At first I thought I would use the candle on an in between page. For you to take a deep breath, having a break. So I took a shot on my kitchen table, but somehow I wasn't feeling the image.
So I came up with the idea of integrating the candle together with the model. As a kind of metaphor.
There are some ideas for pictures that have been in me for a long time. I actually owe the fact that I have ideas like this to my friend Rene. When I was allowed to accompany him on a shoot in 2011, he wanted to photograph a model who had a bucket of water tipped over her. I had the task of pouring the bucket of water.
And until then, I had never thought about what my desired motifs might be. Since then, however, I've kept a book of ideas. And it contains so many good things. For example, writing on a mirror with lipstick.
I also brought a glass cleaner with me. When I do things like this, I never leave a mess behind. That's important to me.
Kiki had to get up on a stool to get the right height for the motif. Her tattooed body suited me very well for the motif. But in the end, everything was somehow too normal. I struggled with myself and had a chat with my friend Rene.
He suggested changing the color of the picture drastically. So not just a duplex image, sepia or something. Something really extreme. That seemed daring to me. Perhaps too daring. But the more I tweaked the colors, the more I liked this picture.
I also knew that I wouldn't use such a style for many of the pictures in the book. Only when it fitted thematically. And it worked here. I re-used the color scheme of a candle flame.
It turned out as a slightly crazy, but also poetic series that asks a lot of questions and sheds light on the classic hotel room shoot that you're used to seeing from me from a different angle.
A-pro-pos lighting. Just one candle as a light source is very little. But I took a chance and for me it all fits together. I named the pictorial Method to Her Madness. Maybe it explains like this: Kiki is an artist. And artists are always a bit crazy.