Ninu Nina Artist Interviews

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PHOTOGRAPHER MAXIMILIAN HETHERINGTON

Maximilian is a photographer we love, from the south coast of england currently based in london, he shoots for clothing brands, musicians, model agencies and creatives alike.

His style is adapted from of a love of film photography stretching way back to his childhood days and is represented by adrenalin info@adrenalinphotographic.com

How did you get your start in photography?

Awwww man that’s a toughie! I guess I just started out with my Grandad’s old Nikon film camera. I loved that thing. I had no idea what to do with it. As it was fully manual it gave me the lesson of learning how to control aperture, shutter speed and focus. I was hooked on the magic of that little box. Many moons later, I grew up (I didn’t) and moved to London. I had no idea what I was doing with my life (still don’t) but decided as most of my friends were musicians, designers, artists, models etc, that I could take photographs of them. I applied for a million jobs and eventually got work as an assistant at a photobooth company. They only hired photographers, photo assistants, filmmakers etc. So for the following years I asked as many questions as I could, on anything I could! I started assisting a few of the guys there and then like magic started getting my own jobs through mates for small brands and unsigned musicians. I started testing with as many agency models as I could and soon found a knack for taking pretty pictures of pretty people.

Your greatest inspirations or influences?

  • My mum, the sun, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin.

  • Paolo Roversi, Eric Cantona, David Lynch.

Most interesting shoot so far and what would be a dream project for you?

The most inspiring and amazing shoot I’ve done so far was for a brand called Skinny Dip. We travelled out to Spain for a week of magic. We shot the campaign across a few boiling hot days on the beach and in La Muralla Roja. Everyone was so on it, we nailed the brief, the client was happy and most importantly we had so much fun together! I came back to London realising that that is what I want to achieve from my career. To travel the world with it, to make people happy, to enjoy taking photographs! Just attempting to create iconic imagery along the way and to not look back for a second!

Most interesting response to your work that you've heard so far?

I briefly moved down to Margate a couple of years ago, and I joined a local creatives Facebook group to help me with my work down there. I shared an update of my work one time and the response was overwhelming. However my favourite response was “half naked smutt, beautiful girls, posing with bags over their heads, looks like a Pirelli calendar from the 80’s”. Anyone that knows me or my work would know how happy this made me! It was the incredible, this guy was trying to slate me but he just got it so right, I wish I could’ve bought him a virtual beer to say thank you!

Favorite websites, publications or social media handles that you follow?

  • Melt - http://visualmelt.com/ - Ran, in part, by artist Leif Podhajsky. Ultimate visual inspiration.

  • Radiooooo - http://radiooooo.com/# - The soundtrack to everything I do. A magical mystery tour through time and space. Ultimate sonic inspiration.

  • Neil Krug - http://www.neilkrug.com/ - This dude shoots expired polaroids, hand coloured, dream sequence imagery of some huge acts. Beautiful stuff.

  • Henrik Purienne - http://www.purienne.com/ - 80’s Pirelli calendar vibes. Wink wink.

Anything else you'd like to share?

My website is here if anyone wants to take a goose – www.maximilianhetherington.com - Insta is @iammaximilianiam

All photography courtesy Maximilian Hetherington