Felix Machleid is a 23-year-old student of medicine and philosophy in Munich, Germany. He loves art, analogue photography, travelling and Berlin. He likes to shoot magnificent soothing landscapes, street, and people.

Please tell us about yourself and your relationship with photography. Do you have some education or any degree in photography? If no, do you feel you’re at some disadvantage?

I have no education or degree in photography — everything I know has been self-taught. Most of the time I do not really see this as a disadvantage though.

I have been interested in art since I was very young. At this time I used to draw, sketch and paint a lot and I dreamed of becoming a painter for a long time. But as I got older I felt that I could not produce anything of great value and I got really impatient about creating something I actually liked. Therefore I started to engage in other things.

After a few years of little creativity I discovered my father’s Minolta X-700 in my parent’s closet. They gave it to me as present for my birthday. That was when I fell in love with analogue photography taking the camera with me on every trip and journey I have made so far.

What does photography mean to you? What do you want to express through your images and how do you view your evolution as a photographer?

My photos are memories of the trips, the things I´ve seen and how they made me feel. I try to capture moments that feel special to me thus every shot means a lot to me.

I cannot really say that there has been a huge evolution considering my photography. For the last years I have been busy with moving and university so I always used to set photography aside. This year I really want to spend more time on photography, for example in the Bavarian Alps or during backpacking in the summer. I’d also like to interact more with other photographers to get some feedback, improve my knowledge and have fun.

How did you fall in love with charm of film photography and shooting places and nature when most people your age use digital media to make a lot of self-portraits and Photoshop aided conceptual works?

I always admired the quality of film, the sort of vintage look and appeal. To me analogue photography is more personal, magical and honest. It just conveys more feeling, I think.

Considering film photography I like the momentum of not being able to control every aspect of a developed photo.

Tell us about your method(s) or critical approaches of shooting? How much of your work is carefully planned vs. instantaneous?

Somehow planning a specific shot has never really worked out for me. Every time I tried to realize an image I had in my head I ended up being upset with the result, because the shot never really represented it. Maybe it is just because of the fact, that you can never really be sure how the picture is going to turn out with film photography. For me, the best thing is to go out with a clear mind, no expectations and just trying to capture a moment that means something to me.

What are your future plans/projects, ambitions, inspirations etc.?

For now I don’t have specific plans — as said photography is just a hobby for me. One day, maybe, I will do something big, compared to what I have done so far. I really want to travel more and at one point have enough photos to make a small book of my memories. This could be just for myself, my family and close friends or maybe others that are interested.

Please share your favorite stuff: photographers, quotes, films books, music etc.

A huge inspiration for me is Nicola Odemann, a German photographer around my age. The way she captures nature always makes me want to leave everything and travel. Other than her I really love Neil Krug, Théo Gosselin, and Randy P. Martin.

Something to say to our readers or aspiring photographers:

Do not compare yourself to others. Everyday we are flooded by success-stories on the internet and it is easy to feel somehow degraded by a more established artist. I think the important thing is to stay true yourself and your art.

All photos © Felix Machleid : Website | Instagram | Flickr