IULIAN IGNAT IS A DEDICATED B&W PHOTOGRAPHER FROM ROMANIA. WE LOVE HIS WORK; IT IS FULL OF LIFE AND FUN AND ALSO HAS A STRONG GRAPHIC SENSE. HE TALKS ABOUT ABOUT HIS APPROACH, BELOW. (All Photographs copyright Iulian Ignat, All Rights Reserved.)

I am an editor at a popular weekly magazine in Romania. My job is to write, and I’ve published a lot of photos too, but I don’t consider myself a professional photographer. Sometimes I think that is better, because I choose the subject and take the photos the way I want.

All the photos from my seven personal exhibitions have been in black and white. More than 90% of the photos on my site are also black and white. Since my first exhibition, in 2000, I have become more and more attracted by B&W photography. That’s the way I feel. It’s the way for me to tell the story. I do love colors and nature, but as a photographer I am rarely interested in landscape or color photography.

I love the energy of a big rock show; I enjoy photographing gypsy musicians in their villages or on a stage, the kids from skate parks and also theater. I’m fascinated by dance shows. I love street festivals, there are no restrictions and nobody cares about the photographer. I shot two years in Venice during the carnival, rambling 10 hours a day on the streets and it was great.

I guess that my photo heroes are the light and the true emotion. I am not comfortable taking somebody, putting them somewhere and saying, "I`m gonna take a picture of you. Act like this."

I worked for seven years with a great Canon AL1 (50 mm/ 1.8, 300mm/4 and 135mm) and after that I got a Nikon F5, which was a bit of a revolution for me. I love it and I’m very pleased with the Nikkor 135mm/2. I also use 50mm/1.4 and 70-200mm/2.8. I don’t have a darkroom, I shoot Ilford XP2-400 films processed in C41 technique, and  I scan the film using a Nikon Cool Scan 5000.