Well… To put it simply, I don’t think I would have gotten into photography had I not been living here. I have a very different (far from creative) background having studied engineering, but in 2021 I moved to Berlin because I was in love with the city, the club scene, and the kind of life queer people could have here. I struggled following my old career: I just didn’t want to do it anymore. I thought that the things that I was experiencing and the people who surrounded me were fascinating and I slowly started documenting these.
Berlin was far more affordable back in the day, which also allowed for this type of creative experimentation. One thing led to another (nothing happens overnight, of course) and, eventually, did manage to sustain myself through photography. But Berlin played a defining role in this, in more ways than one.

A person who was looking through my book recently commented that it’s very much about the documentation of a lifestyle, which I found very accurate. My friends and the people from my wider circle all move in the queerness spectrum, as do I. It’s just easier (and more interesting) for me to document people who ‘get’ what I and my work are about. It’s not about a documentation of objective beauty or sexiness; it’s about fitting into my perception of these concepts and my own aesthetics.

I felt that there were enough images in my archive that, when put together, they could tell one (or more than one) stories, so I made an initial (larger) selection and started processing it. This was around the beginning of spring – it is now the start of summer and the book is a reality. It has also been around three years since my last book, Lust Surrender, came out, and the timing just felt right.

Maia was the curator of the group exhibition Sweet Harmony, which was presented last year in Het Hem in the Netherlands. It was a group show about rave culture and clubbing, and I was one of the participating artists. She wrote a wonderful text about my work on the occasion of the exhibition, so I approached her while I was preparing the book and suggested that she writes the foreword text to it. She accepted and I am really happy and grateful she did, as the text she contributed (Phantom hands: on embodied desire in Spyros Rennt’s photography) is an integral part of the book and perfectly captures the essence of Corporeal.

I’m really passionate about capturing the essence of a person, like really making them shine through a portrait. I guess this explains my interest in portraiture. I think that I’m also good at capturing situations (let’s call it ‘vibe’), but I think that, somehow, in this book the focus is more on the portraits. I’m actually super excited at all the people who agreed to be a part of Corporeal.

The fact that the images are presented in book format helps with this. The pages and the various images are complementing each other in that the reader can feel immersed in these concepts – and I think this is the magic of presenting a photography book. An image on its own can never inform someone about what the photographer’s interests are; a collection of images can do that.

I like my work to be uplifting and my subjects to feel good and sexy seeing themselves in my images. I don’t like images of people looking wasted in any way – this type of documentation is also valid, of course, it just isn’t what I want to create.

I think that in this book, since a good amount of the images were taken during covid, there are fewer club shots and more of house parties, so the Berlin club photography ban was not that big of an issue. I used to take more pictures in clubs before covid (and still do, but to a lesser extent). Despite the fact that clubs are anti-photos, I might still get hired by a party to take photos for their archives and to promote the event, which is a lovely opportunity, but even then, I always approach people and ask if I may shoot them and I also try to keep a discrete profile i.e. don’t take a camera out and start shooting on a busy dancefloor.

The first months of the 2020 lockdown were indeed really boring and unproductive. As soon as the summer of 2020 came though and things started opening up, a lot of fun home gatherings were happening and my photography picked up again – a lot of images from those times are actually in Corporeal.

Well, it’s as you said. Keep the smartphones for the banal, everyday moments and the cameras for work. Smartphone photography does make my life easier as well, but there is an undeniable flatness to images produced on mobile phones. I shoot primarily on film, so the difference in quality really shows.

I am really grateful for self-publishing and creating publications in general. Making my first book, Another Excess, in 2018 really pushed my career forward and created multiple opportunities for me. What’s not to love though, really? I’ve shipped my books to the four corners of the world, it’s truly wonderful making objects that people cherish and appreciate. Plus it allows me to communicate my work to its full extent, which is not possible in the current age of online censorship.

I’ve enjoyed the new albums by Tygapaw and Evita Manji a lot, especially the latter’s tracks have really been my 2023 soundtrack so far. As far as books go, I’d recommend An apartment on Uranus by Paul Preciado. It’s truly a wonderful collection of insightful essays reflecting on gender transitioning, but going far beyond that.