What camera did you use to take this photograph?
I used the Canon 5D Mark III
How was the editing process?
I turned the photo into black and white and did some basic adjustments.
What do you remember from the day you took it?
The photo is part of a series that I had been preparing for a while. I had a very specific vision of the result and the aesthetics in general. So I was excited that day to see how close I can get to it, and to meet Sabina, the model, for the first time. She is actually a professional dancer.
“The hardest thing with this photo was the aspect of timing and reaction. There was this 1/125 of a second when everything had to be on point, we tried many, many times.”
What feelings come to you when you look at it?
The photo makes me feel divided. Delighted but uncomfortable, satisfied.
What do you like most about this photo?
What I like in the photo is the volatility and contradictions: Sabina appears to be calm, like she trustfully doesn’t expect anything, her eyes are closed so she feels save to whatever that might happen. Maybe she is making a wish. This quiet moment is just about to be disturbed. It addresses the fact that a photo is one tiny single frozen moment in way more complex story that contains a supposedly invisible before and after (like in a movie or in life).
What were your references, influences or inspirations during your creative process?
This photo and series was a new piece of my personal work in which I deal with the topic of transitoriness –which also lies in the nature of photography itself– and the claimed reality in photography. A visual influence is cinema in general.
What did you enjoy the most about the process?
I simply enjoyed the process of a certain idea turning into a concrete photograph. Also, thanks to the model, it was a pleasure to work with somebody who has a unique energy and great sense of body.
In what format and where would you like to see it exhibited?
I would be specially thrilled to see it exhibited in France. I’m half French but have never exhibited there yet. Format 100 x 70 cm.
Marie Weikopf is a franco german photographer who lives in Berlin. She examinates the ambiguity of the photographic medium and the dynamics of conflicting feelings and thoughts, while her photos can work as rememberance and projection at the same time.