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.
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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.
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.
Body height plays an important role in our society. Smaller people are often not taken seriously. I know that from experience, because I'm pretty small. I can handle it well because I know what I can do and I don't mind that my wife is two inches taller than me.
Art is a strange craft. And creativity sometimes behaves like a cat. It has a mind of its own and it is difficult for you to lead it. But I need creativity to get ahead. It's a bit of a vicious circle. What helps me sometimes is to rigorously clean up. And so I did.
There is always a certain ideal of beauty within a culture. It is a contemporary idea of what is perceived as beautiful. These fashions are always changing and have great regional differences. Perhaps it is worthwhile to start a signature campaign against an ideal of beauty that is currently threatening to assert itself.
Not much has changed for me in the last 15 years: location search remains the most difficult part of my job. While a fashion shoot can take place practically anywhere, a nude shoot requires a bit of sensitivity. And so I'm constantly looking for suitable locations. These are my criteria.
Over the years I have found out that my emotional states switch more or less the same during every photo project that I have. I take my job very seriously. Maybe too serious sometimes. But it's kind of amusing that I go through these five phases with every single shoot.
Some photographers are returning to working with old film cameras. It is about returning to slower photography. A film only has 36 frames. You don't want to waste them pointlessly. Photos taken on film have different colors, but you can recognize them mainly by their grain which is a trademark of film compared to the digital. But what actually makes grain beautiful?
I asked myself what is the difference between art and decoration? Does art take precedence over decoration? And is photography even art? The topic is very extensive and I could perhaps write a doctoral thesis on it. Then I would be a PhD in photography. But I neither value titles that much nor does this title exist. Nevertheless, I am still thinking about these questions.
Every year starting in August, I get regular emails from people asking about my new calendar. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about it and of course I have produced another calendar for the coming year. My 2022 calendar has now been published. As always in a limited edition.
I would like to give you a little update on how I am doing during the pandemic and what has changed for me in the past 18 months. At the end of last year I was still very optimistic and my watchword was that 2021 can only be better than 2020. Unfortunately, I was not right.
When you ask someone what is most important to them in a person, the answer usually is honesty and humor. I understand the part with the humor, but honesty is such a thing. Because once we are really honest, we see that we are constantly lying to one another. We even lie to ourselves.
Great news: The August issue of Playboy Germany contains a newly shot pictorial by me with Playmate Leni. We produced the series in good old Germany, actually in my hometown Frankfurt, to be exact. During summer, it isn't bad here at all, escpecially because I was able to plan the shoot very well ahead.
As a kid, my parents took me to every museum and exhibition. Wherever we traveled, they found a museum. This could be my fate as a teacher's child. From today's perspective I am really thankful to them, though. Because, basially from my early ages I thought about art. And about the question: What is art?
How often is too often? When does work become a routine and a passion for nude shoots turns only into a business? In the beginning as a hobbyist photographer taking pictures didn't involve pressure. Does having to earn a living get in the way at some point?
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