{"id":244,"date":"2022-10-04T08:05:31","date_gmt":"2022-10-04T08:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/?p=244"},"modified":"2024-12-23T22:56:26","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T22:56:26","slug":"2011-%c2%b7-a-look-at-myself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/?p=244","title":{"rendered":"2011 \u00b7 A Look At Myself"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>224 Seiten<br>220 Abbildungen<br>Format 24&#215;32 cm,<br>170g schweres Kunstdruckpapier,<br>Farbe (alles 4 farbig CMYK)&nbsp;<br>Hardcover + amerikanischer Umschlag<br>Fotobuch mit einem kurzen Einleitungstext<br>Texte: Deutsch, Englisch<br>Preis: 39,90 Euro<br>ISBN: 978-3887693657<br>Konkursbuch Verlag Claudia Gehrke, 2011<br><br>Hier direkt bestellen:&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:info@thomaskarsten.com\">info@thomaskarsten.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hier ein Shooting, mit Anica \u00b7 2008, f\u00fcr das Buchprojekt &#8222;A Look At Myself&#8220;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls src=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Anica-01-HD-1080p.mov\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"737\" height=\"567\" src=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-246\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_1.jpg 737w, https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_1-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 737px) 100vw, 737px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"737\" height=\"567\" src=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-247\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_2.jpg 737w, https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_2-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 737px) 100vw, 737px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"737\" height=\"567\" src=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-248\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_3.jpg 737w, https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_3-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 737px) 100vw, 737px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"737\" height=\"567\" src=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_4.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_4.jpg 737w, https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_4-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 737px) 100vw, 737px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"737\" height=\"567\" src=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_5.jpg 737w, https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_5-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 737px) 100vw, 737px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"737\" height=\"567\" src=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_6.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_6.jpg 737w, https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_6-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 737px) 100vw, 737px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"737\" height=\"567\" src=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_7.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-252\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_7.jpg 737w, https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_7-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 737px) 100vw, 737px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"737\" height=\"567\" src=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_8.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-253\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_8.jpg 737w, https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_8-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 737px) 100vw, 737px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"737\" height=\"567\" src=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_9.