Juergen Teller on self-portraits and licking Charlotte Rampling's ear
German photographer turned the camera on himself because the vanity of fashion photography was draining
Photographer Juergen Teller is in Hong Kong for the first time for the opening of an exhibition with Chinese artist Xiang Jing.
?
: Originally, we were planning to show all nudes like Vivienne Westwood's but then I looked more closely at Xiang Jing's sculptures, somehow I felt they didn't work. So I wanted to have something more abstract and food is always a desire. And then in a different way, they remind me of these shiny picture cards of cheap Chinese takeaway food. That's quite fitting in a way. And I quite enjoy the abstractness of it. I've never been to China. It's my first time in Hong Kong and it's all very exotic and new for me. So are her sculptures.
I shot the whole thing with an analogue camera, but I felt I couldn't get close enough to the work so I chose a digital camera. I've only been using digital cameras for the past couple of years. I used to always photograph with a Contax camera — this [pointing at the Vivienne Westwood No 1 London 2009] is photographed with an analogue camera — but I prefer digital now because it's reliable and faster. The quality is extremely good and, ultimately, it's a lot cheaper. And you can edit the images while you're travelling.