Photographer: Julia Wimmerlin
Website: www.juliawimmerlin.com
Location: Switzerland
"My name is Julia Wimmerlin. I am a Ukrainian-born photographer currently living in La Côte region in Switzerland. After I left my native Kiev, I lived in France, Switzerland, Great Britain, Japan, the Philippines, Spain and Hong Kong. I have degrees in Economics and Marketing that helped me to have a successful international marketing career for 15 years which I happily changed for photography in 2014. Being nearly totally self-taught I rely a lot on my advertising and marketing experience when constructing an image."
❓Who or what influenced you as a photographer the most?
🗣 Definitely nature and different cultures I had been exposed to while traveling.
❓How did you start your professional career?
🗣 I wanted to capture the beauty of Japan where I lived at the time so I learned how to use a DSLR. It was so fascinating that I did not stop at landscapes and travel and continued with portraits and animals. Portraits and fashion were my first paid works so I finally understood it could be my new full-time job.
❓What software and hardware do you use, and why?
🗣 Lightroom and Photoshop are my only softwares. They are complementary and cater to different photography genres I do – Lightroom for travel, landscapes and animals, Photoshop for creative concepts and portraits. If you ask for hardware from a computer point of view – it’s and Apple iMac 5k. If you ask from a photographic point of view – it’s Canon 5DMiV with a various set of lenses from Fish Eye to a telephoto 100-400mm.
❓What does photography mean to you, and what motivates you?
🗣 Photography became my way to see and think. It’s both my hobby and my work. I can get very tired after a commercial shoot but if I want to get some rest I’ll probably go and photograph some animals around. I’m always motivated by the great light and animals. When I spend enough time in one place (country) and I have time, I love to develop and shoot more creative visual stories.
❓What was your most challenging project, and why?
🗣 A few of my commercial fashion editorial projects in Switzerland were rather challenging with main reasons being communication with client and changing brief.
❓What was the most important skill that you learned, and how does it help you now?
🗣 My most important skill was learning to see; ) I am not talking about a physical ability to see, I talk about seeing/creating light and seeing the composition. Apart from personal artistic vision these two things are most important for photographers to progress. Hopefully, they also help me to do the same: )
❓What is your dream project you're starving to try in the next 10 years?
🗣 I am looking for a way to create an artistic projects around endangered animals with the aim to raise awareness and contribute to their conservation.
❓Can you tell us about a personal or professional project you are proud of?
🗣 I think I’m one of those people who always thinks that their “proud” project is ahead of them. Projects which I’ve executed and was proud of in the past seem less successful to me now. So I continue to work and search how can I be better and more interesting.
❓Do you have any passion projects you're working on or plan to start?
🗣 Since the beginning of COVID 19 there is a limit on how and how far I can travel. Since travel used to be a substantial part of my photo work I am working on series with a new interpretation of travel photography.
❓If you had just one question about anything that you could ask and get an answer, what would it be?
🗣 What is a true meaning of life?