An interview with Felix Linden
An interview with Felix Linden
Hello, my name is Felix Inden and I am a photographer from Köln in Germany and I specialize in landscape photography.
I was born in Spain and raised in both Germany and Chile. I learned from a very early age that there is so much to discover in this world. More than I will ever probably be able to see in my lifetime.
Moving around continents made me flexible and curious and I always loved to explore the nature that was surrounding me.
I was never a good student in art class I was much more interested in reading and writing at the time, it was many, many years later that I noticed that I may have an artistic side hidden deep down inside of me bursting to get out.
One day I ended up with a camera in my hands and very soon I realized that looking through the viewfinder suddenly changed everything.
A change of dimensions and this completely changed my life! I was now hooked.
I stopped all my other hobbies and developed a true obsession for photography.
Which has turned out to be my best addiction ever.
An image only works for me, if it evokes feelings.
Those can be positive or negative, warm or cold- but i try to avoid keeping the viewer indifferent to what he has in front of his eyes. Ideally you find yourself continuing the story of the image in your thoughts- like a movie from which my image is a still. This for me is the essence of photography.
1.- When and how did you first get interested in photography?
I have always been interested in photography, but not for the sake of art, fine art or whatever. I had a camera pretty much most of my life taking just crappy memory shots, tourist shots and stuff like that. I was also never good in drawing or art in general. I realized I loved art only when I started taking landscape photography a little bit more seriously around 10 years ago. Originally, this big life changing passion was initiated by my girlfriend Maria- now my wife and mother of our 2 lads.
2.- If you could go on a photo shoot with anyone who would it be and why?
That’s a fun question and also quite hard to answer. I enjoy going on photography trips with friends every now and then. But I feel the most inspiration when i’m actually out there alone on my own just for myself. Lonesome wolf story somehow… That said, it would sure be fun to have Simon Pegg with me to entertain when the light isn’t good.
3.- If you could give a younger version of yourself a bit of advice on photography what would it be?
I’m quite happy with the way my photography evolved so I wouldn’t do much different. I do think that I have focused too heavily on some compositions in many cases in previous years. Instead of moving on, I spent very long working on one composition, while I probably could have taken way better ones if I had only payed more attention and moved a few meters…
So that advice would be: Keep going dude, don’t grow roots at one spot!
4.- If you could only pick 5 photographers to follow on Instagram who would they be?
I love the work by Kilian Schönberger, Tobias Hägg, Stian Klo, Arild Heitmann, Abstract Aerial Art and all these artists are also great people that I have lot’s of fun with.
5.- What’s the number one place on your photography bucket list right now?
I don’t really like the idea behind a bucket list. To me this sounds like I would go to places simply to tick them off some list. This is not really how I work- instead I like to focus on places that speak to me and return to them multiple times to get a real grip of the feeling/mood of the place.
That said there are of course many places I would love to visit one day. Among this long list, there’s Nepal, China, Greenland, all countries that end with …stan and so many more.
6.- What to date is your best photographic moment, that time you felt like you just fired off that shot that would keep you smiling for years to come?
I think the first image of this type was a shot I took in Torres del Paine NP, Chile in 2015.
This was an amazing sunset where lenticular clouds were getting lit up by the sun and the lake I was shooting was really in motion. With big waves looking almost like the sea basically.
When I saw these images pop of my cameras screen, I knew these were going to do me a good service and they did.
7.- What’s your greatest photography achievement to date?
When I started photography, i took part in some photography contests and also won some of these.
But in the last years I didn’t really enter much to any contest anymore and in the ones I entered I didn’t score anything. I don’t have big achievements in photography that I feel like bragging about besides having some images printed by big magazines like National Geographics, many international features and stuff like that. To me my biggest achievement is that I feel insanely good while photographing and that’s the most important thing to me. Can one say my biggest achievement is realizing that I can actually enter a zen zone through photography?
8.-Where would you like to be in 5 years time?
I’m quite happy with the way I live so I wouldn’t change much in the next 5 years.
Of course if somebody wants to buy some exclusive licences of my images and give me some 100K bucks so that I can focus exclusively on the stuff that I enjoy most I would not mind at all…
9.- What is your top photography tip for anyone looking to improve their photography?
I think the most important tip for a beginner is:
Try all the different facets of photography (there are many) and do it multiple times so that you find out what you really prefer in photography and then (very important) never let social media dictate the way you shoot, the way you feel about your imagery and the way you behave in general.
10.- What was the worst mistake you made on a shoot?
I’ve messed up many images of my life because i just got too stressed. I was too excited and got caught up in my own ambition of getting the best image possible, focusing too much on one composition while I could have been getting multiple really good compositions in that same time frame. Besides this, I have destroyed quite a few cameras while shooting seascapes and getting too caught up in myself. I learned early, that a good insurance is quite a nice thing.
11.- What was the funniest thing to ever happen to you while out taking photographs?
I forgot a lens at a quite far away place in the mountains of Lofoten islands and i just noticed this when i arrived at the car. Then i had to walk back to get that lens, because it was my favourite lens and i was going to need it to hopefully shoot Auroras that night. Yep you can believe me i was laughing about myself most of the hike. After cursing myself in the beginning.
12.- Who inspires you as a photographer?
I draw inspiration from many different fields. Music, videos, movies and artists in general. Many more experienced photographers inspire me- maybe one can’t really see this in my own work. But I love Bruce Percy, Hans Strand, Anselm Adams, Sebastiao Salgado and so many more.
13.- What does photography mean to you?
Photography for me means everything besides my family. It’s my hobby, it’s a part of how I make a living. It’s how I meditate and leave all stress behind. It’s the thing that get’s me into my zen mode and it just gives me fuel for my everyday life. I couldn’t live without it!
14.- What is your favourite hobby outside of photography?
I always had hobbies in my life but photography pretty much took over every single one of these hobbies. If I can call that a hobby, I like to cook and also gardening.
15.- Tell us three things people may not know about you.
Once I happened to be recorded singing together with my two brothers as kids. This was then multiplied into a chorus that was the jingle of a song that ended up on an official music record.
Be sure… I suck at singing!
I once made an apprenticeship as gardener in a botanical garden after I studied philology.
In my youth I was in a German Bundesliga team for road racing.
Special discipline: mountain time trial.
16.- Which Genre of photography do you love most?
I can appreciate every single style of photography that I see, but for me personally landscape photography is the one I love the most and that get’s me fired up again and again (and again).
17.- What music do you listen to while editing photographs?
While editing I most often listen to electronic music. Techno, Minimal, Drum´n´Bass. Stuff that keeps me awake and powers me. But I also drop some old-school hip-hop every now and then.
18.- What’s your best bit of photography gear in your bag?
I couldn’t live without my Nikon D850 and the Nikkor 14- 24 2.8
Have a look at my photography tips and tricks section in the menu where I cover everything from…
ND Filters explained and how to choose the right ones,
Photography tips everything from filters to tripods,
Seascape Photography explained,
Long Exposure photography tips,
How to backup your photographs,
My secret tips to photography,
Thank you so very much Felix for taking the time to do this interview, it has been a pure pleasure learning a bit more about you and your work.
Do please check out Felix’s website below where his print shop will be opening shortly, he has an amazing collection of images that would look great on any wall. Also give him a follow on his social media channels too to stay up to date with his latest work.
I have also interviewed the following photographers
and check out my blog post on the top 10 female photographers to follow on Instagram.
See you out there,
Kieran.