These 12 cheeky street portraits of Vienna will have you seeing the city differently

Take your time checking out these 12 photographs that will make you smirk and have you see Vienna in a different way:

1. Describe your style in 3 words.
Colourful, real, humorous.

2. Name three of your favourite locations to shoot at in Vienna?
1. Prater: there’s so much going on, both in terms of the amusement park rides and the people there.
2. Naschmarkt: from the rich-looking diners to the market stall vendors shouting ‘English mafia’ at you, it’s a colourful place that gets even more colourful when the sun is shining.
3. Miscellaneous: many of the shots I’ve liked the most have come from fairly unremarkable places, with remarkable things happening in them.

3. Tell us about your photography. What do you focus on, and what do you look for when you look into the lens?
As street photography can require split-second timing, I tend to photograph things first and decide whether the photo was any good later. I am looking for lots of different things, whether it’s different elements/colours that work well together, or staring at the pavement looking for things to use for my Trashtopia series. Most of the time, I don’t look through the lens, but nstead shoot ‘from the hip’, as I like the jaunty angles it can produce, and it’s a more surreptitious way of photographing.

4. What is the wildest experience you’ve had while photographing?
I visited Christiania in Copenhagen a few years ago, which, for those who don’t know, is a ‘free town’ where certain things outside of the law take place, and the police tend to avoid bothering anyone about them. (It’s also where all the good vegetarian restaurants seemed to be when I googled it, which is why I ended up there). My guidebook advised against taking photos of the area, and the place is covered in signs with crossed-out cameras. This, of course, made me want to take photos even more. I managed to resist until about 30 seconds after I’d walked away from the place, when I took a very quick snap on my phone from a distance. It wasn’t an interesting photo, just the result of pent-up frustration. Right away, I heard a man shouting, so I thought it best to walk in the opposite direction to him, and quickly. As he started running, so did I, and he ended up chasing me down an alleyway until I had nowhere left to turn. He made me delete the uninteresting photo from my phone, and fortunately then left me alone.

5. Who’s your favourite Instagram artist at the moment?
It’s a tie between Niall McDiarmid, who among the increasingly crowded number of photographers has created his own style of street portraits, which are beautiful and timeless, and Juno Calypso, whose self portraits are alien, retro, and futuristic.

6. What’s your favourite place in Vienna?
Café Jelinek – real old-school charm.

7. What’s your background photo on your phone?
Me and my girlfriend picnicking in a South London cemetery(!)

8. Is there any music that inspires you in your work?
80s crap, and any of the mixes here by DJ A-Up (but especially ‘The Wind Down’).