"Score!" was created in 2015 as an editorial for Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine.

At that time, I was really into taking pictures of large groups, kind of observing people interact. Before Score! I shot the Flamingo Kids, an overhead shot from a five-part series of a changing cast of friends lounging under the sun. I wanted to capture different moments of people's overlapping timelines.

Growing up in Germany, American pop and youth culture was just so exciting to me. As a teenager I was so in love with this kind of way of life and it was quite different from Germany back then, especially where I grew up. So I wanted to create a moment that I could live in, this idea of a moment at a big college game, which was only living within my imagination at that point. It was important to suggest all of these little stories and interactions that I saw happening and could’ve had. Just small hints that still leave room for interpretation. You don’t get bored looking at it.

Sure, however what is important here is that I believe there is not really anything new coming out today in visual art. By now, we have really seen almost everything, especially in the last 30 years. We can only give it a new take or try a different approach.

I’m very technically capable, so that does give me options for experimenting. I was always keen on knowing as many tools to express what I wanted.

When I was younger, I assisted Steven Klein and learned a lot of lighting and camera skills this way. Working on so many beauty campaigns now, I feel CGI is a useful tool for helping manage this kind of image making. So today, I really have all these tools on hand to express any kind of idea. Ideas are often tied to the past, something you might’ve experienced or saw, maybe even a memory connected to an emotion, and you want to express it. Now there you have it: the old and new join together because we want to give it our personal spin with the tools we believe are right for this.

"Score!" Is a fashion image. The clothes are just so on point and highly stylized, but also  everything overall is just too perfect. Even the imperfect is perfect. The gestures are very clear so every interaction becomes very narrated. I believe when these combine, its effect on the image is a slight touch of irony.

Why wouldn’t I? It’s available and just another tool in the belt. There are images that undoubtedly work better in black and white, but most of the time the element of color is just another way to get one’s vision across. Like I said for Score! I was inspired by the past and my imagination of how things would have been for me if I had experienced the US as a teen, but the image itself was taken only a couple of years ago. The technicolor colors from the first half of last century just felt right. It gives the image some edge.

Besides my commissioned work for Beauty and Still Life campaigns, I started an online Art Gallery named ARThaus Gallery New York where anyone can buy and collect prints of my artwork. These are only on this site for now and will eventually include work from other artists. (If you read this and are into submitting your work, do let me know!) I’m really excited about making prints and working on more fine art photography projects. There are many interesting images I'm working on that look best printed large and hung on someone's wall. A hint of twist and color for one's living room, perhaps.

The one I will be taking tomorrow . . . just kidding! It’s a good answer though. 

I don’t really have a favorite image, but I can tell you that I favor timeless photographs.

That’s what happens when you do it right, meaning the core of the photograph will always be expressive and relevant but you won’t immediately know when it was taken.

Old photographers hands down like Irving Penn and Guy Bourdin. New photographers are a little more tricky since there are so many now. I follow Jack Davison and really like his work. He has such amazing talent and doesn’t need much to take a great photograph. Also Jason Nocito’s work is super cool and pretty out there.

Life! It could be really anything, however I can say that I am more inspired as a photographer when I leave subject photography. By this I mean I get more inspired to take a picture by seeing a movie, looking at paintings, reading a book, and absorbing art rather than looking at other photographs. Looking at other photography rather clutters my mind than inspires me.