Q&A: Photographer Julian Essink Documents People In His Special Way
CAPTURING HIS SUBJECTS IN THE MOST ELEGANT AND EYE CATCHING WAY - photographer Julian Essink truly has a way with his photos. Often communicating an unspoken message and feeling with his photos, Essink’s allows the viewer to almost feel as they are the one behind the lens. The Berlin-based photographer received his bachelor’s degree in Photography and Media at Fachhochschule Bielefeld in 2016. Upon finishing his program Essink started splitting his time between Barcelona and Los Angeles, and will now return to Berlin for the Fall before spending time in Los Angeles for the holidays.
With a previous love for digital photography over film, Essink’s love for film photography was sparked thanks to a friend and their TLR camera. Now, Essink shoots exclusively on film and finds creative freedom with his editorial work in particular.
With a goal to work on his own portrait book next year and of course plans to continue to collaborate and create, Essink is a key photographer for your radar. Read below to learn more about Essink’s photography career and what’s to come.
LUNA: How are you doing these days? How was your trip to LA?
ESSINK: I‘m alright - I put a lot of time and resources (hi fellow film photographers) into building my portfolio and shooting free projects during winter. So the past couple of months I distanced myself a bit from photography and rebalanced. I’m kind of feeling like my current stay in LA is the final phase of my absence - I can feel the tingle in my fingers again.
LUNA: How did your journey with film photography begin?
ESSINK: To be honest I hated film for the longest time. For the first 10 years of taking photos I worked entirely digital and didn’t get what people liked about film. But then, in a time that I was bored by my own digital output, my friend visited me in Barcelona with his TLR camera and I got super into it. That’s four years ago and now my entire portfolio is shot on film.
LUNA: What do you like about film over digital?
ESSINK: Too many reasons. The whole process, look, interaction. After a day of shooting I feel empty - I have no idea what I did, if anything comes out close to how I saw it through the viewfinder. The uncertain and unplanned makes out so much of the image.
LUNA: You take the most incredible portraits - what steps do you take to get your models comfortable?
ESSINK: Thank you so much! But to be honest I have no idea. I think I’m just trying to be nice and respectful. There’s no one size fits all recipe.
LUNA: You’re from Berlin but have been splitting your time between Barcelona and Los Angeles in recent years. How do you think these different cities have shaped you as a creative?
ESSINK: I have only been in Berlin for a year, so it hasn’t really played a roll in my development as a creative.
With Barcelona, I have a way deeper and longer connection. Moving there was the best decision of my 20s and I‘d probably move back any time again. There’s something really carefree about it - I was super broke for most of that time, but I enjoyed life more than ever before in Germany. The people I was surrounded by were all super inspiring and shifted my mindset in so many ways.
Los Angeles was never really in reach for me to be honest. But then I met my wife, who’s a born and raised Angelino. We did 2.5 years of long distance and I got to know the city. I love it here, the fast pace, so many niches, cultures, characters. For a photographer it’s paradise.
LUNA: Does your creative process differ from commercial vs editorial projects?
ESSINK: Sometimes I feel like I’m an entire different photographer on jobs. For the longest time I tried to please every client, shoot the way they’d want it to look. Most of my commercial work doesn’t even carry my name on it lol. When I shoot an editorial I want to do whatever I feel like and try to give everyone on the team the same freedom to express themselves. The goal is to slowly unite both worlds.
LUNA: You work with the incredible Take Creative - what’s this relationship been like and what do you like about collaborating with them?
ESSINK: I can’t really speak on that yet. I joined the Take family late last year after redoing my entire portfolio at the beginning of the pandemic. Didn’t leave a stone unturned. So I’m pretty much a blank sheet of paper for most people in Germany. So Take and I are still working on building my brand and getting my name out. Which could go faster, but then again I’m amazingly shitty at selling myself and doing the whole Instagram shabang.
LUNA: Favorite shoot from the past year?
ESSINK: Super difficult - every shoot has a different energy. But I think the story „childish“ for schön! Magazine was def a turning point for me. Also loved our team, made of old and new friends.
LUNA: What’s something you wish you had known at the beginning of your career?
ESSINK: I just wish I would’ve bought all those cameras before the hype. Other than that, I enjoy the learning curve.
LUNA: What intentions do you have for the rest of the year?
ESSINK: I’m actually only back home in Berlin for September and October. So I’ll try to make some money then. Afterwards I‘m returning to LA to spend the holiday season with my wife‘s family.
I’ve also been thinking to publish a portrait book next year - it’s time to finalize the concept and start shooting.
