Don't Call Him A "Street Style Photographer"
From his home in Copenhagen, Adam Katz Sinding talks candidly about the fashion industry, why there are still #NoFreePhotos, and his latest project, Context.
I first heard about Adam from my friend Hilmar, in late 2021. At the time, I was a little embarrassed that he wasn’t on my radar, as it’s my job to keep up on these sorts of things. I’d missed out on being one of his nearly 550K followers on Instagram and somehow hadn’t noticed that, after two decades as a photographer, he’d shot for everyone (seriously, click through and look at that client list). But while Adam had clearly made a big name for himself with his images, it was his Instagram presence, specifically his Reels (or “REALS,” as he calls them) that captured my attention for their forthright, unfiltered quality. I’d never heard anyone in fashion speak publicly with his level of candor, and when conceiving this project, he was an early inspiration.
I’m thrilled that he agreed to talk to Mensweird, and as expected, he brought the heat.
Mensweird: You’ve shot everything from street style, to runway, to backstage, to editorial. There seems to be a lot of personal evolution lately, which we’ll get into in a minute, but where are you at in your career today?
Adam Katz Sinding: Uh, can I say “burnt out”? [Laughs] I guess fashion, because it’s the majority of what I do. My selfish goal in doing any of this is probably to leave some kind of anthropological mark onto what this moment in time was without using the word fucking zeitgeist. And hopefully without me ending up—this is very ego sounding but this is not the intention—like dudes whose art is worth millions of dollars now but during their lives they didn't make a penny. I hope that's not my thing. Either way, none of it matters.
MW: But if someone comes up to you on the street and asks what you do, what do you say?
AKS: I’m a photographer… And when people call me a “street style photographer,” I get angry.
MW: Why?
AKS: It's just dumb. You could say, if you're introducing your friend, "Here's my friend John, he's a pediatrician.” You could just say, “a doctor,” because I'm sure that John can do a lot more than just look at people under the age of 13, or whatever. You know what I mean? I feel like everybody can do everything, and I think that putting people into such niche boxes is dumb.
MW: Ok, I’m jumping around a little bit but I want to talk about the first Instagram Reel you tagged as “REALS.”
AKS: That's funny. I don't even know, how long have I been doing that?
MW: September 23, 2021. Was that a conscious thing, tagging that, considering what it’s turned into?
AKS: Oh, no. Dude, I am not a concept individual, ever. I don't even think there's the thought of, “Oh, let me do this.” I think it's like, “Oh, my phone's in my hand. I have a thought in my head.” I'm very impulsive and very reactionary.
I had this talk with my psychiatrist yesterday, and we're talking about creative thoughts. I was like, if you told me that I could have a million dollars to come up with a concept for some fashion brand’s campaign, it's not gonna happen. But if you gave me three jumping off points and the kick in the pants to start, then I could do that. I'm definitely not a concept guy, there's no PowerPoint presentation going on in my head to get investments.
MW: You’re not making decks.
AKS: No. I don't know how to do that, and I don't have any desire to sell myself.
MW: It’s interesting that you mention selling yourself because even before “REALS” you talked a lot about this inherent conflict with what you were doing, not with photography itself but how it fit within the context of the fashion industry, specifically when it came to the commercialization of street style. Would you say that's true, that there's always been some conflict?
AKS: No, because I think in the beginning I wanted to be part of that elite, if you will.
I think when you start paying attention to the fact that when Karl Lagerfeld—may God rest his soul—and Rick Owens and all these guys come out and take their bow at the end of the runway, they're not wearing any of the shit that they just sent down the runway. [People say], “Oh, they have the uniform,” and okay, sure. But why aren't they buying it if it needs to exist? If that makes sense.
MW: It does.
AKS: Sometimes a new iPhone comes out and I convince myself I need it, but in reality, I probably only need a new iPhone every four or five years. And I'm part of the problem in selling people a new iPhone every year.
Also, back in the day, we were all building one another up. The photographers were building the influencers up, and it was very complimentary and communist, almost. Then all of a sudden these influencers who we built… which I say [because] that's a fact. There has been the counter argument that the photographers wouldn't exist without the influencers. And I'm just like, yeah right. Okay, sure. In this world, you need imagery and video and the photographers and the videographers who are now seen as peons somehow are the conduit for that. And we've just been forgotten in that transaction. And that's okay, but it's kind of like the whole like hip-hop reference of, don't forget where you came from.
These girls are getting paid 10—and guys—getting paid 10 grand to go to a show, and they need photos. They just expect that we're gonna take photos and then they just take 'em from us. And then we start this #NoFreePhotos thing, which kind of alienated all of the photographers from the influencers. Personally I was just like, “Well, fuck 'em.”
