Jens C. Gehring
- Jan 26
- 4 min read
Jens C. Gehring is a photographer based near Hamburg who works in black and white with both analog and digital cameras. He learned the craft in his own darkroom in the 1980s and still prefers small, square prints on fine art paper. He is drawn to close views of nature, still life, and quiet street scenes, focusing on small, easily missed details. After a personal turning point in 2012, he decided to focus fully on photography and has been working this way ever since.
Q: What first made you feel that photography could help you see what is essential in a moment?
A: For me, seeing is the focus, not the technology. The moment is crucial, the detail, the instant, the light. A photograph can only ever be a fragment of the whole and the representation of a brief moment in our lives. The appeal of this medium lies in its ability to capture precisely this moment with its speed, which is what makes photography so unique as a tool. In my eyes, it is more honest than other media because it does not embellish anything. It shows reality. From early on, photography was the perfect tool for me to focus on this moment and translate it into images.
Q: You often choose black and white over color. What keeps that choice meaningful for you?
A: This question stayed with me for a long time, because I often asked myself the same thing. I once heard an explanation that I could relate to, which said, “Color is life, black and white is reality.” That's how it is for me, too. Black and white is often more colorful to me than color. I don't dictate anything to the viewer, giving them the opportunity to choose the colors themselves in their imagination.
The reduction leads the viewer more quickly to the message of the image, as they are not distracted by colorful accents. Playing with contrasts supports this even more strongly than in color photographs. Depending on the motif, I often find black and white more aesthetic. It supports structures, shapes, and the emphasis on details that are important to me in my work.
Q: The square format plays an important role in your work. What makes it the right frame for most of your images?
A: My analog roots in medium format photography have shaped me. While it was originally a qualitative decision in favor of the size of this negative, its compositional significance has also increased.
The square format does not favor any side in terms of length and therefore does not influence the image's message in a one-sided way. It channels the viewer's gaze to what the image is meant to express, giving it the necessary space. Since I like to present my photographs on high-quality material, I also choose a suitable mat to enhance the viewer's experience and underline the value of the work.
Q: You favor small formats shown up close. What do you hope this intimate scale allows the viewer to experience?
A: In my opinion, smaller formats lead to a more direct engagement with the work on the part of the viewer. The viewer has to get closer to the photograph in order to recognize and understand it and its message, thereby literally shortening the distance to the work. Not only spatially. I thus invite them into this more intimate relationship and create a special bond between them. The choice of closeness and detail in my photography is more coherent for me.
Q: In the “WATT” series, you focus on small, often overlooked forms in nature. What usually draws your attention to something others might miss?
A: We humans are used to looking into the distance, but we don't recognize what is close to us. That's why I've always been interested in detail. Not the group, but the individual. Not the forest, but the tree. It's like in life: only when I understand the small things do I have the opportunity to recognize the big picture. That's how I feel about seeing and observing in the photographic process. My series WATT shows a small section of the coastline that experiences the tides every day, but it is rarely recognized that the same pattern never repeats itself. I want to draw attention to uniqueness through this detailed view.
Q: What makes a subject feel finished for you, whether it stays literal or becomes more abstract?
A: I usually only conclude a series when I feel empty, when a theme no longer holds any new perspectives for me and loses its power. As a rule, a theme lasts for a long time. It often begins even before I consciously decide to pursue it. So I repeatedly find photographs in my collection on themes that I apparently discovered early on as appealing, but only later incorporate them as part of a theme. It is therefore a process that thrives on the fact that perspectives and points of view change over time. I want to depict these changes in my series.
