Janine Machiedo
about me

about me

Hi it´s me.

You find me breathing in Rheinhausen near Freiburg, Germany.

Fine-Art Photography

Surreal, conceptual, weird, beyond, symbolic, dark & light, other realms, vintage, sometimes funny or ironic etc etc. Anyway I´m not a fan of finding boxes to put myself in or anyone else.

Most of the time I´m using myself as the subject of my photos – exploring my inner states and finding a way to translate it into pictures. Something like that. I really love to work alone, so I can immediately jump into action when inspiration hits me. I don´t have anything to explain to anyone, nothing. Just me and myself. Sometimes we´re a great team and sometimes we really struggle, feel all the pain in the world and then we find a way to translate the struggle into creation and after that we´re floating in bliss for some time being grateful for the struggle because we found the lesson in it and after that we might go on with our lives or go eat something.

Next thing

I use photoshop for editing. I enjoy the process of editing very much when I find out if the photo matches my idea or even takes me somewhere else. I use many many layers and an absurd amount of color adjustments etc when I am in an unstoppable nerdy editing mode. I loose time and forget to eat and everything else when I´m on it. But as I grow older and hopefully a bit wiser, I recognize these signs always come up when I delve deep into a creative flow by doing anything I love and I really can say by now that the outcome doesn´t even matter. It´s all about the process.

Huh what else?

I am a mom of two. They teach love, trust, patience and gratefulness! I spare to tell you how I´m still blown away and shocked for life (in the best way), to have experienced the greatest miracle there is, to help bring life into existence. It was surely not me alone, I have no idea how to build humans… Am I the only one who freaks out like that?

Random thoughts because I really don´t know what you wanna hear and I don´t actually have anything to say.

Start with freedom. Freedom is crucial on all levels. The inner and the outer, the connection and interaction between these two, the merging when recognizing the one is just the mirror of the other. It has appeared as a main topic in my life and often in my work so far, sometimes lacking sometimes overflowing. The overflow is nature itself. When there is freedom, there is flow.

Ok next, I´m old!

I can almost grasp now what it must be like to be grown up. I´m on the verge of 40 and found a way to be really in peace with that. That´s new and it makes me happy. I feel peacefully home in myself. And know what? Every age has its own treasures! Every age!! We just need to find them.

Oh the house…

When I don´t take pictures most of the time I am working on my very old and broken house. Don´t ask me why I do that. Let´s just say one thing let to another and here I am. I made the decision in an instance. Wanna buy a house which is totally broken but has charisma? Janine: Sure, I think I have seen it in my dreams before, let´s buy it…ya that´s me, that was the reason. So I work my bottom off since about ten years in a breathtaking slow tempo because alone and raising the kids, earn the living through art while having no idea what I´m doing does not leave a great amount of time for it, but step by step I go further and often I crawl a bit and then jump and run until it´s finished. That´s the plan. In my imagination I can already see it so clearly this beautiful old Lady (the house) and just like with my pictures I deeply enjoy the process of bringing these ideas out of my head into existence. So know by supporting my art you also help me on my way to get closer to the finish-line with my house. I mean 10 years!

…aaaand hmmm

I think things we feel naturally drawn to are the things for which we came here. I take that very seriously and follow it in a radical way and I wish that for everyone else too. To just follow what makes your heart beat. Life is short, let´s not waste time.

last one

Let there be peace. Where? Everywhere. Where to start? With yourself.