Artist Statement

The horizontal still-life color photo “The rose of memento mori” in the format 1945 x 2500 pixels is my best photo. The focus is on a red rose lying on an open book. The scene is framed by a burning clock and a skull, symbolizing the transience of time. The rose, on the other hand, is a sign of life and love and the book symbolizes knowledge and imperishability. It is an exciting combination of seemingly contradictory objects in a mystical play of light and color.
For this photo taken indoors, I chose a film speed of ISO 800 with an exposure time of 1/60 seconds and an aperture of F/5.6. I chose a lens with a focal length of 51 mm and did not use a flash. Instead, I used spotlights to illuminate the scene. This combination allowed me to keep the rose sharp while the foreground and background remained blurred. I arranged the scene on a table in front of a black backdrop and shot it with a camera mounted on a tripod. In Adobe Lightroom I made some color enhancements afterward and strengthened the red of the rose as the central image element. I find the image combination in connection with the technical challenges very exciting and therefore consider this picture to be the best photo in my portfolio.

The 1945 x 2500 Pixel vertical black/sepia/white photo “Depression” by my mom means the most to me. It was taken on the patio at Oasis on Lake Travis. The black nighttime background combined with the vintage-styled chair supports the desperate, propped-up hold of the person pictured. With this photo, I wanted to create a counterpoint to the otherwise rather cheerful pictures and show that there can also be another side to life. The railing in the background represents a kind of holding line that can prevent the person from falling into the black abyss and symbolizes the support from other people and society that is sometimes difficult to see.
Before taking the picture, I considered from which angle and from which perspective, and in which lighting conditions I would take the picture and tried out different possibilities. I then decided on a frontal close-up. The focus of the picture is the face and the contours of the backrest seem to mirror the posture of the head. I love taking black and white photos because they hold a very special fascination for me and give the viewer greater scope to interpret the image in real color. The fact that I won a Silver Key with this picture at the 2022 Scholastic Art Awards makes me very proud.

The horizontal flat-lay color photo “Gears of Time” in the format 3984 x 2656 pixels is a photo that should show that time (mankind) as such is dependent on many small gears (the individual humans) and can only go on if they work together. I deliberately chose colorful lighting to illustrate that it is the cog (the individual) and not the color (the race or creed) that matters.
For this indoor shot, I chose a film speed of ISO 3200, an exposure time of 1/30 seconds, and an aperture of F/5.6. I chose a lens with a focal length of 37 mm and did not use an additional flash. Instead, I lit the scene with a multi-color LED spotlight. I arranged the scene on a table on a black background and shot it with a camera mounted on a tripod.