By now, it’s 1 October 2020, I have taken the pictures of five people who were interested in participating in the “Inner Core Project”. And after 3 weeks this “thing” has developed from an idea to a real world project that is really happening. 

I was surprised, how many people have volunteered within a short time. And I am fascinated by the interaction between me as the photographer and the participants. 

As expected, everybody has a different approach to the idea of searching for his or her “Inner Core”. 

Neven, who is a dancer with the Osnabrück Theater Dance Company and who is my first and (until now) only male participant, decided that he wanted to have the photo session outside in the green because he felt that surrounded by nature and water he would be able to feel himself in the most intense way. So we went to a canal at the fringes of the city of Osnabrück and had our shooting session at a spot that was surrounded by bushes and trees and close to the waters of the canal. 

Neven told me that during the session he felt a strong connection to nature that helped him feeling himself. 

For me shooting a man was very different from previous sessions with women. The atmosphere, the vibes felt different. And maybe it was not a gender related feeling but just the expression of Neven’s personality who took a much slower approach than the women that I had shot before. He moved very gently, very slowly and it was apparent that in the slow pace he was trying to sense himself and also the natural environment. 

The pictures that resulted from the session with Neven were much softer and much more poetic than I had expected it from a man. I discovered that during the processing of the pictures. These pictures have indeed a life of their own and what they reveal is different from what I am sensing and seeing during the shooting session. 

For me as the photographer this project is a fascinating way to connect with the participants, to learn about their personality and to learn using photography as a means to get closer to those people and who they are. 

If you feel that you would like to participate, please leave me a message on this website or send me a Flickr mail.