Austrian fashion and cultural photographer Jork Weismann’s imagery is characterised by an unparalleled puristic style. His photos have a strict composition and are heavily reduced. Jork Weismann shot the PhilsPlace launch campaign and photo corridors for us. In our interview, he talked about his fascination for photography and what inspires his style.
Your work regularly appears in supplements of the New York Times, Die Zeit, Süddeutsche Zeitung, FAZ, in the magazines Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Vanity Fair, as well as in trend magazines such as Purple, Self Service and Dazed & Confused. How did you get into photography?
Thanks to my father – he showed me how to use the camera and how to develop and enlarge films and images. Later on, after I had moved to Vienna, it was a way of making money. Back then, I wasn’t yet imagining that it would become my career.
“The world works with images” is your motto. Where does this fascination of capturing the world in images come from?
I said that once, but it’s not my motto. But in principle, concepts do always invoke an image in our minds, which is what I meant by that. I’ve always been fascinated by photos. I simply love the way in which film captures space on paper, how colours and contrasts are interpreted.
Your imagery is different, more minimalistic and organised than that of the more “classic” campaign photographers. What inspires your style?
I consider what we want to depict and then I reduce that until there is as little as possible left to distract from the content of the picture.
You were born and raised in Upper Austria. Today, the majority of your bookings are international – flying back and forth between London, New York, Paris and L.A. But your home is in Vienna. Why is that?
Isn’t it the city with the best quality of living?
Where in Vienna should one have absolutely taken a photo?
In one’s bed.
In the world-famous Hotel Chateau Marmont in Hollywood, you photographed prominent guests while sleeping. What is it that you like about the hotel atmosphere?
I like to spend time in hotels in general, the Chateau in particular due to its style, the people that work there and the people that live there.
You shot the launch campaign for PhilsPlace. How did this collaboration come about?
Volkmar from moodley brand identity, the agency that designed the CI for PhilsPlace, showed me the idea for the campaign and we talked about it, tried out a few things and then implemented them together.
What makes PhilsPlace so special? What was the feeling you were trying to capture in the photos?
We tried depicting people with serious intentions being euphorically happy!