Anyway, I just got tired of it and I realized that I was just selling those people and selling the clothes that were on their back, and I wasn't selling anything of meaning anymore. Whereas before it had some meaning because you were showing a cross section of this moment in time. And now that cross section is filled with preservatives and binding agents and all of these things that are there just to make it look more appetizing, but it's actually not good for you.
MW: That’s a great segue to what I wanted to talk about next, going back to “REALS.” It may not have been driven by a concept originally but you did start to do more and more of them and that’s when I noticed this honesty and willingness to rock the boat really start to come out. It culminates in a post from January of 2023, where you tell a story from Paris Fashion Week, about being asked to shoot a show for free, with a real sense of righteous frustration and weariness.
AKS: Who was that? Oh, what is the brand? Wait. [Adam rewatches the post.]
MW: Was that a conscious decision to just speak your mind?
AKS: No. I mean, I just get pissed off, man. I start burning bridges. Like, fuck these people. None of 'em are my friends. None of 'em care about me. There's five people in my life that matter, and that's plenty. This might sound like some narcissistic, entitlement to respect. No, I just need to not be actively disrespected. That’s all that I ask for.
I am actively disrespected every day at Fashion Week. And it's not just me. To be fair, I don't even care about me, I care about us. I know that if they're treating me like that, imagine how they're treating the guy who's new and has no name value and doesn't have the half a million followers.
MW: Right.
AKS: I have been told that I should not tell people how I feel, and I think that, that is a horribly depressing thing, but I also think that it is correct. If I want to continue to get work in this industry, I should not tell people how I feel because nobody wants to, this is a quote, “Nobody wants to help the person who needs help.” But in the fashion industry, you only support those who are already supported. It's a giant catch-22 and I will not participate on either end of it. Maybe I'd talk differently if I was making a million bucks a year, but until that time, I'm gonna continue to be a human being.
MW: Have you received any pushback or do you feel like you've paid the price for speaking out?
AKS: Not actively, no. I think people are afraid of me. That's fine, I don't care. I mean, I do care because I need to make a living.
MW: What about the positive of it? Have you heard any feedback from people like, “Thank you for standing up for us”?
AKS: Yeah, a couple people.
MW: It seems like all of this led you to create your latest project, Context, which feels like a return to the essence of what street style was when you started. Would you say that's accurate or not?
AKS: Yes, a hundred percent. Back then, I just shot people who I was like, that guy's cool, that girl is pretty. It was just interesting and intriguing and there was no money in the pot, so it was authentic. I don't know how I can make money from Context, but if I do, it's cool. But I don't, it's definitely not the goal. And that's how it started off in the beginning as well.
MW: How do you choose the subjects for it?
AKS: It's the same question I got when I was shooting street style. There is no choice. Like today, my buddy Vlatko, who I met back in the day before I even moved to Copenhagen, we met up for coffee and I brought my camera because Vlatko is one of the coolest people I've ever met.
MW: But you must have some idea…
AKS: Oh, in the beginning I did. I wanted to shoot Laura Cassidy and I wanted to shoot my friend Karl. That was it. And then you're sitting there somewhere and you're like, “Oh, that person would be cool. That person lives in Berlin and I'm going to Berlin next week. Let's go see what their living room looks like.”
I think that one of the most inspiring things is when I did the one on Scott Schuman. First of all, I went to Scott Schuman's living room. That, for me, is a major deal. But then days later, I'm just walking down the street in the Marais in Paris, and there's Scott shooting, standing on a corner all day long, taking photos candidly of people who go by on the street just like he was doing back when I first saw him in SoHo in 2011. Nothing has changed for him, and I have a fucking lot of respect for this dude who's been doing this for way longer than me, who still does it the exact same way. In order to do it the exact same way, must love it.
MW: What has the reaction been?
AKS: I think people like it, but people also like my street style, and that's fine. I don't need the approval, I don't need the validation. It feels nice, but at the same time, I hate compliments. I don't really take them to heart because I can always do better.
MW: So, like in the Scott example, it’s safe to say that you’d keep doing this regardless of the reaction.
AKS: Yes.
MW: Given everything we’ve talked about, are you still going to shoot fashion?
AKS: Absolutely. I think that it would be silly for me to cut that tie, I still really love fashion. And I love having conversations with people who are passionate about it for the right reason. I don't love the merch world that we live in now of drops. But you go to a Bottega Veneta show, or you go to a Thom Browne show, or you go to a Rick Owens show, you go to a couple shows and it's really moving and you're like, “Oh, right. This is why we do this, this is why this is beautiful.”