By: Chris Stead

Youth and talent are always a great boon to art. The youth provides vitality to the art while talent offers the means to produce moving and inspiring pieces. Jeanine Thiele has both of these and her work is proof. Working mainly in Germany, Jeanine combines her career and something that she loves to create an environment where she can truly live. Her photography tells a story all its own and it can only be appreciated if you see it. Jeanine lives the life of a creative professional with the heart of a true artist.

Gothic Angst Webzine (GAW): How did you first become interested in photography?

Jeanine Thiele (JT): Photography, as I do it now, digs really late into my life. 2002 I started to do some photos of my favorite Band Wolfsheim at a concert. - Just as a fan of their music to share with some friends afterwards and keep the memories. But from that point I knew… that’s my thing and so I did much more concert-pics of this band and for their official website.

The first pictures were made with a little analog pocket camera but I recognized pretty fast, that I need something better to satisfy my claims. I bought my first analog SLR camera in 2004 - began to do more pics of other concerts and festivals. The next step was a digital SLR which I bought in December 2005. I also started to shoot Models. Since that, photography became more and more a part of my life.
August 2006 was something special to me. I started my own company “maywork” - working only as a photographer and getting paid for it. It was a really hard decision to do that - leaving everything I did before behind, but I’m happy with it and that’s the main point. Doing what I love so much.

GAW: Do you consider yourself part of the Goth culture?

JT: Yes and no. On the one hand I live my life what this culture is about. Having deep thoughts and not these typical mainstream opinions - doesn’t matter what it is. On the other hand I don’t think every day and night about all these ‘dark things’. I just have a look behind everything. I also don’t wear black all the time, sometimes you can see me on the street with a Jeans and a red shirt for example… in my opinion Goth Culture isn’t just about wearing black! It’s much more about how you live your life.
(Editors Note: We agree, Jeanine! There is more to it than wearing black.)

GAW: How long have you been involved with the Goth culture?

JT: There was no specific date where I knew - now I’m a goth or into this culture. It was much more a transformation over several months. I had the first contacts to the scene as I heard some songs of Wolfsheim and Peter Heppners side-project with Witt. It was a hit here in Germany in 1998 and played nearly on every radio station. From that time… my taste of music changed more and more.

GAW: How has the Goth culture influenced you art?

JT: A lot. I love to shoot at abandoned places or just to do photos of these locations. I don’t wanna show happy faces at a beautiful location. Life is about much more, than just happiness. Anger, teary-ness, silence, perishable-ness and of course deep thoughts. I also love to play with contrasts. Colorful pictures but with a non-obvious background - you have to look behind my work. I don’t want people looking at my pictures and saying… “Ahhhh that’s nice” without understanding the meaning.
One of my favourite works is a violinist in an untenanted and snowed amphitheater in Gothic clothes. At the first look you may think: beautiful. But you have to ask yourself - why is she playing there? Alone… and nobody is listening? That is what I want… people should think about the pictures and create their own story - there is no right or wrong of it.

GAW: What inspires you to do photography?

JT: Mainly my life and the world around me. The lambency of people I’m confronted with nearly every day - just have a look at the newspapers. Also the skimpiest thing can be very inspiring - a sere rose or just a word you’ve read/heard somewhere or things that happen in my life.

GAW: You have taken many photos of musicians and performances, does music influence your photography?

JT: Yes a lot. There are some of my works which were inspired by songs of Diary of Dreams, Wolfsheim, Neuroticfish and [:SITD:] - just to name a few. Music is also a big part of my life - I couldn’t live without it. I often hear a song, pictures come to my mind and I can’t forget the song. - Then I know… this is worth doing a photoshoot. Well and doing pics at a concert is great… listening to good music and working. You often have the problem, that there’s no good light available, but that’s the challenge. I always try to win and to catch the atmosphere. This is much more important to me, than to do the perfect shot of the concert.

GAW: What is your favorite subject to shoot?

JT: I love to work with people and I’m really into portraits. It’s interesting how you can create different atmospheres - just changing the angle or if the model is smiling or not. Facial expressions and especially the eyes aren’t easy to handle - you always have to catch the right second. The details are really important to me.

GAW: What are the programs you use most often to work on your art?

JT: There’s just one program I use - Photoshop. This program isn’t easy to understand, but there are so many options to do your final artwork or sometimes to give the picture a complete new meaning than planned before. I’m working nearly every day several hours with this program - but I’m still learning new techniques and over and over again I’m surprised what’s possible with this program - it’s just amazing.

GAW: When shooting photos, do you prefer digital or analog cameras?

JT: That differs. You hardly can compare both techniques. If you shoot the same object with the same settings but with different cameras - it doesn’t look the same. It’s hard do explain… an analog camera catches the atmosphere and the colors in a different way than a digital
one. I still use my analog SLR, but only for black and white photography. The results are much better than to shoot with my digital one and the internal black and white settings or doing the retouch afterwards with a program - to convert into black and white. When I’m using my analog SLR I surrender retouching afterwards. I’m just using the camera to create the atmosphere and not Photoshop.

GAW: Is there any particular brand of camera that you prefer?

JT: For the analog pictures I swear by my Minolta Dynax 404si and a good lens with a high focal length (up to 300mm). Digital I prefer Canon. For my portraits I’m using a fixed focal length of 50mm - but a high photosensitivity with f1.8 I really won’t miss this lens - it’s also a good one to use at concerts.

GAW: Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring photographers?

JT: It’s all about creativity and practicing. You don’t have to read thousands of books to learn how to be a good photographer. This is just to understand the techniques and how everything is working. But this by it’s own won’t make an interesting photo. You need your ideas and not copying others… try to find your own style. This is what a photo makes interesting! Don’t hang in there, because others are saying this isn’t good or perfect. A good photo doesn’t have to be perfect in its technique how it was made - it’s about the thoughts and the idea behind.

My motto: Only photos made with soul will touch.