You can also find out more about Bettina on Instagram from Saturday, July 21, 2024. She will take over the laif account for a week and talk about her work.
Katja Kemnitz interviewed her:
You can also find out more about Bettina on Instagram from Saturday, July 21, 2024. She will take over the laif account for a week and talk about her work.
Katja Kemnitz interviewed her:
I believe the key to a genuine smile is time and a genuine interest in the other person. I don’t like being in front of the camera myself and I understand everyone who needs some time to feel comfortable. I usually start with a personal conversation where you can get to know each other a little and try to build a connection that, at best, makes the camera a minor matter.
Yes, it does make a difference, as celebrities usually don’t have as much time and it’s more difficult to connect on a personal level. But they are usually also more experienced in the media, which balances things out a bit.
My portraits of Wiyaala, a Ghanaian Afro-pop singer who I had the pleasure of meeting in her home village of Funsi in northern Ghana in 2020, shortly before Corona.
Wiyaala impresses me not only with her music, but also with her strong, warm and inspiring personality. She actively campaigns for feminism in Ghana and fights against the male-dominated local world. She fights for the rights and well-being of children and women and for better education and health services in Ghana.
For me, Wiyaala is an outstanding role model, not only for Ghanaian girls and women, but for girls and women everywhere. It was great to see where she comes from and the impact she has had on the local community through her music.
I photographed Wiyaala as part of a charity project that I accompanied photographically in northern Ghana. The Rüt’n’rock association supports educational projects in northern Ghana through music events and collaborations. Wiyaala was supposed to be part of the project, and now she is.
I try to research as much information as possible about a person in advance and, in the case of public figures, I also look at their previous shoots. If possible, I also try to find out about possible locations in advance. With Wiyaala, however, everything was very spontaneous. I had watched their music videos in advance and got some information about them and the project. The rest was actually created very spontaneously on location.
I am interested in a first impression. How the person moves or behaves in front of the camera, whether they feel comfortable and move freely or are more reserved and repeat a certain pose. This can give me an initial indication of how “gently” I need to plan the start of the photo shoot.
No, if the pose feels natural for the person being photographed then I let them do it, but then I guide their movements during the course of the shoot and encourage them to position themselves differently and, above all, comfortably and naturally.
I find Jane Goodall an incredibly exciting and impressive person. I would love to portray her again.
