by Yvette Depaepe 
Published the 9th of March 2020

Andreas Agazzi has a most diversified portfolio. His work is excellent, whether it is landscape and architectural photography or cityscapes. Showing subjects in their pure beauty in his very own style, that is his target.  Andreas wants his photographs to touch the soul of people by showing them a beauty that they were not aware of before. In spite of all the years he dedicated to photography, he still feels like being at the beginning of a never-ending journey and strives continuously to improve his skills.

Thank you so much, dear Andreas for telling us more about yourself and the personality behind your work through this interview.

'Magnum'

Briefly tell us about yourself, your hobbies and other jobs.
First of all, I want to thank you very much for giving me the opportunity for this interview, I really appreciate this and I feel very honoured. About me: I was born and raised in the Swiss mountains, but have been living near Zurich for many years since then. I fell in love with aviation over 40 years ago and that’s why I have always been working in that field. The last 14 years I worked for Zurich Airport in the commercial business where I manage retail and gastronomy projects.

As a person, I was always interested in many different things, in other words, I hardly get bored. Obviously, photography is my biggest hobby, but I also love sports. Of the various activities I enjoy cross country skiing the most. I also have a beautiful organ at home, but unfortunately, I do not find enough time to play it regularly any more.

'The Marker'

How has your history and life experiences affected your photography?
Born in 1963, photos in those days were probably even more special than today. It always fascinated me to see something out of reality on paper or later on slides. Starting point for my photography was the moment when I became an airplane spotter at the age of 14. Visiting the airport, taking notes of aircraft registrations and starting to take photos of airplanes like other spotters have done, I got really addicted to it. I did this for more than twenty years during my days off, travelling to the most exotic places in the world and producing many thousand slides of air crafts and nothing else.
At this time, architecture, cities or landscapes did not interest me very much. In the course of the years, however, photographing around airports became more and more difficult, the airplanes’ shapes looked more and more the same as did the colour schemes.

It was time to focus photographically on something else and then started my fascination for land- and cityscapes.

'A Walk in the Park'

Which are your most important experiences that have influenced your art?
Visiting galleries or exhibitions of landscape and nature photography inspired me a lot, especially collections of Peter Lik, Art Wolfe or Thomas Mangelsen.
So did platforms such as 1X and others where excellent photographers showcase their great work. I found topics and directions to follow.
Even watching certain movies offers a great possibility to better understanding visual quality. The idea of photographing at the most beautiful locations on earth was very motivating and became more and more a very rewarding challenge for me.

'Dark'

Describe your overall photographic vision.
Showing topics in its pure beauty, often with a recognizable signature, is simply intriguing. Photography is a great way to balance your daily work. It is also an activity that you can do a lifetime without reaching the end of a continuous learning curve. That is also a great perspective.
My vision is to create photos that touch other people’s soul and to surprise them with a beauty they have not been aware of before.
Having succeeded on this, the most essential criterium of a photograph has been fulfilled.

'Witnessed Glory'

You have your very own style but your work is very diversified. Can you explain why this is?
The diversity in my portfolio comes from another hobby I have - travelling.
Depending on the destination it is either more cityscapes, or pure land- or seascapes.
Architecture is another genre that allows plenty of photographic options and I like to take the chance whenever possible.

'Above LAX'

What is more important to you, the mood/story behind your images or the technical perfection?
For a good photograph, one cannot live without the other. I like to work with prime lenses and I am always following the rule that if something is wrong with the quality of a photo it is not because of the equipment but because of me. On the other hand, mood and story are paramount for the end result, otherwise we talk only about a technical presentation of a photograph without a soul. A photograph should speak to someone like lyrics, a movie or music does.

'Another new day'

What generally is your relationship to your subject matter beyond being an observer?
Trying to find the best possible point of view by considering perspective and light with the most effective lens for this subject is one of the aims I have, whatever the subject is, it should be shown in its best possible way.
Light is the most important element, at least in most cases. Once this all has been found, it feels as if the subject starts talking to me and I better understand its potential. Even if this sounds a bit out of space I think if the photo should become more than a pure documentation, a kind of a communication must take place; photographer and subject will become one.