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-254\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_9.jpg 737w, https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_9-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 737px) 100vw, 737px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"737\" height=\"567\" src=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_10.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-255\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_10.jpg 737w, https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/con_10_10-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 737px) 100vw, 737px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A Look At Myself<br>By Thomas Karsten<br><br>This is Thomas Karsten at his most erotic &#8211; and his use of vibrant color in this work seems intentional so as to stimulate the viewer&#8217;s sexual receptors. Masturbation, lesbian sex, and gorgeous erotic nudes are all subjects featured here. And Karsten pulls it off with his usual mixture of fine art style combined with powerful erotic compositions.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>KARSTEN AT HIS BEST&nbsp;<br>Von John Wood &#8211; Ver\u00f6ffentlicht auf Amazon.com<br><br>Thomas Karsten is an artist who boldly takes eroticism as his theme&#8211;healthy,<br>natural, human eroticism untrammeled by puritanical shame.<br>He, as E. E. Cummings did in his erotic poetry, communicates the dignity<br>of the erotic experience along with its sensuous thrill. Karsten has a genius for<br>capturing the eroticism of the woman. The popularity of his seventeen books<br>is a testament to that fact. And his newest book, A Look at Myself, may well<br>be his finest yet. Apart from White Line 1 it is certainly his most erotic book<br>thus far. Here the eroticism is broad-based. As a photographic historian who<br>has written on eroticism in photography, I was delighted to see in this book<br>something quite fresh and new: a blending of the erotic and the cute.<br>I am not using &#8222;cute&#8220; in any kind of negative way&#8211;sometimes it is used that<br>way, but I am using it in its original positive sense of a kind of sweet charm.<br>Some of these models have the sweet na\u00efve smiles of a model from the 1950&#8217;s<br>but with far more revealed than they would have back then. There is, of course,<br>a subjective element to eroticism because it has to do with what sexually excites<br>a particular viewer. A Look at Myself has something for most all tastes in female<br>eroticism. However, there is a difference in eroticism and pornography.<br>Erotic art, like any other visual art, is only good if it pulls us back again and again<br>to gaze, to wonder, and to consider. The mark of art is that it is forever fresh<br>and forever rewarding. Unlike pornography, which can lose its erotic charge<br>upon subsequent viewings and necessitate the need for fresh, new examples,<br>true erotic art, regardless of how often it is viewed, remains aesthetically<br>compelling and sexually stimulating. The captured erotic instant must be so<br>caught that the fire of passion burns through time and circumstance&#8211;just as<br>it does in the Barberini Faun or Rodin&#8217;s similar fauness, Iris, massag\u00e8re des Dieux,<br>in Rembrandt&#8217;s etchings, in Courbet&#8217;s Origine du monde, the watercolors and<br>drawings of Schiele, in Modigliani, Pascin, Balthus, Belmer, and other masters<br>of the erotic. Thomas Karsten, like those artists, celebrates the sexual in<br>A Look at Myself as it should be celebrated, as healthy, unashamed<br>men and women have always celebrated it.<br>John Wood&nbsp;<br><br><br><br>KARSTEN DOES IT AGAIN&nbsp;<br>Von wiredweird &#8211; Ver\u00f6ffentlicht auf Amazon.com<br><br>Many photographers praise women&#8217;s bare beauty with their cameras.<br>None do it with the obvious affection that Karsten brings to his models<br>and to his art. This collection demonstrates that affection, and proves<br>just how inclusive it can be. It&#8217;s easy to make a firm, twenty-something<br>look good. Karsten does it again and again, taking positive joy in the<br>curves that aren&#8217;t as pronounced, or that go beyond, or that hang a bit<br>lower than some artificial ideal might dictate &#8211; he even celebrates<br>the lush curves of pregnancy.