Artist of the Week
Paul Pahikainen
By Helen Fylactou
Posted October 9th, 2007.
Recently Paul Pahikainen, an up-and-coming Toronto photographer, was kind enough to sit and talk with me about art, history, and science fiction. Here's how the interview went:
MONDO: Why did you choose photography as your medium? Do you feel that you view the world differently through the lens of a camera?
PP: I come from a family of artists; my mom's a painter, my dad's a designer, and my brother draws comic books. I don't think I could've avoided art if I tried. So I embraced it. But, aside from genetics, my decision to use photography as an art form actually comes from viewing my father's photos as a child, as he was once a photographer as well. I've always thought of photography as being real. Real moments with real people — even in architecture you'll always find patterns and geometry you've never noticed before until someone frames it for you, and that too is out there in the real world. Of course, there's not always real situations in staged photos…but real people had to set it all up and pose for that too…so it's real, okay? Now you've got me rambling... Thanks.
Click for larger image.
MONDO: If you could take a photograph of any place or person what/who1 would it be?
PP: Any place or person…? I can't say there's any person in particular I'd like to photograph. It's really more like, anybody that's photogenic and loves/wants to pose. To me, that's most important. With portraits, especially, I'd just like myself, the model, and the client to be proud of it.
As far as places, I would choose anywhere really. Preferably somewhere that's either very modern, or really old. A fully functional studio would be great too. But if I were to choose something improbable (I'm not saying impossible — time travel may exist one day), I'd love to take some shots of a real sci-fi city in the distant future… Seriously. In the end all that matters is that I'm excited about the work I'm doing.
MONDO: Artists often refer to a muse that inspires their artistic outlook on the world. Do you have one? What art/artist inspires you?
PP: There's no artist in particular that inspires me. It's more like, whenever I see art I like, I'll try to analyze and figure out how it's been done, and hope I can somehow incorporate what I saw into something different that I'd like to do. There are some great artist community websites, such as deviantart.com, that I browse and appreciate the work of so many super-talented, unknown artists around the world. Collectively they inspire me and I try to feed off of everything I see.
MONDO: With the ever-growing popularity of stock photography, how do you see photography shifting from an individual art to a corporate ownership? Is there a difference between photography owned by an artist, and photography owned by a company for the sole purpose of mass distribution?
Click for larger image.
MONDO: Although entirely untrue, there are many people who believe the myth that taking a photo is like stealing a part of someone or “taking a part of their soul.” What is your view of taking portraits of people? Stealing a moment of a life? Or preserving a moment in a life?
PP: I believe that photography both steals and preserves moments in life and time. It allows culture, history, trends, styles, significant events of one generation to be shown to future generations.
MONDO: What are your future plans for your work?
PP: My plans for the future would be to replace my constantly outdated equipment that I can't afford and try my hand in the world of stock. I'm currently trying to commit at least half of my efforts to the more traditional stock themes, such as business, lifestyle, food, and so on. As well as trying to improve upon what I've done already and the styles I enjoy doing, but that probably wouldn't sell in stock.
Interested in seeing more photography? Contact the photographer at paupah [at] gmail.com.