Max Meyer
Contemplating stillness with evocative photography by the multidisciplinary LUCA School of Art student
First introduced to the medium of photography at the age of 16 whilst studying in Antwerp, it’s clear the practice truly resonated with Max Meyer. After completing his Bachelors, he chose to continue to develop his practice further with a photography MA and further still as he is now completing an MA in film direction at LUCA School of Arts.
Having learnt the base level essentials of how to ‘technically’ take a photographic image and the processes involved in working in a dark room early on, the opportunity to develop the context and personal element of his practice whilst on the MA was an important element for Max. “The course gave me a lot of space to deepen, explore and concentrate on what intrigues me within my work”, he explains, “the programme was pretty intense with workshops, masterclasses, writing a thesis and delivering a final project, but all in all, it was the most important and interesting year of my photography education”.
Consistency is a key focus within Max’s practice, revisiting the same processes and methods each time he starts a project. He’s used the same combination of analogue camera and lens for years, due to its sensitivity to light, colour and texture. Often, the start point is to “go somewhere without purpose” yet be open to observing the shapes, textures and moments that he finds interesting. “Photography is a way for me to breathe and observe” he tells us, “I’ll be in a certain state of mind and look for things that represent that. I come, I observe, I shoot”.
The serene, allusive images that Max creates portray this notion of chance, but also the idea of restriction. His considered framing within the image is tight and focused and allows the frame of the photograph to become a space for both opportunity and boundary, as he tries to “minimise the amount of information in the picture”. Materiality of the image as an object also plays an essential role in Max’s practice. He makes small test prints, creating compositions to scan and work with in different ways in order to find the presentation best suited to the work. Creating still sequences that don’t focus on one subject but instead demand careful viewing allow for a narrative to appear.
This affinity between still and moving image is something that Max is continuing to develop throughout his current studies in film direction and we look forward to seeing where this careful blurring of mediums takes his work.
