Every month I create an image for a different topic together with a small group of other photographers. That time the topic was “hands”. So I knew, either I will think creatively about the abstract concept of hands, or visually look at hands in another way than I have before. I went for the latter, using a wide-angle lens. Naturally, because of the distortion, it’s normally not the go-to lens for portraits. But the distortion was exactly what I wanted to play with. And frankly, it was a lot of fun. Distortion is something that diverts from how we are used to seeing bodies, and it’s really refreshing to let body parts become bigger or longer than we normally are taught to want to see them be. Proportions running wild gave me a lot of joy and freedom.

It’s the bathroom in the house I grew up in as a teenager and it not only has a gold-ish painted wall but also windows on both sides and from above. So it was really a choice for these great givens in color and light that made me work in a room that probably isn’t often the first in a house to consider a photo-location.

Self-portraits and I go way back. Like many people, I started the journey into photography that way simply because you can experiment a lot and don’t need to bother other people while still learning most of the things you need to know to take portraits later on. But besides the fun, complete independence, freedom to play and fail without shame, and great learning potential, for me, it was also a place to come to peace with myself.

Nowadays, it is mostly a convenience for me and feels very natural to do. I can create at any point in time, at exactly the moment an idea hits me. I think there is something about creative expression that wants to be immediate, not bound to an appointment with a team a week after you feel like creating. You could say self-portraits are a luxury in the genre of photography.

But of course I have the limitations of only having this one body to work with. I can not represent other bodies, which is also why I do photograph a lot of other people. The magic of letting other humans express themselves, their story, their struggles, their body in your work is something that self-portraits can’t really offer. But if I work with other people I enjoy it most if they are not my “model”, who I place ideas onto, but instead they are themselves, or versions of themselves that they want to show.

Thank you. I find it quite hard to say from the inside. Even more so because I think style is something that emerges, rather than being made maybe? I am fairly certain that my visually simple, clear style emanates from my architectural studies (which is my actual formal education, while I am a self-taught photographer). I always aim to have as few as possible things in the photo that distract from what I want to show. I like my imagery to be calm and silent and letting the concept or the mood speak the loudest.

I am taking the liberty to interpret “subject” as “theme” instead of “motive”.

When it comes to themes, I am most thrilled to work on topics that I personally deeply care about, for example climate justice, animal rights and the queer community especially the gender spectrum. All of them connected by the themes of injustice and discrimination, which would be the utopia to overcome.

I can’t be too specific yet but a new project that I am planning at the moment is in the widest sense about reproduction. More to come soon :)

What I can say is that through my project “Invisible Beauty of Age” I learned that I not only want to photograph people, but also ask them for their stories. So this new project again will include peoples words with their images.

I think, I would prefer to talk to architects, activists or scientists. I draw a lot of inspiration from people working in other fields than myself. But if I had to choose photographers it would be some who do projects about topics I am passionate about, such as Marvel Harris (who I am lucky enough to call a friend), Sophia Emmerich or Daniel Obasi.