During a shoot I usually take hundreds of photographs. It's a challenge to choose the best ones and to put them together as a nice series. I really like doing this, but I also realised that the selection process has a lot to do with personal taste. Even though preferences are different, there is no right or wrong. But I use certain rules when I make my compilations.
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The world-wide Corona crisis hit all of us. Photographer Ben Hammer came up with the idea of creating a blog chain letter where creatives introduce themselves. I found the idea nice and so, this is my contribution to the project.
When the season ends for me, around October, I begin to plan the year ahead. I search for locations, models, think about themes, styling and book trips. I dislike dark German winter and always look forward to waking up from winter sleep. This year, waking up didn't feel good at all.
This question sounds good but if you answer 'yesterday' the questioner won't be satisfied with your answer. What did you do for the first time, yesterday? This one is more precise, but what really made me wonder is what is so magical about a 'first time'.
Being a Playboy photographer is the best thing that ever happened to me work-wise. With these words, I would like to announce the April issue of Playboy Germany. The pictorial of Playmate Jessica Witmann, a 12 pager plus centerfold, was produced by me on a sunny island.
In 2013 I photographed a very special photo series with Carla Monaco in Leeds. It was with a racing version of a Porsche 964 and while the car crashed and got completely destroyed a couple of years ago in Australia, my images still live on. On a week-end full of rain, I decided to re-color and re-retouch the series, just because I felt like doing so.
Being creative on a professional basis is challenging. For a few years photograhy has become super popular. Especially as smartphone cameras have become quite competitive and pretty much everyone can take decent images. Over the past few weeks, I thought about what it takes to improve your skills as a photographer to stand out.
In twentynineteen again time passed quickly. Maybe it's just a sign of me getting old. Or it's due to the fact that I never get bored and always have stuff to do. This year, I only traveled sixteen times for shoots. Basically, I needed a break after the launch of my last book.
We have reached the final story of Sublime. One year of blogging about my last photo book is over. When I photographed Julia, I was in the middle of selecting images already. It was really the last story I was about to shoot. Therefore I decided to capture her in a movie theater in Frankfurt.
Towards the end, you could think, you need to fill up a book with some left over images. Hell no! I saved the best for last, well, at least, I can promise I put all my energy into creating a book that is interesting from the beginning all the way to the end. And with the irresistible looks of Chiara, I believe, the images speak for themselves.
It was the third time I worked with Katia. I had known her since she was 21 years old. Now, she was 23 and looked better than ever. When she walked through the gate at the airport I just wowed. This was going to be a great day. I had booked Katia only for the day (return flight in the evening) and I wanted to shoot the cover for Sublime.
When I started out with photography, I thought, one day, I would run around with my camera and shoot everyday. But reality is different. Most of the time, I sit at my computer, do office work from promoting photo series to selecting and retouching images. Or I simply plan photo shoots which takes up so much more time than the actual shoot.
Photographing outside is so much nicer than inside, I think. But living in Germany, the climate limits the possibility for outdoor shoots to around four to five months per year. So once, the summer is over, I need to find places abroad. Like this villa in Sitges where I worked on a pool series with Sloane.
This time, it's all about male fantasies. Creating erotic photographs, is all about fantasy. What is the deal with the apparently universal male fantasy of being with two lesbian women? I would say, the fantasy is not about lesbians but about being with two hot women who are so turned on by the guy they lose all control and play with each other. It's really all about men.
In my sketch book which is full of themes that I desire to shoot some day, there had been a diver story for a long time. Not only did I want to shoot with a boat in the sea, I also wanted to try out underwater photography and filming. When I went to Mallorca to work with Sophia, I made this dream come true.
Being in the middle of nowhere with Katia was such a relief. There was nothing around us which could disturb us from work. The next houses were far away, you only heard the sounds of animals every now and then. This did not only feel calming, but it allowed concentrated and targeted work. A fantastic experience and the first time I spent the Easter holidays alone with a model.
Looking back at the production of my book, reminds me of how difficult some of the shoots actually were. And that it is rather normal to take up challenges. But my shoot in Riga was much more difficult than I had expected. Here's what happened in the capital city of Latvia where I shot a story with Anna.
Photographing a roadtrip as a theme has probably been done too often. Even by myself. But traveling is something we love. And a roadtrip embodies the feeling of freedom, the spirit of being young and it can be a lot of fun. Also a car is a safe haven for a shoot. You can turn on the heating when it's getting cold and avoid harsh sunlight when the girl poses inside.
Let's face it. What do you need for an erotic photograph? A special light atmosphere? A crazily cool styling? An outstanding location? Or maybe, just a beautiful girl? It's a rhetorical question and a relief for us photographers. If beauty is there, we just have to capture it.
Blood takes 23 seconds to circulate through the body. The average male in Germany masturbates 23 times a month. The day we switch to daylight savings time has only 23 hours. Princess Diana died in Paris at 00:23 in the morning. A lot of conspiracy circles around the number 23. Here's what I have to add.
Sometimes things don't work out the way you planned them. Either it's the weather or the location. Both have such a big influence on the shoot that it is always good to have a plan b. But let us be honest. Who prepares a plan b when it is unlikely to happen? I didn't. And the location became a huge problem.
My life feels odd sometimes. Because with every photo shoot that I have, I get this awkward blind date feeling. You know, this feeling when you are waiting for a girl you have never seen in your life. And with every person that passes by, you ask yourself, if this is her. And you feel nervous like being on a date. And then she arrives and you have to do some small talk to get to know each other.
You are probably not aware of this. But Blondes are an endangered species. No kidding. So, it took me a while to find a beautiful blonde girl like Lara. We met in Paris where I had rented an amazingly furnished and very cozy apartment for our shoot.
When we were kids, people thought someone is either creative or not. Oh, what a creative kid, it draws such a beautiful picture. But working as a photographer, you come to a point where you realise, it doesn't come by itself. Like a comedian has to find methods to work on his jokes, it's the same with artists like us.
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