Discover Yourself Anew With Fielmann

Last weekend, guests swarmed a storefront at the corner of Gipsdreiecke park in Berlin, Mitte for Fielmann’s “Through the lens of” pop-up event. The cosy gallery space was cleanly furnished, decorated with vases of pale orchid and lily clusters and a binary grid of their newest glasses frames on display. Reflective silver shelves were stacked with a range of Fielmann eyewear models: colourful sunnies, thin metal aviators, cat eye-shaped sunglasses in cherry red, monochrome styles and fully translucent frames. The pop-up offered guests an opportunity to meet with Fielmann experts to discover new eyewear that served not only for long-lasting function, but also as a mode of personal expression. Committed to quality and classic, timeless style, Fielmann’s new campaign focuses on highlighting customer’s individuality and personality, and their ability to express themselves through their personal style. 

“Through the lens of” centred personality in their concept for the event by inviting renowned photographers Laura Schaeffer and Franz Becker to each photograph the same guest in their new pair of glasses. Not only would the guests see themselves in a new light through their own now enhanced perception, but also through the lens of the two artists. SLEEK spoke with one of the photographers, Laura Schaeffer, on how she expresses her own personality and interests through photography. The young artist graduated from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, and has since worked on campaigns for Vogue, Nike, Highsnobiety, and dozens of other magazines, shooting a wide range of subjects— from the Berlin marathon to nail art to a furry convention. In our interview, Schaeffer explains her approach to shooting portraits, her creative process with editing and photoshop, and how she explores her personal style throughout each project.

SLEEK: The whole Fielmann pop-up being about individuality and finding your personality, do you ever surprise the people whose portraits you shoot? Are you able to see something in your subjects that they wouldn’t recognize in themselves? 

LAURA SHAEFFER: I think one way we surprise them is that they get to choose the glasses and try them on, but they don’t get to see themselves until they take the picture. So they go with what is recommended and then they have this reveal moment. I think this is really fun, exploring this photo idea. 

Also a lot of people are not used to being in front of the camera. And it’s kind of nice that you can direct them, give them little pointers, and maybe find a new angle that they like, or help them to see themselves in a different type of lighting. 

S: You’ve also mentioned that it’s important for you to make the person you’re photographing feel comfortable and relaxed. How do you usually go about this? 

LS: It’s challenging, but normally when I take somebody’s portrait I try to have a conversation with them, get to know them a little bit. And to have them get to know me and gain their trust that way. I think that also really shows up in the pictures. How you relate to somebody, or how they relate to you. Just how you can approach that person with a really open mind and make the situation as relaxed and laid back as possible. 

Personally I don’t love to be photographed, and a lot of people don’t necessarily love to be in front of the camera. So I try to be really empathetic and embrace their vibe and personality. 

S: What do you feel like you’re able to explore with portrait work as compared to other types of shoots? 

LS: I really love doing these portrait shoots because I get to spend some time with the subjects. I get to know them and have my own point of view on them and their vibe. That’s why I try to get to know them a little bit, to not only capture their appearance, but also their vibe in a way. I just love meeting people, and as a portrait artist I meet a lot of musicians. I love music, and it’s really interesting to see what people do or what their background is, and that obviously influences my perception a little bit. 

S: You also play a lot with photoshop— how does this go beyond editing for you and become part of the creative process? 

LS: I feel like it allows me to further shape and refine my vision. It’s this really nice tool to further add to a picture. A picture is obviously just a really tiny piece of reality. It’s already sort of artificial. So using photoshop or imaging processing tools, is just adding  another layer of artifice that I like to play with and explore. Especially now that you have access to these AI tools. I recently did an editorial for FAZ quarterly, where we really tried to blur the lines between having the picture as an object and then the objects that are generated with AI, and merging those layers to create these surreal images. 

S: How do you explore your creativity through photography? 

LS: I feel like photography in general is such a specific point of view of the person who is point the camera. That’s really fascinating to me because it’s just like a small snippet of reality that I see through my lens that captures my interest. Maybe it’s a light situation or an object or a person, or if I shoot editorial obviously it’s more composed. I just love that I have this tool that allows me to explore all these themes and find a new way of relating to them. 

When I’m behind the camera, I kind of just forget about everything that’s going on outside. I just really focus on the moment. I quite love that its this undeterred moment of concentration and focus and inspiration. I get to immerse myself in and explore a situation and see where it leads. 

S: How do you think it will play out to have another photographer shooting the same person? Have you worked with another photographer like this before? 

LS: I think it’s an interesting way of capturing pictures. Every photographer has their own style and it’s nice to see how someone else perceives the same person. Maybe in some cases its quite similar or in some cases quite different. It’s obviously about the subject’s personality, but the photographer’s personality also shines through. 

I have a lot of other photographers in my network. I’ve done one project that was more of a collaboration, where I did some video direction and worked with another photographer who was shooting. I was more directing because it was a really big group of people who were working, like 30 people.