<br><br>Unlike some photographers, for whom the model is secondary to<br>the concept, Karsten centers every picture on the woman herself,<br>the way she wants to be seen. For many, that includes bold tattoos<br>or piercings. For others, that may mean overt expressions of sexuality<br>&#8211; with a same-sex partner or in solo play, sometimes with toys that might<br>not suit a delicate viewer. In Karsten&#8217;s hands, though, even a penetrating<br>toy comes across in a spirit of fun. Vulgarity simply never arises,<br>even at Karsten&#8217;s (and his models&#8216;) boldest moments.<br><br>&#8222;A Look at Myself&#8220; reaffirms Karsten&#8217;s dedication to color, but with more<br>subtlety than in his &#8222;Colors of Sex.&#8220; And, in a turn I enjoy immensely,<br>he reaffirms his dedication to models of color. Dark-skinned beauty might<br>differ slightly in kind from European features and figures, but has all the<br>same depth and variety. Likewise, maturity takes its place next to the<br>sprightliness of young adults, another way in which Karsten&#8217;s range<br>exceeds that of other photographers. I find only one thing lacking in this<br>beautiful collection &#8211; the identities of the models themselves. For me,<br>a name and maybe a date helps to fix the subject as a real and unique person;<br>a photo without that attribution lacks in some slight way.<br>But only slight &#8211; this gorgeous book has a place in any library<br>of figure photography.<br>wiredweird&nbsp;<br><br><br><br>KARSTEN AT HIS MOST EROTIC<br>Von Michelle7 &#8211; Ver\u00f6ffentlicht auf Amazon.com<br><br>This is Thomas Karsten at his most erotic &#8211; and his use of vibrant color<br>in this work seems intentional so as to stimulate the viewer&#8217;s sexual receptors.<br>Masturbation, lesbian sex, and gorgeous erotic nudes are all subjects featured<br>here. And Karsten pulls it off with his usual mixture of fine art style combined<br>with powerful erotic compositions.&nbsp;<br><br><br><br>Die Frauen aus vielen Teilen der Welt, die Thomas Karsten in<br>seinen neuen Fotografien portr\u00e4tiert, zeigen Lust: an sich, an<br>anderen. Und manchmal ist es auch der Blick der Kamera, der<br>ihre Lust antreibt. Die Bilder sind fr\u00f6hlich, bunt und direkt.<br>\u201eIch habe dir etwas von mir gezeigt, von dem ich nie geglaubt<br>h\u00e4tte, dass ich damit einmal so ungezwungen umgehen k\u00f6nnte.<br>Mit deiner Professionalit\u00e4t hast du mir eine warme Sicherheit<br>gegeben. Ich h\u00f6re noch ,Smooth Operator\u2019 und f\u00fchle mich<br>ungew\u00f6hnlich leicht \u2026 und du suchst mich und setzt das<br>perfekte Licht \u2026 und ich konzentriere mich auf mich selbst.<br>Das ist das Beste, was ich tun kann. Das ist, was deine Fotos<br>so sch\u00f6n macht!\u201c, schrieb Anica an den Fotografen, nachdem<br>sie sich f\u00fcr dieses Buch hat fotografi eren lassen.<br>Der Blick auf sich durch das Auge der Kamera \u2013 zugleich wird<br>die Kamera empfunden als Blick eines Partners, einer Partnerin.<br>Es ist ein erotisches Wechselspiel, das sich in diesen<br>Bildern zeigt. Beim Bl\u00e4ttern ber\u00fchrt mich, die Betrachterin,<br>die diesen Klappentext schreibt, die Lust immer wieder einmal<br>sehr direkt, in einem intellektuellen, aber genauso in einem<br>k\u00f6rperlichen Sinn. Die Bilder zaubern mir Erregung ins Hirn. Das<br>passiert mir nicht oft bei Bildern. Und das ist sch\u00f6n. Denn die<br>Lust dieser Frauen springt mich fr\u00f6hlich an, offen und unverkrampft,<br>ungestellt. Sie schauen mich, sie schauen zugleich<br>sich an, ernst, lachend, frech oder sch\u00fcchtern \u2013 und lustvoll<br>erregt durch den Kamerablick.<br><br><br>The women and some lesbian couples from many parts of the<br>world, portrayed by Thomas Karsten in his new photographs,<br>show desire for themselves, to others. And sometimes it is<br>also the view of the camera, which drives their desire. The<br>pictures are cheerful, colorful and direct.