«Rohformat» part 2: a short documentary about Peter Lindbergh

During my research on Peter Lindbergh, I notice that he always used the same cameras. They look familiar to me. As luck would have it, I've also been working with Nikon cameras for quite some time. He often used a 70-200 mm 2.8 lens – his favourite one, as it seems.

Yet, I don't think he cared much about technology and gadgets. Instead, I feel like he saw his camera as a tool to capture the style he was going for in a simple and uncomplicated way.

When I analyse his photos, I notice the black lines and spaces. They're concise and support his style. I look even closer at «Behind the scene» videos and discover that he often used a music stand. He’d go up close to it and use the black lines as foreground blur. That's simple, but very effective. I order a music stand and give it a go by taking pictures of my colleague Stephanie Tresch in our studio. It doesn't work quite as well as I was hoping. Not yet.

Alex Falba also tells me that Peter was very down-to-earth. He interacted with all the staff on set, remembered everyone’s name and knew what their stories were.

Episode overview

• 1 June 2021, episode 1: My fears and Peter Lindbergh’s style

• 8 June 2021, episode 2: Equipment and method

• 15 June 2021, episode 3: How did Peter Lindbergh work and what was he like as a person?
• 22 June 2021, episode 4: A photo shoot in Peter Lindbergh fashion

All episodes will be published on digitec and Galaxus. Join me on this photographic journey! Don’t want to miss any of the episodes? Simply click on the «Follow author» button to stay up to date.