JONATHAN CHERRY: Who inspires you?

JOSCHA BRUCKERT: Well, a lot. I’ll give you a list of my most recent inspirations, one per category:

Book: “Now again” by Laura Letinsky

Blog: Supermassive Black Hole

Photographer: Jordan Tate

Artist: Richard Long

Music: “Tonight was a Disaster” by Casiotone for the Painfully Alone

Magazine: Turbochainsaw

JC: What is your most recent project all about?

JB: In “Was macht die Liebe in Mexiko?” (what is the love doing in mexico?) I worked with the idea that every picture is a self-portrayal of oneself. I looked at many old paintings and reinterpreted those who impressed/moved me the most in order to tell something about my personal experiences in life. I tried to capture who I am, when and where I live and what I do in a very condensed series of 27 photographs.

JC: What is the above image (male on sofa) all about?

JB: This image was inspired by “Leigh on a Green Sofa”, an absolutely astonishing painting by Lucian Freud. When I saw the painting for the first time, it reminded me of a very weird feeling I experienced during a strange night about two and a half years ago, when I was really depressed about various things. Therefore I just had to use it for the self-portrait project I mentioned above. When I exhibited the photograph a few months ago, a lady came to me and told me how impressed she was by the amazing illustration of male sexuality. That’s not what I meant to show at all, but I guess it’s a good thing that everybody seems to see a different story behind it.

JC: What equipment do you currently use?

JB: I use a Bronica SQ-B medium format camera with an 80mm-lens and a Canon AE-1 with a 50mm-lens, sometimes disposable cameras or PhotoBooth.

JC: What is next in the pipe line for you photographically?

JB: I am working on two projects. The first is a collaboration with my friend and fellow student Andreas Till. We will do a book about the night – happy drunken nights, sad lonely nights, the darkness itself, stars, planets, the morning after. It should be finished by spring 2010. The second one is called “no such thing” – over the course of the next few months I will try to demonstrate that there is no such thing as a bad photograph. The call for submissions and a little more information is on my website.

If you want to be informed about how these things turn out, just write an e-mail to joscha [at] joschabruckert [dot] de