Lisa Wassmann’s Stand Still Photo Series Are Full Of Wonderful Autobiographical Images
Lisa Wassmann‘s photos fascinate me and her series, ‘Stand Still’ is a good example of what I’m talking about. When first look at her images you may be dismissive, think there’s nothing to them, they’re snaps, so what, who cares. And you’d be right. In a way. They are snaps, they are autobiographical, they are images of her daily encounters over a period of years; people, friends, strangers, landscapes, colours. The everyday moments we all experience. And that is the point.
Wassmann manages, through her camera, to capture the beauty and complexity of the everyday in an exquisite way. Look carefully. Look at the composition, the light, the forms created, the negative and the positive spaces. This is what separates her photography from mine, perhaps yours. It is the juxtaposition of artifice and natural, real and unreal, a transitory moment captured with foresight and forethought.
Here’s what she says about her inspiration and process:
There are certain influences which are structuring my work process: I got inspiration from old photographs, stories and books which I find at flea markets. Sometimes I just walked through the forest and saw a certain shape and beautiful light which inspires me. And other times I dream about an image. When an idea is settled I just go for it. But as staged as my pictures look, over half of them happened to be spontaneous. I am always alone with my muses which puts the intimacy in my pictures.
Wassman is a Berliner living in Athens having fled as she puts it ‘The funpark that Berlin has become’. She takes great clubbing photos as well as more formal studies of athletes. You should check them out.
180 total views, 2 today
