The world of Starkall Photography

1. Hello Starkall and welcome to ALTvenger. We are very glad to have you here. As I’ve seen quite a lot of your photos, I became curious about your photo work.
As you yourself are very aesthetically oriented, so is your photography. You are an extroverted photographer, working mainly with female models, so can you tell us what your main inspiration when it comes to your creative work is?

I always look up to the compositions of Mother Nature. We are all made by her and to copy her beauty reunites us with our origin. Art is always magic; for the creator and for the beholder. At best it brings back a long forgotten memory.

1. The Watcher of Needle E’e

Model, fashion design and makeup: Rachael Forbes
Location: Cliffs of Arbroath

2. Vor dem Sturm

Fashion Design by The Imaginarium Apparel
Models: Amelia Court and the designer herself Rachael Forbes
Location: Scottish Highlands

2. When did you discover your passion for photography and what was it like for you at the beginning? Tell us something about the days when you first picked up the camera.

The first camera I got was a terrible low quality model from East Germany, where I grew up. I started to take pictures with it in the woods of Bulgaria, where I saw my first fire salamander, which became my first model. The end of this shoot was tragic. I came too close to the border and a high ranked officer decided to destroy my film. He was afraid I could have taken pictures of the Iron Curtain, so agent Salamander and I never saw the result of our mission.

3. The Silence

Design, Styling & Model: Rachael Forbes

3. We can recognize some of the faces you capture, but how about the designers? Do you collaborate with them as well, and if so, do you have some designers that you usually shoot for or that you prefer?

A dress can create much of the pictures impact, so the designer has indeed a very important role in collaborations. I have worked together with a few masters, such as Linda Friesen, Rachael Forbes, Markus Spatzier, Somnia Romantica or Gina Wetzel. It was always an awesome experience.

4. Kingdom of the Night

Fashion Design and Model: Linda Friesen

4. Many photographers could envy you on all the beautiful models you work with. Do you choose models according to some special criteria? What does a girl have to have in order to stand in front of your camera? Is it all about a certain look, her personal style or her personality as well?

First it is her ability to feel comfortable in front of the camera. Second she hast to have her own style, that special something that makes her a personality. Third and last; she must be enthusiastic about the idea.

5. The Topaz Fairy

Fashion Design by The Imaginarium Apparel
Model: Amelia Court
Location: Scottish Highland

6. The Fairy Queen

Fashion Design by The Imaginarium Apparel
Model: Amelia Court
Location: Scottish Highland

7. I am amazed by some of the locations you shoot at. It seems you travel a lot. Is there any particular way you choose a location? Most of the locations are really breathtaking.

Traveling is my obsession. There is so much beauty in this world and each place we can imagine exists in reality. We only have to search for it. I usually travel alone and when I discover a brilliant spot I try to return with a model. Those places can be quite simple or very impressive, but there is one thing all of them have in common: A certain kind of harmony.

7. The Lady of Ecclescreig

Model, MakeUp & Design by Rachael Forbes
Location: castle ruin of Ecclescreig in Scotland

8. The High Priestess of Rigain

Model & Design: Rachael Forbes
at Duddo Five Stones, Scotland

6. I am sure you had many wonderful experiences as a photographer, but have you ever had a bad one? Have you ever doubted your choice of expressing yourself through photography?

No, I never did. Every time when I have been doubting, I put my camera back into my bag. I did not even make an attempt. I must feel comfortable, enjoying the place and its atmosphere, only then do I start taking pictures.

9. Waiting for the Night

Model & Visa: Dixi Beth
Location: Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

10. Dark Desire

Model: Stacy Steelbones

11. Ruby Blood

Model: Ophelia Overdose
Fangs by Father Sebastiaan

7. I see that some of your work is not just a mere portrait or fashion photography. Some can be characterized as conceptual work. Do you come up with the idea or do you work on the idea together with the model?

I try to catch the soul of my model, thus each concept of mine is based on team work. Everything stands and falls with the model. Her costume should be like a second skin and she has to feel comfortable in the scenery.

12. Hunting Desire

Model: Saskia

8. I am just looking at one photograph inspired by 1920’s horror movies. Can you tell us what are some of your main concepts inspirations?

This picture line was indeed inspired by the horror movies of the 1920s. Movies are a great source of inspiration for me, but also paintings, comics and even High Fashion photography. But whatever I do, I always follow the rules of classic painting when arranging an image. I dislike most of modern art because breaking the rules is not art to me – it is an individual protest – which is fine but not enough for fine art.

13. Doubting the Light

Model, make-up and fashion design: Linda Friesen

14. A Dream of Mary Shelley

Model, make-up and fashion design: Linda Friesen

9. You also flirt with some historical eras. Can you tell us which eras you find aesthetically inspiring and if you had a time machine, is there a point in time you would like to go back to for a visit?

I love our modern times. We have reached the outstanding freedom to wear whatever we want. There are no restrictions anymore, no formal dress code. Nowadays I am able to wear an aristocratic coat with red heels and no one would arrest me because I am not truly blue-blooded. I am sure if I went back in time it would destroy my romantic ideas of the era, so I better stay in the present, keeping my dreams healthy.

16. Die Rabin

Model: Jack Eles from Paris
Fashion: Markiz Creation

10. As many of your photographs can be easily labelled as “gothic” inspired, can you tell us how much do you feel as a part of that subculture yourself, and how much of the subculture’s visual expression you want to present in your work?

When I was a child I saw elves in the woods and spooks in the old tree in front of my window. Thus I became interested in mysteries at a very early age. As we all know since Oscar Wilde: “the commonest thing is delightful if one only keeps it in secrecy”. So I guess I am a goth, but you also can call me dark or adventurous. It is not necessary for me to do gothic art, but what I do looks often like it, which is very fine for me, as long as I am not confronted with prejudices still present against goths. In High Fashion for instance one is allowed to copy from the goth culture, and many designers do, but one should never call it gothic. That would be a cardinal sin.

17. Expectations of Darkness

Sad and NihaCeta of the German band Other Day

18. Creaturesque

Model: Nemisx.Mind from Germany

11. Do you find some other photographers’ work influential? Are there some artists out there whose work you really like and admire?

Oh indeed, I love the work of Eugenio Recuenco, Sven Fennema, Karl Lagerfeld or Saara Salmi. And I better do not start to talk about painters.

13. As your own appearance is quite impressive, do you enjoy being in front of someone else’s camera? Do you get asked a lot to do some modelling work yourself?

Thank you for the compliment. It is fun to work on the other side of the camera, also very instructional. Of course most photographers prefer female models, which I understand very well, so I do not get many requests, but sometimes it really happens.

19. We have such sights to show you

Model and Visa: myself
Costume: Transylvania Design
Photo by: Marco Gazaneo

20. Photo of Satrkall by Pierre Leszczyk

13. Is there any aspect of photography besides fashion and portrait photography that you enjoy or would like to work more on?

Yes, I love to go on extensive photo tours in abandoned places, cemeteries or into the wilderness of nature.

21. The Grand Theatre of the Bolsheviki (at the edge of Pavlovsk in Russia)

14. You are also a frequent visitor of some festivals and events. What do you enjoy the most about those?

While other photographers take pictures of the festival, I drink vodka. Vodka and photography is unfortunately not compatible, so I need to prioritise. I love to meet friends and enjoy a hard bass in an appropriate costume. It sounds quite dandy, and that’s what it is; creating a ruthless gentleman. And I am really happy to live in Germany, a country offering great opportunities to celebrate a different style than H&M.

22. Summa cum steam