Exclusively Fashion Magazine: Tell me a little about your journey as a fashion photographer from when you began until now?

Guidos: My earliest inspiration were the photographs of David Hamilton I guess. His photographs were the answer to my prayers when I was a teenager!  Still I feel a very big similarity in the way he looks upon natural beauty.  But there was a certain photo of that photographer Will McBride which inspired me the most in a book my parents had once.  It  was a huge coffee table-book from the seventies and the photo was a black and white centerfold.  It was showing two young girls standing in front of each other and the picture was taken against the light.  I remember it was a photo he shot once for  TWEN magazine! I was only twelve years old but fascinated by that sensuality he captured in it.  I never saw something more beautiful before!  Of course I did not know about photography or even the photographer behind it at all.  Even more funny so that I met Will two years ago in Berlin.  I recognized him because my best friend Stefano Boragno used to work for him as an assistant once and he had this fabulous book of him entitled I, WILL MCBRIDE which includes that mentioned picture!  I invited him for a coffee and told him that this single picture of him is one reason for what I am doing now.  Life is really funny isn’t it ?! 30 years later you meet that person and even if he is over 70 by now there is no big difference in what we are doing and standing for today.  I had the offer to do a group exhibition with him and six other photographers at SEVEN STAR GALLERY in Berlin which I refused because it would have been my first exhibition and I was not happy with the idea not to show more then three or four exhibits.  I did not know that he would be part of it.  It  would have changed my mind I guess because that would have been such a wonderful  story how the circle of our story would have been closed by that.

 But the biggest inspiration have been always belong to the nature beauty of creation ! As a designer I understand the unbelievable perfection and art. I want to capture everything perfect. A flower or a tree, a car or building (even if it’s made by human it’s made by the same intention of creation) or…a girl ! So I started to documentary those things always for my own sake because nobody captured this certain beauty I saw. Then I met my biggest muse Justina ! Her outstanding beauty and sensuality have been the biggest inspiration for what I am standing for now. Also she was the one who forced me to follow my dream and supported me to take photos of other girls. She understood that I needed to live this dream in my life to become a round and happy person.

EFM: What inspires you?

G: Women.  I could not imagine this life without their magic.  But my friends are very important to me and to make new ones.  To meet new people all over the world is very inspiring to me. Travelling is my hobby!  My friends are calling me DOC HOLIDAY.  But the biggest inspiration of all is music!  As a musician I am connected to this wonderful magic, too.  I think love, creativity (fantasie) and music it’s one.  Made of the same kind of magic or energy which always surrounds us. Music includes all the big answers in life, they can’t be translated. There is no need for it. Art is questioning.  It’s like in Douglas Adams Hitchikers guide through the universe : The answer of everything, the reason why we are here etc… is 42.  But what we need to know is the correct question to this answer!  If you could translate art you might get an answer.  But art for me is a way into another dimension which we still don’t understand to interpreted yet. Like love…

EFM: How do you prepare for a photo-shoot?

G: I am always casting the girls I take photos with on the streets wherever I go!  Once I see a person who is inspiring me I start seeing pictures in my head. That’s the sign that this person is meant for me.  I just failed once.  I also work with professional models from time to time.  But for me it’s so much more magic taking photos of someone who never stood in front of a camera before.  I see myself more as a director.  First I have to find  my muse, the main character of my movie which I want to get abroad with my photographs.  Then I write the script around that person.  Who is she, where is she, what is she doing….that’s the idea of the photo.  But for me it’s a whole movie I see and the photographs are just stills of it.  I hope I can inspire others the same way while seeing my pictures.

EFM: What is your typical day like?

G: Most of my days I like to spend in cafés working on my last photo shoot or writing any concepts.  I like the atmosphere, the noise and smell of coffee...it’s very inspiring to me. I can actually concentrate much better in any crowded cafe then in my studio. I am running around the city and my eyes never sleep.  I am always scanning the people and environments around me and my mind is always ready for a new thrill! So I am always looking for any interesting locations, backgrounds and doing street castings at any time! But it is sometimes it is very annoying to see all those thing, getting all this „information's“.  It is a gift but to be a „hypervisulized“ person like me means that you always „out there“ seeing things even if you don’t want to and rarely be with yourself. I can only relax my eyes while I am reading a book. I discovered the relaxation through it only a few years ago! Now you won’t find me at least with less than two books which I am reading in the same time.

EFM: Why does lighting play such a big part in photography?

G: As I mentioned before my work always is a homage to natural beauty.  So I just use real environments and the beauty of real daylight and no make up at all! I tried to do some shooting with spots in my studio but it is terrible for me.  I need to feel the mood which fills a room by a certain light.

Model: Justina

Model: Gibb

Model: Kay

Model: Nikola

EFM: Describe your style as a photographer?

G: Magic. Mystery. Myself.

EFM: What is the best thing you like about being a photographer?

G: For any reason they have a really good reputation all over the world.  Actually I don’t know why but I do enjoying it a bit...

EFM: You are also a designer and artist; what do you design?

G: I use to work half my life in advertising as an art director or creative head.  I was running my own agency MD-87 and a night club called RANGAVILAS which was one of my best projects ever!  I did the design, the campaign and the interior design, the scenario which changed every weekend and even the video art projections.  GREAT!  That’s how I want to work.

EFM: Describe your style as a designer?

G: I am very into the seventies.  I would have loved to design cars in that days!

EFM:  Do you have a favorite artist; if so who?

G: God?

Model: Luz

Model: Kim

EFM: In detail, can you give tips on how  to take a great photo?

G: I am mostly taking photos against the light which has a magic effect on a humans body because the light gives a mystic shining outline and defines any part of it. Once I did a photo of a girl with that pure bright background of a huge window. On the picture she looks so much like a roman statue. It is amazing! Also there is another photograph of mine where a girl knies totally naked on a bed and you just see here silhouette which I so magic because you know that she is nude and that she has an beautiful body but you can not see anything which makes it so much more than erotic art photography for me, I hope the people won’t put me in this department anyway!

EFM: Do you have a favorite photographer?

G: David Hamilton and Will McBride.  They are real photographers to me.

EFM: Do you think fashion and art go hand in hand?

G: Again...I am convinced that is all part of the same thing what people call it creativity or art.  I call it LOVE.

 EFM: What do you do in your spare time?

G: Love.

EFM:  In detail, what advice can you give to an inspiring photographer?

 G: My father always used to buy the newest and best cameras but he never got close to my work.  When he looks on my newest work he always asks me: Which camera do you use?“ And I answer „The old NIKON F3 you gave me 20 years ago!“  It is not a question of how many megapixel your photos has, it is a real vision you want to get across within your photographs which makes you a real photographer.  Photography it self is just capturing information's.  But a real artist should be connected to that dimension we call art and should open a whole to it so that others are able to see what he sees!

EFM: Are there any new projects that you are currently working on?

G: Too much.  Like the music I produce under the name RADIO SLAVE TRANSMITER. Or founding an art collective with friends in San Francisco which will operate more as an agency concentrating on campaigns and projects which will help others.

Model: Sofia

Model: Monica

Model: Josephina

Model: Minhri

www.guidosworldwide.com