Bye 2021

And another year goes by - and what a year. In the general lockdown of the first quarter of 2021, very few but grateful jobs. Some beautiful and interesting portraits, such as Birte Lorenzen-Herrmann, where I became a pro at wearing a mask. But I was also allowed to photograph a beautiful and lovingly furnished box in the Millerntor - due to the circumstances, the client was only allowed to see his private room through my photos. What an honour!

The Millerntor also represents the shift in my photographic work. More on that later.

Then came the next three quarters, a crescendo of orders. On December 21.12.2021, XNUMX, I was allowed to photograph new portraits. I felt like I had created more pictures for customers in these nine months than I normally would in full years. I had lost a major customer because I was not prepared to take on the risks of the GDPR, which the legislator has clearly made a requirement for the client. In my view, a fundamental problem after the legislation: large companies can afford lawyers who of course have the job of minimizing their company's risks. As a sole proprietorship, you don't normally have these resources. However, personal rights and copyrights have been with me for a very long time, which is why the GDPR has never been a particular burden for me. Here I could not sign the contract that was presented to me. "We are no longer allowed to commission anyone who does not sign this contract." Well - that's where law image quality stands out.

I still have a positive memory of the fact that that same customer printed my pictures on 2020/18 billboards in 1 - and sent me an Advent calendar at the end of 2021 🙂

Corona changes in business

The increase in orders then came from new clients. Also with a clear Corona connection: "Our long-time photographer has given up, we would now like to try it with you." I wish all ex-colleagues only the best and thank you very much for the word of mouth. From conversations with colleagues, I know that it was not just me who felt this way. The order books were well filled everywhere. What is interesting from my point of view is that in Germany, for years, it has been a mantra to recommend specializing. Which is why many colleagues run several websites, because the event photographer obviously cannot create business portraits. In France, for example, it is completely different: all-rounders are sought after there.

I'm getting through the crisis, which has now lasted two years, well because I have a fairly broad base - as long as people are involved. And so I come to the change in the visit to the Millerntor that was teased above. My schedule was so full outside of the lockdown phase that I didn't photograph sports again for the first time until the end of October. The one again Winning the German championship from FC St. Pauli was an absolute and emotional highlight. The team simply deserves it.

Since I have had the pleasure of being able to follow this team more closely for many years, I have of course cleared my calendar for this final game. And which photographer can claim to have prevented the unnecessary spending of club money by calling the coach shortly before the start of the game. The beautiful story then even stood in the evening paper : )

Confirmation of the chosen path

Otherwise, I did something that would have been unimaginable before 2020: I brought photo assignments forward to attending games at the Millerntor. For many years, I believed that clients booked me because I took such beautiful pictures in the stadium. Maybe that was the case in the beginning. Nowadays, the people I'm dealing with usually don't even know that. It often only comes up when I'm politely asked whether I could make the results available "the very next morning." After years of training in the sports photo agency sector, that's rarely a challenge. This overall situation naturally gives me security and self-confidence. And when I'm then allowed to portray people who are only introduced to the public weeks later as management or something similar, I find that wonderful encouragement.

The most demanding job was a day with Ralf Dümmel. I don't care about big names, but here I was very happy and spontaneous to say "yes" to the job. He takes a whole day roughly every two years to get photos of himself for all kinds of press releases. And "a whole day" really means a whole day for Ralf Dümmel. Luckily, at some point in the morning I was able to break through his obviously pronounced photo professionalism and take a special picture of him. The best reward was that he took a photo of the picture from my laptop and WhatsApped it to his wife. These are the situations that make my heart happy. The rest of the day was sweaty, but a no-brainer.

Thank you 2021

In addition to all the professional things, the private situation should not be neglected. I have been enjoying the support of a sensational woman for many years. She is significantly more successful in her business than I am and yet I have the feeling that I particularly benefit from this relationship. Luckily, she has had my last name for over 10 years now. In the last two years she in particular has had to limit herself a lot. She really enjoys traveling and that is difficult at the moment for well-known reasons. It's nice that we were able to get away from the daily grind for at least a week in Denmark in September in the drizzle and 10 degrees. Hopefully I can spend many more years with her. She gives me so much power!

So thank you to all clients for your support in 2021. Hopefully 2022 will be great again and maybe not quite as challenging on all sides.

Maybe I'll have more time to blog again in 2022. By the way, an absolute highlight is already on the hard drive, but I'm not allowed to talk about it yet - at least not with you 🙂

Have a good new year everyone – and stay healthy!