Stephan Zirwes

Stephan Zirwes recalls helping his father on amateur film shoots. “I am looking back to situations when we were hiking and I had to always walk twice for the camera. It was horrible in the very moment, but of course, I enjoyed the finished movie afterwards.“

And Zirwes continues to enjoy the impact of the visual today. He is a photographer specializing in images taken from the air, capturing everyday subjects from the rare perspective of a helicopter. By inviting viewers to look at the world vertically, the familiar suddenly becomes foreign, challenging us to reinterpret our surroundings.

Ranging from corn fields and scrap yards to festival parking lots and glaciers, his photos are conceived without consideration for proportions or ornamental structures. Their aesthetic consists in the fact that they were created without aesthetic intention.

Although his archive is packed with images, Zirwes continues to add to the collection. He is currently working on his first photo book, „Facing Pages.“ It juxtaposes one image against another to illustrate both equity and diversity – whether in design, color, structure or content.

Read the full interview in the printed issue of Wertical.

Release: 2014.

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