he have to say in this little smalltalk with us.
Alex, what you been up to the 31st of december 2009 around 11.55pm?
Party in London and get wasted… haha…
Whats up to in 2010!?
Still photography, with a fantastic camera… try it, it´s cheep…
Anything you plan to do in the near future, anything not done yet!?
Always evolving my photography, I have a lot of ideas in my mind but wouldnt really share right now, cause it happen too often to me you know, my style has been copied several times, and no one of these biters declare where the idea came from, I´m tired of it., it´s quite sad.. so that’s why i´m always careful announcing new ideas and visions or to show it on the internet
Sure, well, Alex, lets review a decade. Fakso´s goods and bads of the 2000s
Hm, well, to many things happen the past 10 years, a dream came true .. my first book “Heavy Metal“. As for the Bads in those years, I just lost too many friends… and, I don’t like too loose friends. Because to give some trust to anyone is always very difficult for me.
Yes your book is a milestone of the 2000s. Bytheway, we would like to ask this question, hows your opionion on that two new books from germany, Ruedione´s Backflashes and Nils Müller´s Blütezeit, we are sure you already had a chance to see the books?
Sure, i can’t claim to be the only one, right? Well, its good to have different styles between the photographers. This is how it have to be. I know its hard to make a book, you need a portfolio full of good photos. not just a few and that possibly takes years. These two books got a nice look. I have not seen the books in reality yet, just quick screenshot in the internet, I like Ruedione´s book because he got that consciousness.I know Ruedi for a long time and we had good talks about the whole thing. I don’t really know that much about Nils and his book. For me it is very important to know the artist thoughts as well, to know the photographer and have the possibility to talk about the style, the background and the idea etc.that means a lot to me.
Ok, got it, but its not a typical readers opinion, not many people have the chance to talk to the author?
Yes i know, but i have this possibility sometimes. And i got that different eye on such books, because im a photographer myself you know. I think in the whole graff world no one take this photography as an serious way of expression, no one get the idea behind it.-Its a shame because the moment you do the piece got the same importance than the proper piece. My work is not about the paint performance only. Or to show how you paint. I don’t care that much about it, it is more about a research inside me, a diffenret way to discover that optical phenomenon called graffiti on trains, For me it is more about a transformation of a style. That artform Photography develop itself through the years, graffiti not. But maybe one day it will, just a matter of time i guess
Whats your absolute favourite at the moment, still the worldwide trainyards?
Of course. I couldnt find anything more intense than the action itself. This movement is the most powerfull world I been into. A random other photographer told me my photography could be compared to war photography.
War Photography?
yeah, just without people dying in the scenario. As for the intense of the moment its very similar, Back in my first days as photographer i thought it might be interesting to go to some conflict regions such as africa or the far east and catch the atmosphere over there. But i feel like i dont need to do this, that action photography, with trainwriters, the whole thing seriously fulfill my work.
Alex, what makes a good photographer these days? Thousands of atmosphere shots in the www can be seen everyday, what makes the difference in your opinion?
Hmm, you know, pretty often i go and show my photos to somebody who basically dont care about photography and dont know anything about it. Its always like “wow, nice photos, what kind of camera do you use” But its always funny cause it is not the camera counts on a good photo. These digital era show you how to push the button and how to shoot, but not how to make the moneyshot. A perfect photo is never done by a good camera, its done by the one who pushed the button in the right time at the right place with the right light and whatever it needs to have an beautiful result at the end of the day. Some of the photos i have seen are really good ,but its pretty rare. The graffiti scene doesnt really care about the photo itself, its just the piece that counts. It pretty bad but its ok for me..it is like it is..
Bytheway, what camera do you use?
I got different cameras, it depends on what project i work for.Digi film don´t matter anymore, but as i said, the equipment to use isnt that important
Thanks for the interview this little interview and all the best for 2010! Anything to add from your side?
Thank you guys , 2010 means hard times for all of us. Fuck that world full of idiots and bad people .. especially the BTP, the British Transport Police aka London Mafia, they have fucked up a lot of my good friends lately, fuck the law!
Alex Fakso Website: Fakso.com
Heavy Metal/Amazon: Link