<br>&#8222;I have shown you something of myself, of which I never<br>thought I could deal with so freely. With your professionalism<br>you have given me a warm security. I can still hear &#8218;Smooth<br>Operator&#8216; and feel unusually light \u2026 and you are looking for<br>me and set that perfect lightness \u2026 and I concentrate on<br>myself. That&#8217;s the best I could do. That is what makes your<br>photos so beautiful!&#8220; Anica wrote to the photographer after<br>having had herself to be photographed for this book.<br>The view of oneself through the eye of the camera \u2013 at at<br>the same time the camera is felt as the view of a partner.<br>There is an erotic interplay, shown in these pictures. Scrolling<br>through them, the desire touches me, the viewer, who<br>is writing this cover text, again and again, very directly, in<br>an intellectual, but equally so in a physical sense. The images<br>perform magic, with excitement into my brain. This<br>doesn&#8217;t happen often to me with pictures. And that&#8217;s really<br>nice. For the desire of these women jump at me happily,<br>open and relaxed, unrequested. They look at me, and look<br>to themselves at the same time, serious, smiling, cheeky or<br>shy \u2013 and lustfully excited by the camera view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls src=\"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Marlene-HD-1080p.mov\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Marlene tanzt, Leipzig 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A look at myself? \u2014 Ein Gedankengang<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Das Prinzip ist einfach: Ich der Fotograf habe Kamera, Equipment, Raum<br>und Erfahrung. Du das Model stehst vor der Kamera und zeigst Dich, wie<br>auch immer Du Dich zeigen willst. Zeig was und so viel Du willst. Zeig wie<br>und wer Du bist, oder wie und wer Du gerne w\u00e4rst. Was ich sehe, liegt<br>allein an Dir und in Deiner Hand. Du entscheidest, Du f\u00fcllst das Bild, Du<br>bist der Macher. Ich halte mich zur\u00fcck.<br>Mit diesem Prinzip ist ein Freiraum gegeben, in dem vor der Kamera alles<br>entstehen kann, oder eben nur ein bisschen, oder eben je nachdem,<br>oder auch nichts. Meist jedoch, das zeigt ein Gro\u00dfteil der hier versammelten<br>Fotografien, passiert etwas: Sexy, aufreizend, ganz Verf\u00fchrung<br>in K\u00f6rperhaltung und Blick pr\u00e4sentieren sich die Frauen vor Karstens<br>Kamera. Die Frauen, sie sind keine professionellen Models, keine K\u00f6rperakrobaten,<br>keine Oberweitenwunder und auch keine Titelseitensch\u00f6nheiten.<br>Ihre K\u00f6rper sind nicht getrimmt. Ihre K\u00f6rper sind, wie K\u00f6rper<br>nun einmal sind. Es sind junge Frauen, wie wir sie jeden Tag auf der<br>Stra\u00dfe treffen k\u00f6nnen, beim Einkaufen, wo auch immer. Es zeichnet<br>diese Fotografien aus, dass Thomas Karsten die Frauen aus ihrem Alltagserleben<br>heraushebt und ihnen durch seine Kamera die M\u00f6glichkeit,<br>sich auszuprobieren, sich zu zeigen gibt.<br>Im Alltag ist die M\u00f6glichkeit des \u201eZeig dich, wie du dich zeigen willst\u201c<br>selten gegeben. Wohl deshalb wird sie von den meisten Frauen genutzt,<br>sich in diesen Bildern einmal, und zwar so richtig, in Szene zu setzen.<br>Sie spielen mit Verkleidung, Schminke, Szenerie. Sie nutzen den Raum<br>ungeteilter Aufmerksamkeit, denen ihnen die Kamera schenkt, ihre<br>Kniffe und Tricks in Sachen Verf\u00fchrung vielleicht nicht an den Mann,<br>jedoch aber ins Bild zu bringen. Wenn ich sein kann, wie ich will, dann<br>will ich sexy sein. \u2013 So scheint die Logik zu gehen.<br>Wie sieht das aus? Was hei\u00dft Sexyness und wie bekommt man sie hin?<br>Antwort und Abhilfe liefert die Pose. Von jedermann bereits hundertfach<br>gesehen, sind dies die Klassiker: der Griff ins Haar, die Hand in<br>den Schritt, das Auge zum Schlitz geformt, von unten der Blick, leicht<br>schr\u00e4g der Kopf, Lippen gesch\u00fcrzt und vor allem: Brust raus, Bauch<br>rein, Oberk\u00f6rper ins Hohlkreuz geworfen. So geht Sexyness, ja genau! So<br>haben es die Medien \u00fcber Jahre hinweg festgelegt. Gemei\u00dfelt sind diese<br>Bilder ins kollektive Ged\u00e4chtnis; Frauen bedienen sich ihrer griffsicher.<br>Kurzum, in der Pose manifestiert sich der Wunsch nach Sexysein und<br>\u00fcber die Pose wird er transportiert.<br>A look at myself und Pose \u2013 klingt das aber nicht nach Widerspruch?