Photography by: Andreas Mass [ Instagram | Professional Portfolio ]
Andreas Mass is a freelance graphic designer based in Cologne, Germany. The focus of his work is 3D-Visualisation/Illustration and Photography. The following set of medium format film photographs was taken during his time spent in Taipei, Taiwan.
On Using Photography to Acclimatize to New Places
During my 3-4 weeks stay in Taipei I photographed my surroundings like I always do when I’m new to a place. Before I’m able to get a general impression of the city I try my best to just shoot the particular scenery I’m in at the moment. That way each photograph represents a more distinct impression of just that area and is thus less likely to be affected by a general idea of the whole city.
As I capture more and more areas I get a bigger picture; one of many contrasts – that then helps me to get an idea of the city I’m experiencing. This may sound obvious and simple but photography really does help me explore and get a better feeling for new places. Thus, it works as a kind of tool that helps to focus on both the particular moment and environment as well as making it easier to internalize and organize impressions.
On Taiwan and its Urban Planning
What struck me most about Taipei is how diverse and well-balanced the urban vegetation is, even in the very center of this huge alpha city. Having been to Hong Kong and Tokyo before I can definitely say that Taipei’s giant architecture is just as striking as those two cities. And still in the midst of dense concrete housing, one is constantly being surprised by greenery. It is exactly the contrast of harsh concrete walls and sudden rich flora that makes the city feel so lively.
The urban planners seem to have found a really nice balance between the constructed and the natural. I wish more cities would take this aspect more seriously. Including nature so well into a city of this size really does help us feel like we are not as secluded or isolated as individuals. That being said, at some point I couldn’t help but think “So that’s how all our modern cities could look like if we suddenly disappeared and nature started to take over.”
Equipment Used
- Mamiya 7
- Kodak Portra (160 & 400)
Most of my color film work is shot in the 6×7 medium format on a Mamiya 7 and now occasionally also on a Bronica GS-1. I decided to move to film photography and medium format for personal work quite early on as I discovered and fell in love with the genre or rather the photographical movement, which was born from the exhibition “New Topographics” in the 70’s and the collective of photographers around it. After some time using a 6×6 camera I realized the 6×7 format was a much better fit for the compositions I tend to enjoy shooting urban landscapes. While I still shoot a lot of black and white 35mm film, I enjoy the medium format for color film a lot more, mostly because of the better grain/detail performance and sometimes, when needed, because of the lower depth of field at a comparable aperture.
If you enjoyed this photo set, you may like to view Andreas’ first set he contributed to Shell Zine: Hong Kong 2012.
Andreas has a physical print photo book of this Hong Kong work titled Invisible Horizons, which is available at the following link: https://www.buchhaltung-verlag.de/invisible-horizons-andreas-mass/
