I am an observer of a world that becomes more and more connected. Yes, it is a world of possibilities, but there are dangers, too. Like most things globalization is not generally good or bad but ambivalent. The economic globalization has produced an inequality that is one of the reasons for the migration movement I have portrayed in Tourists vs. Refugees. On the other hand, I see positive effects as well, for example when I look at the global metal scene, a community that spreads across cultures, social classes and religion.

Both were initially commissions by magazines. I guess the picture editors assigned me to shoot both stories, because they fitted into the way I look at the world through my images. I don’t distinguish much between personal projects and assignment. Both need the same amount of passion and dedication to make them work. They affect each other, too.

I was visually educated by MTV and 90s pop culture. Moving image and music videos were my first love. For me sound and image are strongly connected. My friends all played in bands, but I am really bad at singing as well as playing an instrument. So I started documenting their shows. Metalheads in the end is a reminiscence to our youth. We were hanging out at rehearsal studios and hard-core gigs.

I am interested in the world, driven by experiences and inspired by life. So working this way is just natural to me. Difficulties are part of all this, getting over them is an essential part of any creative work.

By being truthful and openhearted. Most people feel appreciated when you talk to them, show real interest in their life and want to take their picture.

Ranking my experiences isn’t something I do. There is beauty and intensity in everything, if you just open up and look closely enough. Seeing a rubber boat with refugees approaching the European shore is definitely a shocking moment, but is it more important than taking the portrait of an office worker in Berlin? I don’t think so. It’s all connected in a way.

I would add sociological and subjective. Lacking better terms I tend to use ‘author photography’ and/or ‘artistic documentary photography’.

That changes with time of course, but for now I guess Tourist vs. Refugees, because it is really concentrated, ambivalent and there is an actual political dimension to it. Same Same But Different and Metalheads are both projects of special interest in a small group of people and they are both long-term projects. In contrast to that Tourist vs. Refugees shows a small aspect of global refugee movement that hit the world news and it was photographed in only three days.