1. What’s your favourite Amsterdam neighbourhood to shoot?
I live at the edge of Amsterdam-Zuid, De Pijp and Rivierenbuurt. So if I want to shoot I normally walk to the centre of Amsterdam and I have many options to choose from. I tend to see the Dam as a turning point. Once I’ve reached Dam Square it’s time to find a way home, always searching for new spots or surprising new places. I like to catch normal people in peculiar places and strange characters at normal places. That’s basically it.
2. Which secret spot would you recommend (now not secret anymore)?
I am always fascinated by de Spaarndammer-buurt. It’s architecture with a lot of "Amsterdamse School", especially around museum Het Schip is a mesmerizing scenery, while it’s still had a feeling of oldfashioned Amsterdam. It’s not yet spoiled by too much tourism or yuppified and smoothed out. I don’t go there often enough.
3. What’s your most memorable streetphotography experience from the past year?
Everyday you go out on the streets, you can get surprised and be gifted with an unexpected present. That something happens right before your eyes and sometimes you are even able to catch it with your camera. But looking out and seeing it is the first pleasure. So sometimes the best pictures are the photos you were not able to take, but are only made in your head. So, to me it’s not a just one most memorable experience, but the thrill of trying to see something that fascinates me and the attempt to catch my fascination and to share that with others.
4. Which type of images are you currently shooting?
It’s called streetphotography, but I consider myself more as a people-photographer. For thirteen years I made a satirical TV-series, Koefnoen, in which I tried to capture the current zeitgeist by playing certain characters. Still, when I’m walking through Amsterdam, I’m looking for characters I’d like to play. I’m constantly looking for situations that look like an opening shot for a scene, shots that make you curious of what happend not only before or will happen after.
5. Which (street)photographer inspires you?
It’s not only streetphotographers who inspire me. Especially since I make the photography-podcast “Ik Hoor Wat Je Ziet”, in which I follow all kinds of photographers, I find it inspiring that all these people have found their own way of looking at things and the stories they love to tell. Their quest in finding what makes their pictures theirs, is always inspiring!
Owen is featured in the 3rd edition of State of Amsterdam
Copyright of each photo featured belongs to Owen Schumacher
