Nina Hartmann is a 19 year old photographer currently living in Chicago. This is a selection of some of her new work and some of my favourite older images that I couldn’t not feature.. Should I even bother backing up her photography? Just: amazing.
Tell us what you’re listening to / watching / reading / taking / smoking / having at the moment.
Lately i’ve been listening to Crucifix, Black Humor, and Slowdive obsessively. As soon as I moved here I started smoking again after having quit for a year and a half, its pretty horrible. I’ve been really into corny movies, too. The last three movies I have watched : Doom Generation, Thrashin’, and Back to the Beach.
Tell us something you’ve learnt recently. Anything.
I’m not good a punching. I think I broke my knuckle punching my friend the other day.
Are you working on any projects?
Nothing too crazy right now, I’ve been taking too many weed pictures.
Many of your images are of life on the road and travelling. What is it you like about being on the road?
For the past 3 months I’ve been living in chicago, I guess I am permanently settled here for a while. So my pictures have been a lot more contained and different. I guess I was just looking for something, but I’ve realized that people are the same everywhere. I don’t feel too weird about settling down, though. But I will always travel when I can. I have some terrible undying restlessness, but I also like living somewhere. It makes me appreciate my time more. Living in an endless void of nothing can be rough. I started becoming intensely jaded and everywhere seemed the same. The past couple years have kind of been a blur.
Would you say documentation is a key motivation for your photography?
Definitely, I couldnt see myself being any other kind of photographer. I even consider my set up photos documentary because they come from real ideas that parallel everything else in my life. Materializing feelings, maybe?
What do you think about things like blogs and flickr? Have they had a great impact on you as a photographer?
It’s kind of amazing how much good work comes out of it all… honestly. It’s still untainted and raw. I am impressed by photography on the internet more than galleries lately.
Are you influenced mainly from other photographers or what’s going on around you?
I’d have to say whats going on around me. I think my friends influence me more than anything. I’m really lucky to have an amazing group of friends that are doing similar things and love to help each other out.
Which photographers do you love right now?