BY DIETER DEBRYUNE
© Stig De Block from the series ‘Suburban Dreams’
Tell us about your approach to photography. How did it all start? What are your memories of your first shots?
Stig De Block (SDB): During my childhood I developed a great interest in the true American scenery I saw in Hollywood movies, which I continued being fascinated by until this day. It’s the exoticism captured in those settings that got me searching for similar suburban structures in my nearby neighborhood.
Because, I am sure someone from Asia or Australia would have the same feeling about the place where I live as I got from American suburbs. That’s where the idea for Suburban Dreams came to life, although it took me years to connect that exotic feeling with the true beauty of my hometown. It took me 7 years to really develop that state of mind ‒ from the first shot I took with my father’s Nikon F301 till now.
© Stig De Block from the series ‘Suburban Dreams’
How did your research evolve with respect to those early days?
SDB: I still watch movies from the 1980-’99 era because they inspire me to develop my imagery. And I am still caught by a great exoticism when I look at work of great photographers like Stephen Shore or Peter Brown etc… They taught me everything I know. They taught me to appreciate the ordinary and to try to catch its beauty. It made me not take things for granted.
© Stig De Block from the series ‘A12, Antwerp’
What do you think about photography in the era of digital and social networking?
SDB: THe post-internet age and digital imaging are inseparable but in my opinion it made us impatient and uninterested because we scroll without looking. We want to show too much too soon. The digital age pushes a lot of us to publish work without much consideration, because we fear being missed out. I try to ignore it but then again internet blogging is becoming an established form of spreading your work and connecting. In January I installed instagram to show my process and connect with other creatives. It’s also a good platform to discover new places from a personal point of view. But it is what it is, a digital platform.
About your work now. How would you describe your personal research in general?
SDB: I am attracted to, at first sight, uninteresting common places. Before starting a project I have to get a connection with a place that is strong enough to build a story on. Mostly it happens by driving through familiar boroughs and trying to look for that thing that I didn’t see before, or a situation happening that wasn’t there the last time I drove by. A place during daytime can look very different at night, or a place can be far more interesting in capturing during summer because of the light.
When I first moved to the city last year I started the series ‘2018′ named after the postal code I live in and the year I will finish it. With those parameters in mind it could go anywhere. For example, I’ve been going on walks after work and during the night, feeling like an outsider capturing everything I find interesting. After a couple of months I realized a lot of streets looked similar so I began to photograph them from the same angle in the same lighting conditions. That’s what I am doing for now but I still have three years to go. There are other paths to walk and faces to shoot so I don’t make any conclusions yet with this body of work.
© Stig De Block from the series ‘2018’
Tell us about your latest project ‘Solid Grey’
SDB: For ‘Solid Grey’ I made multiple journeys between 2013 & 2015 to Lanzarote, the easternmost island of the Canary Islands. During those journeys I drove back and forth along the ever-changing landscape to document the impact of the isle’s volcanic eruptions from 1730-36 and 1824. This disastrous event covered a great part of the island with lava, resulting in what is now called Timanfaya park. This aggressive but beautiful natural phenomenon is one of the main elements of Lanzarote’s (tourist)-economy.
The body of work shows how the inhabitants have learned to adapt to their environment, rather than to adjust the landscape. They embedded their needs and provisions in a landscape determined by nature itself.
It’s an on-going project that I will keep documenting for the foreseeable future.
© Stig De Block from the series ‘Solid Grey’
Is there any contemporary artist or photographer, even if young and emerging, who influenced you in some way?
SD: I cannot give you a specific photographer that got me into photography but it was a photo of Thomas Struth I saw in Het Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam back in 2012 that influenced me to literally take a step back and observe urban structures rather than shoot whatever I come across. That photo kind of made me define my own field.
Three books of photography that you recommend?
Alec Soth - From Here To There: Alec Soth’s America.
Max Pinckers - Will they sing like raindrops or leave me thirsty
Ives Maes - The Future Of Yesterday
Is there any show you’ve seen recently that you find inspiring?
SDB: The most interesting exhibition I did in the past 6 months was at deSingel, organized by Vai, called “StadBuitenStad” (city out of the city). It looked at themes and contemporary urban situations the way I observe them but from the perspective of a true architect, a researcher or even an environmental planner. The featured lecture given by Labo S with Bruno Notteboom and others discussed a dozen of very Belgian landscapes and how or why they changed during the last hundred years. The changes were illustrated by systematic views with an interval of 10 to 30 years.
Installation view from the exhibition StadBuitenStad, deSingel, Belgium © Fabian Schröder
Projects that you are working on now and plans for the future?
SDB: I just finished ‘Aftermath’, a portrait series I made during my visits to a Brazilian Jijitsu fight club. The photos show the impact on a human body after an intense muscle fight. I worked on it for a year now and it feels finished. The complete body of work will be done in October.
But I never work on a single project. I currently have about 5 big projects running over several years. It gives me the freedom to lay aside a project I am stuck with or don’t have a clear vision on anymore. That’s also how I evaluate the images. I work on something really intense for a period of time and let it rest as I continue working on another project. Then later I see interesting things in photos I didn’t select before, and vice versa.
At the moment I am re-evaluating ‘Turistas’, deciding on how long I am going to work on it. Do I make it an on-going project for another 5 years or do I wrap it up? I am leaving to New York soon where I am going to try to photograph busy streets when they’re empty, without tourists this time.
© Stig De Block from the series ‘Turistas’
How do you decide when a series is at an end?
SDB: When a set of photos tells the story I want to tell and I see no potential in taking more photos, then I stop. I never work with a pre-determined volume of images in mind but I make small prints during the process in order to visually see what fits and what doesn’t. For example I just printed a sample book of ‘Solid Grey’ to see how it works in print and after re-evaluating the series I am planning a new trip to shoot more up-close shots to get deeper into the story.
© Stig De Block from the series ‘Solid Grey’
You also work as an commercial photographer, how do you experience this world?
SDB: Commercial assignments require efficiency. Budgets are low and time is money so in terms of workflow it’s the complete opposite of my personal work. When it comes to visual language and subject I try to work in the same field as much as possible.
How do you think that photography will be evolving in the future and where do you place yourself in this future?
SDB: The evolution to the digital era of photography brought the craft closer to mainstream. It got more accessible through mobile phones and in the past 5 years it even became a way of digital (over)communication. On the other hand am I not able to scan high-res negatives for large prints at home. I hope analog and digital will grow more towards each other in the future and make the use of both more accessible. I love the attention analog photography gets on the internet and in certain print magazines. My goal is to work analog for clients that see the difference in aesthetics and quality.