| name: |
Christina Lien Huong Hambuch Günebakan |
| alias: |
"Mary Kwizness", short: Kwiz |
| date of birth: |
March 14th 1987 |
| location: |
Istanbul, Türkiye + Lebach, Germany |
| origin: |
Saigon, Vietnam (mother) + Lebach, Germany (father) |
| languages: |
German, English, Turkish + basics in Chinese (Mandarin), Spanish, Danish, Japanese, French |
| equipment: |
since 2019: Canon EOS 77D + Canon EF-S 18-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS STM since 2018: Sony DSC-HX80 since 2017: EFS 24mm f/2.8 STM since 2015: Walimex Pro 8 mm / 3.5 Fish-Eye II since 2012: Canon EOS 1100D, EF-S 18-55mm IS II, EF 50mm f/1.8 II |
| editing program: |
GIMP |
WHAT'S SPECIAL?
WHAT'S MY STYLE?
I most often take event photos. Unlike posed shootings, events are happening in realtime and moments seem to fly away for good. I catch exactly these moments we all love to remember.
I like to catch real emotions and reveal the true nature of people who feel unobserved. In my eyes, snapshots are so much more beautiful than posed shoots.
WHEN DID IT START?
My first pics date back to my childhood, playing "models" and "photographer" with my cousins. I was lucky that my father was a passionate amateur photographer, so I was able to use his equipment. I remember, when I was 14, I had my first analog camera.
Around 2005 I started to do extravagant "photo shootings" of myself by myself for my social media profiles. My friends started to call me a photographer, so I played my role as one, using the name "Mary Kwizness".
For a while I was working as a nightclub photographer for the Asian party organisation Dynasty Events in Frankfurt. Then in 2012 I discovered the breaking scene and found my real passion. I finally began to see myself as a photographer and in 2014 I took the step to work in a photo studio.
WHY BREAKING/HIPHOP PHOTOGRAPHY?
In 2012 I met Julien Bam from JuBaFilms who was a friend of my cousin Andy Long. I was inspired by his photography and movies, we became friends and for the first time I got in contact with bboys and bgirls. Until then I had only known artists from the tricking and martial arts scene.
Julien taught me my camera functions, introduced me to some international dancers at my first bboy event "Beat Battle" in Bonn, then they asked me to come to the next event. And so I was "unconsciously" sliding into the scene.
WHAT'S MY MOTIVATION?
In the beginning I was just letting the flow happen to me. But after a short while I became so familiar with so many faces who are doing the same thing like me: travel to jams, battles, festivals and workshops regularly, have fun, share one love, exchange, each one teach one, now it feels like some kinda family gathering to see them.
HipHop photography gave me so many wonderful friendships and knowledge about the culture.
Besides, I just love to travel and being an event photographer gives me the opportunity to get around a lot.
WHY "MARY KWIZNESS"?
My friends have been calling me "Kwiz" since 5th grade (~1997) and everyone was getting used to it until today. Some people don't even know that my real name is Christina.
Back in the days one of my friends called me "Chris" in English, but her typical German accent couldn't handle it, so it sounded more like "quiz". That's how I got my nickname for life.
When I made up my pseudonym for my photography works, I wanted a name consisting of a first name and a last name, but also including the "Kwiz", so I modified my fun phrase "Merry Kwizness" (many years used for "Merry Christmas") to "Mary Kwizness" for having a female first name.
a surprisingly quite frequently asked question:
"Who is actually taking all of your selfportraits??"
...and some private stuff about me:
