time has come for another favorite of mine and with that: time for some questions. I have to admit they were nothing but tiny cute questions. but sometimes you have to think BIG, am I right?

mathias is a free-lance software developer based in berlin. mathias is also the guy who takes beautiful pictures (as you can see on flickr) and tell us good stories about his everyday adventures (including photography, of course) on his blog holgarific. and he is also the man when it comes to cupcakes and coffee. how can you not love these aspects about him?

it has to be said: he was brave enough to go all the way, answering the questions one by one with real interest and passion. thank you so much for not crying out loud “are you crazy woman? is this  a riddle contest or what?”
so, grab a cup of coffee (and a cupcake) and enjoy the ride guys…

hey, matt, tell us a few words about yourself…

hello! my full first name is mathias, and by day I work as a software developer. while that’s one of my passions, there’s two more, one being photography, the other being coffee. of course, above everything
else there’s also my family, and they go especially well with photography and coffee.

when has photography started to occupy a special place in your life?

it started when I borrowed a film slr from my sister in summer 2007, an old-ish praktica bx20, one of the last models praktica built before the wall came down. I put a roll of cheap film in it and took it with me on a weekend trip with friends. the results amazed me. I can’t think I did anything special, sure I had a lighting meter, and for the most part I trusted it, allthewhile playing with the aperture too, but I had now idea just how awesome film looks.

I shot a bit of film as a kid, but there was nothing serious about it really. of course I’ll also have my wife to thank for really introducing me to the community part of flickr. seeing what other people do with their cameras sure gives you a lot of inspiration and things to work on to improve your own skills.

before I touched a film camera I shot with a simple point & shoot for about a year, but these days it pretty much stays untouched in a drawer. the only digital I use from time to time is the ricoh gr-d, but mainly because the look of its b&w photos very much resemble the look and feel of film.

your favorite camera:

it has to be the holga. my wife gave me one for christmas, and while it took a couple of rolls to get into the flow, after that it grew on me more and more. its simplicity with a full plastic casing, the fact that you only have one shutter speed and only one working aperture makes it the biggest constraint you could probably ask for while still having a camera that you can use every day.

before I first touched a holga I had no idea there was something like roll film. I grew more and more fond of its size and its plain awesomeness, especially when I used slide film. there’s nothing like look and film of slide film negatives on 120 or 220 film.

the runner-up would be the polaroid sx-70, no doubt. the magic of polaroid combined with a foldable slr is bound to be fun at all times.

what you learned during the years about taking pictures was that…

that it’s a good way to relax, to get a different look of the world, to have fun, to meet new friends. it’s what drives me outside, what makes me want to explore places, cities, neighborhoods.

the following adjectives could define a good picture:

square, vignetted, bokeh.

no seriously, I don’t think you can use simple words to specify a good photo. I can’t even say there’s a certain type of photo that I like the most. sure, holga and polaroid shots have a certain advantage, and even though I’m sort of drawn to film shots, a good photo is still something that you see and that immediately amazes you, no matter if the photographer used simple techniques or put a lot of thought into it.

photographers whose work you admire:

there are so many of them, but I’m sure I can pick some.

Ann Suckow from portland is the queen of polaroids,

Ann-Kathrin Koch has a good hand with every type of camera,

and Hannah Huffman’s kids are my favorite, well apart from my own kid. I would adopt them right away.

David Teter’s work with everything black & white and polaroid is inspiring.

but my favorite of them all on flickr is Kari, she makes everything look like a beautiful dream. she is also to blame for getting me hooked on polaroid, two years ago she sent me a simple polaroid 600 camera, and it pretty much went downhill from there.

three photographs that you could look at on and on:

only three? phew, that’s a toughie. let’s go with these.

how do you get inspired?

it’s simple. I walk around, I look at things. when I see things walking by, I stop and walk back. if I don’t I know I’ll regret it later, even if the people who are with me have to wait.

sometimes I catch myself forging ideas for shots. no idea whether that’s some kind of next step you take in your journey as a photographer, but it’s interesting to see them turn out, or not. not all of them work like I thought they would, but I guess that’s all part of the process.

countries/cities that you would love to explore right away…

I’d like to explore paris with a polaroid and a holga, and take a road trip through the united states with both of them. but then again, I like exploring everything with holga and polaroid. the us road trip is high on my list though.

which journey surprised you the most?

the journey from having no real interest at all to becoming nerdy about everything surrounding analog photography. it’s especially surprising considering that in my day job everything is dealing with digital. but I guess that’s the opposites that attract.

what you love about berlin…

just everything. I love living here. it’s multi-cultural, it’s lively, it’s the only place to be in germany. I have most of my friends here, my family, and everything I could ask for. except an ocean and a real beach.

your favorite places in this city would be…

the good coffee shops, the parks, the boroughs around the city center, the fact that most of my friends live here. I just love walking around in berlin, it doesn’t really matter where in particular.

a coffee table book to recommend:

molly wizenberg’s “a homemade life.” though it’s more of an anecdotal cookbook, it’s still incredibly fun to read. molly is also a master of hardcore food polaroid photography, and writes on her blog orangette.

your favorite magazines:

aside from the interior design magazines my wife has subscriptions to I can’t say that I read a lot of magazines. the one being close to something I like to read regularly would be brand:eins.

how do you like your coffee?

lately I started drinking my coffee in smaller shots. I switched to flat white (a smaller drink, double espresso with hot milk and little foam on top) from the common latte drinks, and also to ristretto (very short espresso, ideally pulled from the coffee you need for a double shot)

your best advice for making a good cup of coffee would be…

to pour your whole heart in it, and I don’t even mean that literally. you need to care about coffee to make a really good cup. if you care about it, everything else falls right into place.

the best coffee you ever drank was at…

the elysian room in vancouver. that’s where we were introduced to the awesome clover, a very special coffee machine, and where we also made good friends. Coffee is very good for making new friends, especially really, really good coffee. it also goes insanely well with photography.

what makes a perfect cupcake?

it needs to have a light dough and a simple frosting. I’ve had several cupcakes that were close to being industrial-made, and they just weren’t the same as the one you get from a shop where they still make them by hand.

which kind of cupcake you like the best?

the short answer is that I love them all. the long answer would list all the different types of cupcakes, so I’ll leave you with the short answer.

last but not least five of your own favorite photos: