Dominic Dähncke, photographer from Spain. Photo © Courtesy of the artist
Tell us what you do and your beginnings.
I consider myself a child photographer. I say childish because what I am looking for with photography is to channel my childish part, which only seeks play and fun.
My first contact with photography was very typical, nothing extraordinary: my grandmother and mother always had cameras and one day one of their oldest fell into my hands. They taught me how to put a film reel on it and I started experimenting and playing. Many years later, in 2014, I left my job and became a freelance photographer, until today.
What does your work aim to say?
My work is a personal dismissal of the need to find fun and expression through photography. I think we get too serious about photography and end up turning it into an instrument at the disposal of our ego. Even though I say this, I don’t mean that I don’t do it. Quite the opposite. It happens to me very often. I try to realize and channel my creative energy again so that it flows through fun.
I suppose that not having had an easy childhood (on a family level) has given me the use of humor and irony from a very young age as instruments to mitigate shame and sadness. That use of humor and irony is something that I constantly look for in my photography today.
Therefore, what my photograph tries to say is that we must worry about taking care of our inner child, the one who, due to life circumstances, may not have had an easy childhood but who, even having grown up, can remain more alive than ever and recover the lost time.
Where do you find inspiration for your art?
I always find inspiration in my closest environment, in my neighborhood. I live in “El Médano” (Tenerife, Canary Islands), a neighborhood of 8,000 inhabitants. It’s a small neighborhood, but it has sun 330 days a year, which is an important aspect of my shadow photography series, which I have the most fun with.
I am sure that the inspiration for this series came from “El Médano” when I came to live here in 2017. Surely this series of shadows has some metaphorical meaning (perhaps it alludes to the fact that I do not know my biological father and he is closer to me than I think, for example).
I also find inspiration in a small notebook that I write every morning. Thanks to the book “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron, I discovered a wonderful dynamic for self-discovery and creativity: “the morning pages.” I highly recommend them. It tries to pour the subconscious into those pages every morning through writing. A kind of diary but “rough”, without pretensions to look pretty.
There I have gotten to know myself better and I think that thanks to it I have learned to obtain more inspiration and creativity in my daily life.
© Dominic Dähncke
Could you give us some insight into your creative process?
My advice is not specifically about photography, but rather a mental issue. I believe that for any creative process, it is essential to approach it from a humble and unambitious point of view. I explain. I understand creativity as the ability to find solutions. I don’t care if they are solutions to a physical problem, a mental problem, a breakup, or an impromptu dinner.
For example, in the series “Shadows” what I am looking for is a solution to my boring neighborhood and perhaps to my “emotional defect” with the issue of my biological father.
As for “humble and unambitious”, I mean that we should worry about simply creating. It doesn’t have to be new or unique (although our ego doesn’t like this, it always wants to be the best). It just has to be something that provides us with a solution to the issue at hand.
If we approach the creative process in this way, it will start from a healthy and strong point and will expand practically on its own, because we will be flowing with it. Everything else that we decide to add to our backpack (need to be original, for example) will be an extra weight that will greatly limit our walking along the path.
For example, I often realize that I share photos on Instagram hoping that they will be liked and get likes and comments. There’s my sore ego when I don’t get it. And although I love my photo, if I don’t get recognition from the community, my assessment of the photo changes (for the worse).
Shadow © Dominic Dähncke
This affects my future creative process since I approach my next creation with the previous “negative” rating. That’s why I think it’s important to say “with humility and without ambition,” so that from there the creative process grows healthy and strong.
What are your future projects?
My future projects are to update my website (I think this is a very common task among photographers :P) and, as for photography, I am getting into editorial photography. People have always caught my attention but due to my shameful nature, I have not always dared to deal with them.
That’s why I would like to get out of my comfort zone and delve into a kind of editorial photography (not fashion) mixed with conceptual photography. I don’t know how to define it. But it would be something like this. I also want to improve my use of artificial lighting and practice, for example, portrait photography.
Interview by Fabio Pariante: X • Instagram • Website
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Dominic Dähncke: Instagram
