I think there is no place that I wouldn’t like to photograph. I believe that every place has a dimension to tell, even if it might be hidden sometimes.

There is a quiet intensity ever present in Gustav Willeit’s photography. You cannot casually consume his images; they have to be studied with an almost meditative purposefulness. From his architectural images, that force the viewer to see the surroundings as necessary white space to his warm captures of the people Togo, Gustav's work captures and deserves our attention.

Working freelance in Switzerland and Italy, Gustav has found a way to blend his poetic view of life with a photographic technicality that serves as a model for building a creative life. Enjoy this conversation with Gustav.

I invest a lot of research in the composition of the image. My purpose is to find an equilibrium: scale and symmetry help to make the final work look balanced. I want my works to speak for themselves, with simplicity, clarity, and immediacy. The observer will just be asked to use his perception to understand what he sees.

Perspe is certainly the series of images I have been working on for the longest time. I started this project when I was studying at the art school “F+F Schule für Kunst und Design” in Zurich already. I have always been attracted to a world that is modified, created, and altered. The symmetric doubling is a practice that has been used often in the artistic field in the past. I like to give this practice a contemporary look. The technique consists in merging two different realties to create and give life to new landscape and architectural facets. Beyond digital intervention there is the search for the amazement that the creation of a new subject can give. Perspe is the synthesis between thesis and antithesis.

I think these two worlds often cross. Nature becomes architecture and architecture creates new landscape scenarios that integrate with nature over time. There is no clear separation between these worlds. Both are part of our way of perceiving, and I want to go beyond the landscape. In my research, nature and architecture represent with no doubt the single dimension we are living in.

As a photographer I try to induce the observer to investigate beyond the image. I would like that through the images the viewer can ask questions and give answers to himself. Photography is a way of stimulating new feelings. In this sense, I do not distinguish between nature and architecture, everything is inspiration.

They are two different aspects of the same research. The approach may be different when you are faced with architecture or a person. But I always remain the same. My sensitivity doesn’t change. Sometimes the person is placed in an architectural context. There’s nothing more than the desire to show the link between the human being and the playground in which he acts.

The colour is very important in my work, also because often there is almost none. Without a doubt, strong colours have great strength and in a photograph they can easily balance the scene.

I think there is no place that I wouldn’t like to photograph. I believe that every place has a dimension to tell, even if it might be hidden sometimes. Here, I am an image narrator.

I grew up in the Dolomites—my roots lie here. Studies and work brought me to Zurich and there I began the search for that indissoluble bond that exists between city and nature. Even if today nature is turned upside down by metropolitan man.

When moving to different and new places you must always have respect. Respect for things that don’t belong to you. Although now there are no untouched places, some fragments exist and these fragments can not only be wonderfully beautiful, they must also be considered as a warning. This rare beauty must be a stimulus in creating awareness.

I think I’m quite classic, I still follow the photographers I discovered during my studies and at the beginning of my career as a photographer. Sebastiao Salgado, the Becher School, Gursky, Sasse, and I love Jimmy Nelson’s photographs very much. And then there are also many good young photographers. Today it is relatively easy to discover talented people.

The list of places to photograph is certainly long and I also think difficult to complete. Besides, there are places that I would like to visit but which for various reasons are somewhat difficult to reach.

The biggest obstacle is reaching a place, having little time available and finding yourself in unfavourable light and weather conditions. It is also true that you have to be in the right place at the right time and you need positive karma. With people it can happen that they simply don’t want to be photographed. At that point it takes either a little magic or resignation. Anyhow, experience helps a lot to face any kind of situation.