Sydney Mates
Written by Richard Watts
AXN looks through the lens of Berlin-born, Sydney-based photographer Karim Konrad.


We all enjoy looking at a beautiful man. Unfortunately, far too many gay photographers rely on the same tired clichés of attitude, artifice and faux-masculinity when it comes to representing the male form.
Not Karim Konrad.
The Berlin-born photographer’s work is vivid, vibrant and playfully sexy; colourful without being kitsch, and strikingly composed. It’s a style that’s perfectly suited to Sydney, which Konrad now calls home, and whose men are about to become the subjects of his next project. This image is a sample of things to come. In his first book, Berlin Gay Mates, the photographer dispelled any notions of the German capital as grim and grey by presenting the city’s men in an array of luscious images. The handsome models are displayed to good advantage thanks to Konrad’s innate flair for design.
“Anyone can pick up a camera and point and click, but to take different aspects of design and incorporate them in a photo is my real passion,” he tells AXN.
That passion is clearly evident in Konrad’s work, the creation of which is a labour of love.
“I get goose bumps sometimes when I know that the photos are coming out great,” Konrad says. “I get excited when I see all the elements coming together like the natural light, the colours within the shot and most importantly when the model compliments all of these things.”
Having first picked up a camera as a young child, Konrad quickly realised he had found his calling.
“It just seemed natural to me. I liked the fact that you could create and capture a scene that tells a story. Photography is a part of me.” http://www.karimkonrad.com/