For the 50th anniversary of Playboy Germany, I was invited to design one of 50 cover motifs. For me, this was a huge honor and a project that I was really excited about. I was given a free hand in the design. Only a reference to Playboy had to be recognizable.
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Currently, my calendar for 2023 is in print. This is always a special moment, because unpacking and signing the finished copies feels special every year. I put a lot of effort into creating a beautiful calendar that you can enjoy for a whole year.
In terms of my photography, I also deal with role stereotypes and social issues around the zeitgeist. I describe myself as a feminist. Rarely have discussions on the subject been so wild as in the current time.
Our brain is a masterpiece. An insanely good machine. But it is also easily fooled. When we look at a painting, we are aware that this work is a representation of a painter. But with a photograph, the brain has a harder time. A photograph appears to be objective.
Some music videos have an iconic character. But maybe I'm wrong and that's just a very personal impression. But since music videos are often the playground of talented directors, there might be something to it. I speak of clips like Lies by Is Tropical.
If you watch an older movie, you immediately realize that the narration speed used to be slower. A film from the 90s seems immediately lame. Even without being a film expert, we feel it subconsciously. In recent years, life in all areas has become many times faster.
I am constantly looking for new models for my calendar and book projects. However, the formerly successful model platforms are hardly ever used by prospective models. Everyone is on Instagram these days. And one thing really struck me.
In the 1980s, quite a few films were shot that shaped my youth or conveyed the feeling of the time incredibly well. When I was a child Crocodile Dundee was cool. But I refer more to the teenage years and blockbusters like La Boum or Dirty Dancing. And there are also lesser-known strips.
I just returned from Paris and one of my first walks was to the newsstand. I bought a copy of the new Playboy Germany edition that just came out. The edition is called June and the numbering is confusing me a little as it's just the beginning of May. But that's not the point here.
Our life is based on experiences. We collect these from a young age on. We try to get up, fall down and this is how we learn to walk. At some point we eat a chocolate cake for the first time or swim in the sea. These moments shape us (not speaking about calories here). First times are always something special.
Sometimes it's really good to think outside the box. As a photographer, I am not only interested in photographs. I'm interested and fascinated by the skills of other artists and find it meditative and inspiring to see what they create.
I am writing this article for aspiring photographers. Photographers who still dream of being published one day. I want to encourage them and share my own experiences. Because everyone starts small.
When we met on the street in front of the café, I immediately noticed that Hannes is at rest within himself. The photographer from southern Germany radiates composure and thus conveys a sense of security that is helpful in his work as a nude photographer. In our 90-minute conversation, he revealed surprising things to me about his way of working.
If I was to name an artist who inspires me the most currently, my answer would be: Cameron Hammond. The Australian based photographer transports the feeling of the 80s like no other. Nostalgia is a wonderful feeling when viewing images, so don't miss his work.
Krolop and Gerst have been an institution when it comes to lighting and equipment in Germany for a good two decades. I don't know of any other photographers who would have dealt more intensively with the subject of light and shadow. If there are technical questions, the answer is clear: Krolop and Gerst. In this article I reveal who their new book is not suitable for.
Electronic media have become incredibly important in our lives. We can't really imagine living without the internet anymore. From other parts of the world we hear that the internet is being curtailed. Now, unfortunately, I had to realize once again that even in the middle of Europe there is secret censorship happening — my website is being banned.
In my blog, I have written every six months how the Corona restrictions affect my life as a photographer. Since I plan articles for my blog three to four months in advance, I was already making notes of what I wanted to report on the subject of Corona in March 2022. However, with the start of the war, this has become obsolete.
The elevator pitch was originally an idea by sales people to convince customers of their product during an elevator ride. Because it rarely lasted longer than 60 seconds, all relevant information had to fit into this time window. I was recently told my website was not on point. So I'm taking you on a short elevator ride with me.
Around one year ago I heard of NFTs for the first time. NFT stands for Non-Fungible Tokens and is a major trend in the world of selling art. However the term non-fungible token isn't self-explaining. It stands for a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied and is recorded in a blockchain that is used to certify authenticity and ownership.
Who does not know it? The creative hole. The work has become routine and nothing new comes to mind. Where are all the good ideas? Why are others so creative? I recently heard a lecture that said happiness is the way out of such a creative crisis. I would disagree.
Valentine's Day doesn't have a big tradition in Germany and therefore doesn't mean anything to me. But on the 14th of February exactly 10 years ago something special happened and I have great memories of it. Six months after my job interview in the Munich office of the Burda publishing house, I flew to the capital of Austria for my very first production for Playboy.
I have photographed many women naked. Women with small breasts, with large breasts, with flat and bulging décolletés. The question never arose for me as to whether what I was photographing was real or not. But I keep getting asked that question myself. Why?
When I registered the domain simonbolz.com around 20 years ago, I didn't know what I would do with it one day. Now I'm very happy about it. And it was once again time to overhaul the website. A lot has happened.
Last year my review of the year was a bit frugal. It was almost only about Corona. 2021 wasn't that much different and felt a bit like a year to forget. Actually, my annual review is therefore more of a look back at the fourth quarter of 2021. But at least that was special.
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