F
orall thevibrancyandbeautyof
Berlin, “colourful” isnotnecessarily
theadjectiveeveryonewoulduse to
describe it.Rio,MarrakechorBurano
arecolourfulplaces; thinkBerlinand
youmight conjureupwarehouses, checkpointsand
communistkitschgonehip.
PhotographerMatthiasHeiderichseeshisadopted
citydifferently, though.Heboughthisfirstcamera
in2008 justafterhe’dmoved toBerlin fora thesison
linguistics. “Iwasspending longdaysexploring the
city. Idiscovered that I’mnotsomuch interested in
photographingpeople,butenjoyed takingpictures
ofarchitecture, especiallycolourfularchitecture,”he
says. “Ihavealways liked thatslightlydreamyquality
ofPolaroidandKodachromephotos from the1950s
and ’60s. In thebeginning Iwas trying to imitate that
stylewithdigitalpost-processing,butquicklyrealised
Ihave toworkwithfilmanddifferentprocessing
techniques toachieve thequality Iwanted.Mystyle
gotmoreandmoreminimal, and Ibecameobsessed
byall theweirdbuildings inBerlin.”
Photographysoon tookover from linguistics, and
afterbecominga full-timephotographer in2010,
HeiderichhascreateddistinctiveportraitsofDubai
andMadrid, amongothers, andexhibitedacross the
world, fromSanFrancisco toStPetersburg.“Generally,
Ifind locations justbywalkingaroundcities,”hesays.
“I try tofindplaces Ihaven’t seenbefore, and that
otherphotographershaven’t shotmuch.”
Hisfirst love, though, isBerlin.As fordepicting
theGermancapital insharp, primarycolours,he
insistshe’snot reinventinganywheels. “Youcan
findveryoldpostcardsportrayingBerlin inavery
cheerful andcolourfulway. Sure, Ihavealsoseen
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