Welcome to Classics, introduce yourself to our readers. Where are you from originally, Where is home now?
Arturo Bamboo is our alias: we’re Arthur Groeneveld and Bamboo van Kampen - partners in work and life. We both come from The Hague, a seaside town in The Netherlands, now we’re based in Berlin but try to mix life in the city with island life. For example, in 2018 we’ve worked and lived on the islands of Hydra (Greece) and Formentera (Spain) for a couple of months.
How did Arturo Bamboo form?
Quite naturally: we started to work as a photography duo just a few months after we came together - when we we look back we can’t see an exact moment but it just slowly but surely happened.
Tell us about your journey into photography.
On one of our first trips together, Bamboo brought an old Russian camera with an expired BW film in it - after developing our first film we immediately knew we wanted more.
How would you describe your aesthetic & style?
Hazy, imperfect, nostalgic
Can you recall your earliest pictures?
Yes! It’s still one of our favorite series: a collection of black & white images taken on the Balearic Islands.
Do you have a favorite photograph?
This is changing all the time - when moving ahead in time we always have a new favorite but it’s also nice to rediscover some of our earliest work, images we totally forgot about but or maybe one of our purest.
The whole idea of our first publication ‘Summer Diary’ came from creating a book of our favorite images taken over the course of three summers - when we flip through it now it still represents our idea of the ultimate summer feeling.
Who are your favorite Cinematographers and Photographers?
Many but here some favorites: Wolfgang Tillmans, Herbert List, Brett Lloyd, Jamie Hawkesworth
What is your favorite camera?
Olympus mju-ii
What inspires you today?
This might sound cliche but most of our inspiration come really from the people who surround us, the places we visit, the music we listen to and the movies we watch. The mix of living between the city and remote places gives us the perfect balance to get inspired on all levels.
Where in the world would be your dream location to shoot?
We would love to shoot landscapes, people and wildlife in Africa.
Do you have a special creative process?
It’s great to be two persons as you really go through a creative process together: uptil now projects always came naturally. Personal as well as commercial images are taken in the moment - nothing is staged or planned and when we’re shooting editorials we prefer to do styling ourselves to keep things real and raw.
Who are you favorite filmmakers?
Gus van Sant is our all-time favorite!
What are your Favorite Books, Feature Films and Music Albums?
The list is endless - hereby some of our favorites: Books: the Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante Films: Paris, Texas
Music: Bob Dylan, J.J. Cale & Khruangbin
What are your favorite publications/websites?
Mirage Magazine, Holiday Magazine, Apartamento
Any upcoming projects we can look forward to?
After our first book ‘Summer Diary’ and our second publication which was a nude zine called ‘PRIVÉ’, we’re now working on a third printed project which should launch in November.
