Interview with photographer Martien Mulder, pt.1

Interviews 12/5/08 | Interviews, Martien Mulder, Walter Schupfer

Photographer Martien Mulder

To sit down with Martien Mulder’s work is to forget the troubles of the world. Like a spa without the new age music. Or a long stretch of beach without the cigarette butts. It is calming. It is serene. It is, quite simply, beautiful.

Base: What is your first memory in relation to photography?

Martien Mulder: Well, my father was a passionate amateur photographer. I was fascinated by the camera from a very young age….. I guess that’s how I got introduced to the magic of making an image, and I remember the instant love for it…

The work of Martien Mulder 1

B: When did you decide to become a photographer?

MM: I studied art history and wrote my thesis on fashion photography. That lead to a job as a an agent for young photographers whose work I admired. But while I was representing them and talking to clients and art directors, I realized I was in the wrong spot. I wanted to shoot myself.

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B: Was there another profession you considered?

MM: Hmmm, I thought the work of an agent was really interesting: understanding photography and communicating the content of it, and the possible application of it…During my studies I learned how to think and talk about the visual arts, and I like that side of it a lot. I just needed to research my “quest” to create, and I am still researching it.

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B: If someone asks you, “What is your work like?” what do you say?

MM: It depends on who I talk to and what their references are. But to someone who doesn’t know much about photography, I tell them I shoot portraits. I try to portray things as they are. People, but also spaces and objects sometimes. I create pure and personal images of my surroundings in a very easy, calm and reassuring way.

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B: When you first arrived to NYC, you were rep’d by an agency that handled only Dutch photographers. Was this an advantage or disadvantage to getting you introduced into the American market?

MM: I think my first (Dutch) agent knew how to attract attention to her photographers, and she knew how to make her mark. That was the advantage, more so than being Dutch. But of course in New York the creatives are always curious about talent from different countries who can bring something unique to the table.

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B: Who is your agent today?

MM: Walter Schupfer. He is an Austrian guy who has been here for a long time. He understands the American market very well, but also recognizes the European aesthetic.

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B: What makes one agent better than another?

MM; A good agent recognizes the potential application of your work, and has the right network to introduce it to. But as a photographer you really have to figure out yourself where you are heading. Where and how you want the work to be used. An agent can guide you from his/her experience and help making the connection to a market.

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B: When we first met you, you were running around the world, photographing different places, and making little books, like “Havana,” etc. Do you still do this today?

MM: I still do this today. Whenever I travel I shoot personal work and I make (mostly) landscape books. Just recently I spent a holiday at my girlfriend’s 95-year old grandmother’s house in Honduras and made a book about the house. I just love making books. I can’t help myself.

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B: Since then, you’ve become a highly successful commercial photographer in that you’re now shooting involved jobs for large companies. Do you see your work therefore as commercial?

MM: I see it as commercially applicable. There is a big part of my work that functions well in a magazine world, in a campaign world related to fashion and lifestyle. There is another part to it that is more personal, that belongs in books and in exhibitions. But there is a big crossover.

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B: Do you feel you’ve ever had to sacrifice your quality of work/artistic integrity because of a client request?

MM: Yes, of course. But that’s how you learn. Sometimes you wonder why the client asked you in the first place if they totally don’t “use” what you are good at. That makes you realize how people interpret your work and what they see in it, what they expect from it. You quickly learn how to read their minds. And the earlier you see what they are “after” the better you can decide to do the job or not. I always ask a client beforehand why they thought of me for the job, and try to dissect their answer. If you listen well, you usually know up front what you are getting into.