“It´s important for us, that our pictures have a bit of a dirty and fuck you attitude and a second level of meaning.”

Florian Raidt and Sebastian Lager studied together at the Graphische Vienna, used to hang out together, drink Budweiser together and then ended up with their first project together called „day for night.” Now they still work as a photographer team raidt-lager, “sharing the same view on things and also the aesthetics of a good picture.”

What we find also appealing is that the titles of their projects promise to be more than just visual art, but also an occupation and reflection of the things that we are surrounded by. “There ´s an everlasting teenage dream sleeping in every heart.” Hedgefonds -They live in the back- ground and gamble with the worlds economy.”

In our interview they told us about why it is great to be working as a team, about the idea behind the Pornstars project, their role models and where they are heading towards in the next years…

Hey Florian and Sebastian, so where does your love for photography come from?

Florian: What i like about photography is that you can tell a story and show impressions and feelings within a second… there is no medium, that is so fast and associative and the intention to express my thoughts like this, it has always been in me… Furthermore, great thing about photography is, that it´s also a very democratic medium. The technique is not difficult to learn and it´s not that expensive. Anybody can take a good picture, it depends on whether you are creative….

Sebastian: Hi C´s – it all started with music. The early record covers showed me how to do things right. Well, I can say that record covers were my first contact with art. But I´m also influenced by so many simple things… sometimes it´s just easy stuff like e.g. old cars, weird colored food etc., then I just try to pick out what I like most, bring it all together and that´s my personal drive.

How did it come about that you are working as a photographer team?

We studied photography at the same university, we used to hang out together, we used to drink our Budweiser together and finally we started our first project called „day for night“. We had to spend a lot of time in the redlight district, where we met really nice people but we only had this little time window for the shootings, it was stressful but we managed it. This was the point where we recognized that we are actually a good team.

Isn´t it sometimes difficult to manage to work as a team as there are two people with different views on things and aesthetics. Or is that what makes it so interesting for you and the result of your art?

Working together means a lot of fun. We ´ve experienced it from the the first time, that we share the same view on things and also the aesthetics of a good picture. And now we function like one big brain – you know multi tasking is a difficult job for a man – but togheter it´s not a problem anymore ;)

You have a project called “Pornstars” – can you tell us about the idea behind it?

The series is about identity. We wanted to give pornstars – who are reduced to their body – an identity. With the help of a mobile screen we can give them a stage where they can go back to their original identity or a get a new one… At the shooting it was very very difficult for them to look into the camera without their pornstar attitude…

Do you work digital or analog?

It simply depends on the job or the project we are working at. If there´s enough time we love to use our analog mamiya mediumformat camera. It sharpens your eyes and keeps you calm during the shooting, because you don´t lose your natural workflow and you keep on shooting instead of gazing on a laptop screen after each picture. We are fans of the analog working technique but can´t afford it anymore, unfortunately! One the other hand digital has one big advantage, you know when you fuck up ^^

When I looked through your website I thought that some of your images look like failed snapshots ? is that something that you are trying to transmit on purpose? What do you think makes them special? And what makes a good image for you?

Not in any of these pictures there was an intention. Some of them just happend during a shooting, where the planned result looked to clean to us…. It´s important for us, that our pictures have a bit of a dirty and fuck you attitude and a second level of meaning…

The Austrian photography scene is pretty assessable. What do you think about that?

Yeah, the scene ist assessable, but there are a lot of good photographers – most of them work international anyway. Maybe you can compare the photo scene with the Austrian movie industry which is also assessable but has with Haneke, Seidl an Waltz a really good reputation worldwide.

Are there any role models for you?

Sebastian: Duane Hanson is one good guy, his work is awesome real. Well there are also temporary role models, like actors in a film e.g. I like the bad cowboy aesthetic and the bad world around it – they are sad, they are drunk and they talk the right way…

Florian: I like the work of Jeff Wall, Larry Sultan and Philip Lorca DiCorcia… And in the way to live: Otto the Busdriver

Where do you see yourself in a few years?

We hope that we can maintain our style and be successful with it…

The most important thing in life is?

Sebastian: A bag of freedom and good food

Florian: People who are resistant to greed and arrogance

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