A FaceTime series, 2021
Unna, Dortmund and Berlin, Germany – Witten, Germany
The pandemic led to people isolating themselves more and more. Home became an increasingly important place for many. People living alone in particular spent a lot of time with themselves within their own four walls. A lot of time to think, to look out into the world and to reflect.
As a photographer, I asked myself with which possibilities I could realize photo shoots during the pandemic - without physical contact to the portrayed people. So I had the idea to make the best out of the situation and to try out a new form of photography: portrait shoots via FaceTime in the private rooms of the portraits.
Before the shoot, the person to be portrayed allowed me to remotely trigger their cell phone camera by a setting on their smartphone. At the beginning of each shoot, I was given a virtual tour of the person's home. I initially staged the image by giving instructions on how to position the smartphone in the room; instructions on posing were given auditorily.
Photography via FaceTime is a completely new form of photography - and also shows that you don't have to get on a train, car or plane for every shoot.
The photos were taken between my home in Witten and the home of the portrayed in Berlin, Unna, Bochum and Dortmund.
Thank you to Martin, Gazelle, Lukas and Marie.