by Chloe Tai

Self-described amateur photographer, Sebastian Rogowski, recently independently published a book, Suicidal Birds, featuring photographs of his trip through Central Asia. Musée Magazine had the opportunity to discuss with him his photographic process and inspiration behind Suicidal Birds. From thoughtful, reflective landscapes to intimate, detailed portraits, Rogowski attempts to documentarily capture the Central Asian mystique and wonder.

Musée Magazine: You only recently became a photographer in 2017. What inspired you to dedicate yourself to photography?

Sebastian Rogowski: Before I even picked up my first camera, I have been a fan of photography. In 2017, by coincidence, I started studying photography at the Akademia Fotografii in Warsaw. I was just passing this banner on the street, and they were accepting students. Actually, the assessment day was the day I was passing the building, and I just went in to see if I could be interviewed. I stayed there for three years. That's how I started to take pictures. Before that, I was interested in photography but only as a fan or like a collector, buying photo books and zines, but I had never considered going deeper into those photographic projects. This started just three years ago. Maybe because I’m 41 now, I have to do everything faster to just be able to finish what I want to.

MM: Can you explain your motivations for embarking upon a trip through Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan?

SR: I have always wanted to go to Central Asia. It always seemed like it had a lens for me, the Silk Roads fairy tales about Orients. I managed to go there in 2018 and started to take pictures, without knowing that it would be a long-term project. But, naturally, I fell in love with those people living there and with its landscapes. And the entwined history of the Orient and Soviet times of these people living in mountains. It was such an incredible experience to be there, to meet those people to listen to their stories.

After a month, I went back to Kazakhstan and started taking photos from my car, without any planning or accommodations. I just rented a car and went on the road. I was always a fan of the photographic movement in the ‘70s, and this myth of a lone photographer on a road trip, like Stephen Shore, William Eggleston, and, before him, Walker Evans. Road trips are this American thing and so I wanted to build a project like that, but I didn’t know the States that much. Instead, I decided to do a road trip depicting Central Asia

MM: How did you go about picking subjects for your photos?

SR: I didn’t have any set project in mind. I was just cataloguing experiences from the road trip. The people from the photographs are the people I met along the way. Usually, I would sleep in other people’s houses. I would be meeting these people at gas stations or shops, wherever I could go, and I would become best friends with them after 10 minutes of shopping. Then, I would get invited to their homes where they offered me dinner. It’s incredible how open they are to strangers. These are people I met during my road trip.

MM: What is the origin of the name of your photo album, “Suicidal Birds”?

SR: During the first road trip with my girlfriend, we were going to the outback mountains in Kazakhstan. I had never killed a bird with my car before, but suddenly there were dozens of birds hitting the windshield of my car. It was an incredible experience because you couldn’t see those birds, but once you went near the bushes on the road, they would be flying straight for the windshield. I thought “Suicidal Birds” might be the title because it sounded strong and that’s what we thought, that the birds were committing suicide. Coming back from Poland, I met one of my classmates from Akademia Fotografii, and he told me this crazy story that convinced me that the title was spot on.

His dad used to be a teacher in Kazakhstan, back in the ‘80s. He heard this story that there was this mountain in Kazakhstan where birds that felt that they were going to die soon, whether they were too old or too sick, were climbing the mountains and just jumping off the cliffs, just committing suicide by falling off the cliff. Now, it is easier for the birds to commit suicide by jumping in front of the cars. It was amazing to hear that story and that convinced me that it's the right title.

MM: What has your experience been like since attending school at the Akademia Fotografii from 2018-19 and the Royal Academy Of Art, The Hague, now?

SR: They are two very different schools. Akademia Fotografii is a private school and, to me, was more about socializing and meeting people. The Royal Academy Of Art, The Hague, is the school in the Netherlands that I just started in September and is an art school. I actually feel that this school might change my photography as an art form and what I want to do with my photography in the future. Here, it's all about assignments, it's all about learning new things. I really appreciate this experience. I personally love classic documentary photography, but I really want to see what I can do with other photography styles.

MM: What are some of the specific equipment that you use for your photography?

SR: I have been working with medium format film cameras. “Suicidal Birds,” specifically, was shot with Mamiya RB67 and Pentax67, both of them great cameras. In 2017, when I bought my first camera, it was a Hasselblad 500 series, which is one of the reasons why I fell in love with photography, too. To take the twelve pictures on the roll, you had to be really careful of your frame of the subject of your photos. Obviously, it's not like digital where you can make like 100 shots of one certain spot and then you choose the picture. So you have to really be careful about choosing the subject and how to frame the picture, and that was what convinced me that photography is my thing. After three years of film photography, I can move to digital cameras. Now, I’m using Hasselblad X1D. I will be using film cameras for my personal projects, but it is much easier to use digital especially cleaning all the dust from the negatives.

“Aalam Ordo 1, 2019” ©Sebastian Rogowski

MM: What was the process like in developing and laying out these books? Did you work with a team or were they solo endeavors?

SR: I worked with a wonderful editor and designer. I knew them both before I started working on “Suicidal Birds.” Rafał Milach, the first Polish photographer to be a nominee member of Magnum Photos, has already published documentary-style books on important subjects. His wife, Ania Nałęcka, is a great photo book designer. She has won so many awards and created so many beautiful designs that I just knew I would love to have them take care of these children of mine, which I consider my photographs. They are a great team because he is a famous photographer, and she is one of the best book designers in Europe.

Check out more of Sebastian Rogowski’s work on his website.

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