Andre Wagner on Why He Photographs

I would like to rewind back a bit to when we first met. You were one of the first photographers in my circle that decided to explore analog photography. You dove all the way into it. You became obsessed with it. What was it about analog photography that captured you?

I took a B&W photography course in college where I learned how to develop film. I’ve always had the desire to do things with my hands. Once I realised that photography was more than just a hobby for me, I wanted to do it in a way that felt right for me, and that meant doing things with my hands and not sitting in front of a computer the whole day. For me, analog had nothing to do with nostalgia like for many others, for me it meant making something from scratch.

You also develop your own film. Why is it important for you to develop your own film?

Black and white photography can be interpreted in many ways, it can involve low contrast, high contrast, you might not have any blacks or it could be all greys. You could adjust all those things in post-production but there is so much control you can have in the developing process. For me, the way I expose my film and the light I shoot in all goes hand in hand. I couldn’t imagine dropping off my film for somebody else to develop it. I like to have that level of control over my photos. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, and a bit of a control freak. I know what I want.

How did analog photography change your approach to photography?

It forced me to become very technical but then I had to learn how to free myself from all that technicality. It allowed me to understand what happens chemically when I am shooting when I am agitating while I am developing.

You are a very physical artist, and by that, I mean that you fiercely move through an environment when you shoot. You are like a leopard in the jungle, it is fascinating to watch. You cycle, you walk, you observe, and you do it with such militant precision but also with so much human intuition. You are undoubtedly an athlete with artistic stamina. What is your relationship with your body as part of your photographic process?

It is everything. I have a very militant way about how I treat my body and this is married to the way I work. I would train my body like an athlete so I can be out there in the street shooting for 10 or 12 hours. That is a good description of myself, I would say I am definitely not a flat-footed photographer if you know what I mean.
In the way I photograph, all of this is very important because your body language is important, where you stand, where you are in relationship to your subject, and how your subject perceives you. You have to work on all of these things through practice and repetition, like a dancer you can understand what your body is doing in space.
In the same way, I study the technicalities of photographic practice I also study the technicalities of how do I move my space in public space, how do I make big waves or small waves, how do I get attention when I want to get attention or do the opposite when I want to be a fly on the wall. I just learned how to navigate all of these scenarios.
I studied to be a social worker in college so I had to learn about human activity, movement, and energy. This enabled me to become very intuitive about all these aspects.

When you shoot do you prefer to take space or to become a fly on the wall?

I always prefer to make myself small and get out of the way because this leaves more room for surprises. I always want to be surprised, I don’t want an image that is already in my head because I find that to be boring. I like to become part of the flow of people, of their movement, not just wait and make an abrupt interruption of a moment when I shoot.

Do you like to keep a distance from your subjects or do you like to get close when you shoot?

I like awkward closeness.

When we first met, you shot mostly in color and I only photographed in B&W. We did a 180 and swapped color spectrums. What drove you to B&W?
Do you feel B&W captures something that color doesn’t?

Yes, I think that B&W inherently makes an image not feel like “the real world.” I like how B&W removes so much. It connects to themes that I am bouncing off from, like the notion that I am photographing the outside world but it is really being funnelled through the internal. I feel like the further extraction of colour gives me more control as an artist to define what is the mood, movement, or shapes that I can evoke. B&W keeps an image focused on the essence, without distractions. I’m not drawn to colour as strongly as I am drawn to shapes, textures, light, and forms.

You have taken out your camera to the street during political protests. What have been the hardest environments for you to photograph?

I think some of the hardest things to photograph for me have been images I haven’t yet shown, like some of my self-portraits for example. It is kind of easy to show up for other people, but it is hard to show up for yourself sometimes in an honest way. To care, to be a vessel feels very natural to me. If I am showing up for other people, be it through photographs or by trying to tell someone’s story, or by being at a protest. Yes, sometimes those situations are emotional and hard, but sometimes the loudest things are not that hard. It is the quieter, internal, private things that are for nobody else but yourself, that are the most challenging. To go within is not Instagrammable or cute, but it is necessary.

How much of Andre is in your images? Do they reveal something about you we might not notice at first glance?

I hope my images reveal everything about me. I know they can’t because they can only go so far, but I hope they reveal a lot. Andre is trying to pour all of himself into his work. That is photographs and writing. All of me is in my work. I really try to empty myself through my work.
I hope my work says, I’m here, I’m aware and I’m trying to be as conscious of the present as my brain will allow me to be.

How spontaneous are you when you shoot?

Very spontaneous. I’m not a director, I don’t like to tell people what to do. I like to have a plan, but I mainly like to create a space for people to feel free. If I have a subject, I want something that they might not want to give me and I can only really get that through spontaneity. Even when I am directing I do it in a vague way so that there is enough room for interpretation. I want to capture what feels true to the subject, so I try to find little keys to help people unlock themselves.
I think it is very easy to photograph the surface, but I don’t want to photograph the surface even though that is what photography inherently does.

Have you seen New York change through your images?

Yes, of course. New York is constantly changing. It is the city that everybody wants to claim but nobody can claim. It is untameable. I have seen the city change through my images, that was a big part of my work, documenting what was happening to my neighborhood and to my people through images.

How do you feel about our current culture of hyper-production of images? Do you struggle to keep up with it or you don’t subscribe to it at all?

I don’t subscribe to it at all. There is so much work I have been shooting for years that I have not yet shared. And that is an intentional decision. Developing meaningful work requires time and clarity. I might be a fast shooter but I am very intentional and careful to develop a body of work. I refuse to rush my process.

Why do you photograph?

It allows me to be present. It makes me feel a sense of purpose. It feels like a way of spending my time here on this Earth that feels valuable. It reminds me that it is not all about me. I didn’t even choose photography, it chose me. I was supposed to be an athlete, I felt like I could express myself mostly through movement, physical power, bravado, through what it means to move your body. To think that that was meant to be my destiny, and still have elements of that, but it is funnelled through a much more emotional state of being is a surprise to me.
Photography makes me feel like the author of my life, that I have control, that I have agency. I do not want to live a passive life.
I feel like photography is not something I do, it Is a way of living, and the way you live your life Is part of the art. Even if I am sitting at a cafe, I am looking and thinking and feeling the sun, it is not something I can turn off, it is always on.
Photography also allows me to shed light on others.

You said photography chose you. How come?

I was an athlete in college and had to take an elective course. I chose photography which I assumed would be easy but I barely passed the class. Years later, when I realized my dreams of being a professional athlete would not happen I felt a huge void and found photography again and said yes to it.

How has photography changed you as a person?

It has opened me up. As an athlete, you can hide behind all the athleticism or behind the court. Being an artist forces me to deal with myself differently and more deeply, funneling everything through the inner, getting to the core of things, being a vessel. You cannot do that with bravado and ego, you really have to humble yourself. And that is a beautiful thing. Being a photographer has enlarged my life, it has made me a more sensitive person, a truer person.

On a technical level, what cameras do you usually shoot with?

I shoot with a Leica MP, Hasselblad Superwide and Rolleiflex.