aint Petersburg project is very
ent to your regular work – why
a contrast in styles?
I was always fascinated by the idea of
long exposure photography and was
tryingto use it as much as possible in my
personaland commercial work. My current
portfoliois indeed a bit different in style, but I do
haveoneproject which was shot ten years ago
andwaspurely based on a mix of long and
multipleexposures. This was shot on a Mamiya
RZ67and black & white film, and titled ‘32
exposures’. Since then I’ve been looking for
waysto continue shooting abstract imagery
withmultiple exposures, but without having to
carryaround a heavy medium-format camera.
Finally,I’ve found one, and it’s very lightweight
andcompact.Whatinspired you to shoot on a smartphone?
ForyearsI’ve carried cameras with me on all
personaland business trips – SLRs, DSLRs,
medium-format, you name it. One day I realised
thatwhatI remember from those trips is
constantly looking through the viewfinder
andsearching for the next outstanding shot.
WhatI don’t remember so much are the places
I vi sited,the sounds of the streets, nor any
memories of anything except a cropped and
framedview distorted by a lens. So, I decided
totakea break and enjoy my travel more.Now I mostly roam the streets and actually
look at places, saving all that information for
a return trip with proper gear. And I use my
smartphone as a sketchbook. As it’s so light and
tiny compared to any camera, I don’t notice it at
all and use it only when I’m absolutely sure that
this is ‘the’ shot.Did you research abstract art before starting
this project?
I do enjoy looking at abstract art to a certain
degree. I like it when, through looking at
abstract art, you can see familiar things – not
completely unrecognisable colours, highlights
and shadows, but something that gives a new
interpretation to the subject. As I’d been to
Saint Petersburg more than 30 times in the past
20 years and shot the city and landmarks on
numerous occasions, this time I wanted to find
a new way of showing beauty and the city’s
unusual mood.What pictorial elements make for a good
abstract photo?
Recognisable elements and familiar features.
At least, I see it this way. The difference between
painting and photography is that painting is
purely based on the imagination of an artist, but
photography is a mix of reality and imagination.
We, as photographers, always begin with
something already there and don’t have the54 PRAcTIcALPhOTOgRAPhy
Al Lapkovsky is an
award-winning
photographer and
creative retoucher
based in Riga, Latvia.
His commercial and
fine art photography
has been exhibited
more than 20 times
worldwide and has
been widely published.
Clients include Ocado,
Vauxhall and Bosch.
begemotfoto.com