Michael, its so great to finally connect here for an interview. I love the way you see the world and translate it into photography. To begin, can you introduce yourself to our community? Your name, where you are from and the mediums you work in?

Hey Dave, thank you so much for having me! My name is Michael Boegl, I'm a photographer from Munich, Germany. My main medium is photography, I have tried different artistic forms like painting, graphic design and videography, but in the end I always came back to photography. It's simply what I love doing the most.

What is it about photography that you find so compelling? I'd love to know more about what draws you to this craft specifially, over the others. I do find your work to be very painterly so I see how that medium may have influenced you. But why photography?

For me, photography is about freezing a moment in time forever. A moment that will never exist again. That's what fascinates me most about photography.

I also love exploring new places, meeting people I've never met before and capturing these people and places in my own way. Photography is my way of showing people how I see and imagine the world. This varies from the most impressive landscapes, to the streets of our world's metropolises, to the simple and everyday things and situations of life.

Love that description. For me, its one of the only mediums that is about instants- for example, a painting or a sculpture is made over a larger window of time. Photography gets us closest to what you describe- freezing a fleeting moment forever.

When you go out to make work, do you have a vision in mind or do you wander and let the world unfurl in front of you?

It depends on the situation, but my approach is usually the same. I like to plan specific locations on Google Maps, especially if I'm shooting landscapes that I want to photograph at a certain time of day or according to a certain idea. Most of the time, especially when I'm in a city, I just wander around, from place to place, trying to find the beauty and the special little moments in everyday life.

Love that. In terms of the processing of your work- how do you go about creating your style, what are you looking to draw out of the raw images you have created after a good day of shooting? What tools and programs are you working with?

Once I've taken the photo, I already know roughly how I want to edit it. I would describe my style by saying that I don't really have a style. For me, every picture is different and unique. Sometimes I edit an image over and over again for days until I'm happy with the final result. The one constant in my images is that I shoot exclusively with fixed focal lengths, 35mm and 85mm, and that I always use what is called a Black Pro Mist filter for my lens which helps me to create that bloomy and cinematic look. Like many other photographers, I mainly use Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop.

Beautiful, nice to hear the process behind the style. Love that bloom look for sure, and your edits really dial in the magic. I love hearing from artists about the pros and cons of social media and web3. What are you thoughts and relationships with these technologies? Is it a net positive for you or a more naunced thing?

I think it's important to look at both the positives and the negatives. Personally, I'm a big fan of questioning things critically, but I do believe that blockchain technology will play a significant role in our future. In fact, I wrote a thesis at university about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. I believe that it will become a part of our daily lives, far beyond its current use for art.

Additionally, Web3 has given me the opportunity to meet people I would never have met otherwise. That being said, we still have a lot of room for improvement, whether it's dealing with fraud, gatekeeping, or improving our interpersonal interactions on social media. I firmly believe that Web3 has given artists the chance to earn a living from their art.

However, it would be unrealistic to expect artists to rely only on Web3. Only a small percentage of active Web3 artists are able to make a full-time income from it. It's important to build up different income streams so that your monthly expenses don't solely rely on income from the sale of NFTs.

Wonderful answer, thanks for the thoughtful and nuanced approach. Lastly- what advice would you have for an artist who is earlier in their creative journey?

Have fun, don't be afraid to try new things and be aware that it's a marathon, not a sprint. This doesn't just apply to new artists, but to everyone, no matter how far along they are in their creative journey.

Lovely sentiments. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your world with us. I eagerly await your future work, and looking forward to talking more soon! To the reader, stay tuned on everything Michael is up to right here.