'Broken Tales'

Do you prepare carefully the locations where you are intending to photograph?
I guess, compared to other photographers, not really. I certainly have an idea before I leave my home thinking about which places, subjects, best time of the day and what equipment, not much else is investigated beforehand.
As my goal normally is not the quantity but the quality, I am kind of a slow traveller, which means that I very often take more time for one location than others probably do. This has the advantage that I can organize the shooting for the following days based on the experience I had before, everything learned may be considered and adapted.
I think that in many cases this approach works better for me than a meticulous preparation.

'Insomnia'

What gear do you use (camera, lenses)?
Almost since the beginning of my photography I am using Nikon cameras, currently this is a Nikon D800e and D850.
Lenses are obviously from the same manufacturer but I also have a number of great manually focused Zeiss lenses which I adore so much.

I appreciate the fact that a fixed manually focused lens forces you to slow down the whole shooting process. You have to move back and forward until you find the right point of view for e.g. a 21mm lens. The photograph becomes more consciously chosen and built, the longer you look at something the more you see - and in my opinion this is also shown in the final result.

'Back home'

What software do you use to process your images?
Now you get to my ‚non-comfort zone‘. I use Lightroom and some plug-ins but I know that I have to learn so much more to become more advanced in post processing. Lack of time is the main reason why I have not progressed the way I actually should or want.

'Aqua'

Can you tell us something more about your work flow?
I shoot always in RAW and import the files into Lightroom, where I do most work so far. Many times, I include some filters from Nik Collections or Topaz Labs. I have to get acquainted with Photoshop that I have not used at all until now. Sometimes I think it was so much easier, but also more honest, when I was shooting slides - you got what you shot.

'Dissolving'

What is your most important advice to a beginner in Photography and how do you get started?
Even though I am photographing since many years I still have the feeling that I am only at the beginning of a never-ending journey.

Get inspired by photographers’ work you like best.

Get also familiar with your equipment like when you were learning to drive a car. Once driving becomes a routine you will enjoy your road trip through a beautiful scenery much more and you will definitely get more out of it by the end of the day.

1X is great as well for learning or get inspiration. Investigate published photos and ask yourself, what makes this photograph special?

But also, public curation is a good way to train the eyes justifying the quality of photographs in different genres.

Then of course reading relevant topics, tutorials and exchanging knowledge with fellow photographers, listening podcasts, all that helps a lot as well.

'Reading Stuff'

Who are your favourite photographers and more importantly, how has your appreciation of their work affected how you approach your own photography?
Some of them I have mentioned above already, other countless photographers are here on 1x that I respect very much. I try to recognize their work with my likes whenever possible. I would like to highlight the work of Julia Anna Gospodarou : her fine art photography is really outstanding and inspiring.

Positive influence will lead most people to the following: At the beginning you try to photograph in a similar way like your favourite photographer does, going for the same subjects, using the same point of view and processing. Sooner or later you modify directions and eventually you follow your own path. In other words, inspiration leads to copying someone else's style, but by releasing the belt, you can make a step into your own territory.

'Lightfall'

Are there any specific directions that you would like to take your photography in the future or any specific goals that you wish to achieve?
Last year I received a commission from my employer Zurich Airport to shoot all the photographs for their calendar 2020. By receiving more requests now my photographic orientation goes actually back to where I started originally - aviation. By enhancing my post processing skills, I would like to refine my aviation photography by creating my own vision and style. I hope that I will be able to make this step in 2020. This is - by the way - also the reason why I contribute less photos to 1X at the moment.

'Signature'

Describe your favourite photograph taken by you and why it is special to you?

'The Iconic Seven'

For some reason I like probably one from Dubai the most. Being always fond of minimalistic approaches, the Hotel Burj al Arab is a fantastic architectural landmark with almost nothing around it. The colour tones create a mood that I like very much. But I am also very happy with my cityscapes I have done so far.

Is there anything else you wish to add and what do you think about 1x as a home base for your work?
1x is a great platform for passionate photographers who are willing and interested to steadily refine their own skills. I also like the fact that 1x is pretty ‘slow’ compared with other platforms; for example, on 1x one hundred likes for a published photo is already a great result, not so on most other sites. So 1x is less stressful. I believe that responses such as the ones from the curators by accepting or rejecting a photo, but also the ones from other members are more meaningful and objective than on other similar sites.
I am very happy that I have found 1x as my ‘photography home base’ and I’m proud to be part of it.

'The Limit'

'Steaming light'

'Blowing Dust'

'The Chain'