Monty Kaplan is an Argentinean photographer whose work can be interpreted as a subjective anthropological exploration of the world. He believes that reality is not logical, but emotional: that’s why the way he uses light is aimed at transmitting emotions.

We at Collater.al asked Monty to tell us his story through an interview, which you can find below:

What does it mean for you to take pictures? How did you start?

What photography means to me has changed drastically with time, and I believe it will keep changing as I grow older, but above all, it means a particular way of approaching life as a whole. As an experience rather than as an activity. You become this documenter, an observer. While everyone else is in action mode, you are in a state of contemplation. It gives you a particular life beat, it’s not really going against the tide, on the contrary, it’s letting go and giving into the tide completely, learning to flow with places, events, people. In a way, I think it’s coming to terms with the lack of a real purpose in existence.

I think most people like to feel busy, and feed their heads the idea that there’s a point to all their collective endeavors, something at the end of the ladder made from all the struggles, all the work, all the experiences they go through. 

I personally find the idea that there is no meaning to be alive rather soothing. There’s no place to get to, no mission to complete. It’s just a constant flow of change we are all part of.  I think when you think about it in terms of a never-ending process, there’s a certain ease that comes attached to that. 
And photography lets me take small, but very poignant slices, from my own personal experiences in the whole process. 
How did I start… I used to say it was when I was 28 after I moved abroad to Miami. But I’m not so sure anymore. That’s when I turned my full attention to the medium, but in reality, the process of photography has always been in me. Since I was very young I had a camera in my hand, it’s just that I didn’t know myself enough to use it in any meaningful way before.

And the reason I also say that I’m not so sure when I started anymore, is because I think photography is an on-going process that is so tied to who you are. I myself always seem to be in a constant flux of change. And therefore, my understanding and use of the medium keeps on transforming. In many ways, the photographer I am right now has nothing to do with the one I was two years ago, but I can’t say I started just now, it just means, I started a long time ago, and my work or portfolio as such will only be done when I’m gone. 

Your images are very suggestive, what sensations do you want to convey to the public?

There’s never one single sensation or emotion I’m trying to convey. I honestly don’t think about it that much, since that would defeat the purpose. There’s a moment when you’re editing the work, where you do give way to a more thought out mental approach to the pictures. But even then I just go about it from a gut feeling. If I look at a picture, I’m not asking myself what it means, or what it will mean to anyone else, not even if it’s a “good” picture, but rather, does it elicit any response in me? If I can stare at a photo for weeks, and every time I go back to it, it keeps catching my attention, then I know it’s an interesting picture, it doesn’t matter why.

The rest will be filled out by the viewer. There’s something Paolo Pellegrin said about the practice that really stuck with me: “I’m more interested in a photography that is ‘unfinished’ – a photography that is suggestive and can trigger a conversation or dialogue. There are pictures that are closed, finished, to which there is no way in”. 

In other words, if I present to you, the viewer, a nice looking picture and you can immediately read through it, then I’m not asking anything from you, just telling you, look at how beautiful this is, I saw it, and was there to capture it. It may look nice, but it will last but a minute, you’ll forget all about it, therefore the work is vapid.

Is there a particular reason why you selected these photographs?

Yes, I chose those images because I think it’s a good window into what I’m currently pursuing as an artist. My focus has been somewhat deterred by a social media mentality for a while. Which is a very harmful way to approach work, both in creating and sharing. 

So now I’m trying to slow down my pace, to look at what I’m doing for a long time before I share it. To let images sink in, and have a meaning to me, other than, maybe it’s a nice looking picture. Another reason also is that I notice a trend every time a magazine or blog makes an article about an artist, they usually show the very same work she/he is mostly known for, and I find that to be so dumb. Like, why would you be interested in seeing that which you have seen a thousand times before somewhere else? I’m not interested in people feeling they can instantly recognize and spot one of my photographs from a mile away. I want them to be interested in the photograph first, and after it caught their interest, to know who is it from.

Which artists influenced you the most?

Such a difficult question, because it gets mixed with, who do you admire the most, rather than who honestly inspired you the most. The list of my favorite photographers is sort of endless, I consume a lot of photography and I’m always hungry for more. 
But there are two photographers that really opened up a new way of looking at the medium for me and therefore, inspired me a great deal. Those two are Harry Gruyaert and Jack Davidson.

The two couldn’t be farther apart really, in both age and style. But they are somehow linked in my head. I think in a way it’s because of what I like most about both of them is a real sense of playfulness across their entire body of work. Gruyaert’s uncompromisingly delicious use of color and Davidson ever-evolving sense of framing in unusual, beautiful ways are something that I find very motivating. I think photography, like any other form of art, has literally endless possibilities, and often the photographers that I admire the most are the ones who feel like they are treading on new ground, not by what they are doing, but the spirit behind how they are doing it. Art is energy, the energy you put into what you do, translates directly into the viewer.

In your biography, you define your emotional approach to life, which situations inspire you most?

There is no particular situation that inspires me. I’m always ready to be inspired by the most mundane things at the most unexpected places. I think it’s probably both my greatest weakness and most incredible asset as an artist, that I have such a prolific mind. I’m always in a thousand places at once mentally. That’s why I always try to carry some camera with me because since I’m never actively seeking to be inspired, I never know when the lighting might strike. 

Follow Monty’s take over on @Collater.al Instagram profile!