<br>Wenn der Rekurs auf die Pose das Naheliegende ist und die Devise lautet:<br>Zeig Du Dich mir wie Du Dich mir zeigen willst \u2013 man ahnt es schon:<br>wichtig ist das Du \u2013 ist es dann ums Du und damit um das je individuelle<br>Ich vor der Kamera aber nicht gleich auch schon wieder geschehen? Ist<br>da das Du nicht schon vom Anfang her verstellt?<br>Es kann eingewendet werden, dass es um das pers\u00f6nliche Du, um Individualit\u00e4t<br>und Ichsein vor der Kamera nicht gleich und zwangsl\u00e4ufig<br>gehen muss. Das je pers\u00f6nlich gemeinte Du, Charakterstudie, Individualit\u00e4t<br>sei kein Muss schlechthin. Vor der Kamera solle die Frau ruhig auch<br>als Objekt defilieren d\u00fcrfen. Nat\u00fcrlich. Das steht auch au\u00dfer Debatte.<br>Was aber geschieht, wenn, was die Kamera sucht, das Du ist? Wenn,<br>was sie bekommt, aber Pose ist?<br>Solcher Widerspruch bliebe aus, wenn man dem Seinwollen vor der Kamera<br>von vornherein den Riegel vorsch\u00f6be. Wenn Selbstinszenierung ignoriert<br>w\u00fcrde. Wenn klar w\u00e4re: Ich will nicht sehen, wie Du gerne w\u00e4rst,<br>ich will nur sehen, wie Du bist. Nur mit solchen Regeln k\u00e4me man der<br>Pose bei. Aber nicht nur das. Auch an der eingangs genannten Devise<br>verginge man sich dann. Wie es scheint, ein echtes Dilemma: Mit dem<br>Freiraum ist die Pose zur Stelle und das Selbst steht hinten an. Versagt<br>man sich aber der Pose und zeigt Interesse nur am Du, dann beschneidet<br>man den Freiraum arg. Dann opfert man, woran sich Karstens Fotografie<br>aufh\u00e4ngt und wovon sie zehrt.<br>Fragt sich, woran ein solches Patt liegt.<br>Vielleicht, weil es nackt vor der Kamera nicht einfach ist, man selbst<br>zu sein. Vielleicht, weil die Anleihe bei Pose, Rolle, Inszenierung in so<br>brisantem Falle ganz gelegen kommt. Vielleicht weil es, wenn\u2019s drauf<br>ankommt, leichter ist zu spielen als zu sein. Vielleicht, weil die Pose<br>erlaubt, mit einem Schlag alles zu zeigen und gleichzeitig nichts. Vielleicht,<br>weil Inszenierung und \u00dcberschlag ins Extrem leichter, so viel<br>leichter sind, wenn man, nackt vor der Kamera, nicht nur ein Bild,<br>sondern auch eine Situation zu f\u00fcllen hat. Wenn es n\u00e4mlich hei\u00dft: Mach<br>was Du willst, ich guck zu und dr\u00fcck ab.<br>Aber ist es wirklich ein Patt? Schlie\u00dfen sich Pose und das hier so reklamierte<br>Du denn tats\u00e4chlich aus?<br>Es kommt darauf an. Jede Pose \u2013 und sei es die einfachste \u2013 verlangt,<br>damit sie richtig sitzt und zur genuinen Pose wird, \u00dcbung. Sie verlangt<br>Wiederholung, verlangt ein gewisses Training bis sie die Selbstverst\u00e4ndlichkeit<br>erreicht, durch die sich jede Pose erst auszeichnet. Aufgrund<br>ihrer Nichtprofessionalit\u00e4t aber ermangeln Karstens Modelle genau dieser<br>\u00dcbung \u2013 und hier wird es interessant:<br>Denn sieht man genauer hin, dann erkennt man, dass der Griff ins Haar,<br>der Finger im Schritt oder der \u00dcberschlag ins Hohlkreuz von einer sehr<br>charmanten Verlegenheit, einer inneren und ehrlichen Verwunderung der<br>Frauen \u00fcber sich selbst durchzogen ist. Bin das etwa ich, die das da tut?<br>Dieses Sch\u00fcchterne, Unbeholfene und dadurch Aufrechte der Frauen vor<br>der Kamera l\u00e4sst die Pose wieder und wieder br\u00fcchig werden. Es sprengt<br>ihr Starres, ihr Maskenhaftes auf und gibt den Raum frei f\u00fcr das, was<br>erst zu fehlen schien: Nat\u00fcrlichkeit und Du.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Karolin Sander<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A look at myself? A line of thought.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The principle is simple: I \u2013 the photographer \u2013 have a camera, equipment,<br>space and experience. You \u2013 the model \u2013 are standing in front<br>of the camera and show yourself, in whatever way you\u2018d like to show<br>yourself. Showing whatever and as much as you want. Showing how and<br>who you are, or how and who you\u2018d like to be. What I see depends on<br>you alone, and is entirely in your hand. You decide, you fill the screen,<br>you are the creator. I hold myself back.<br>With this principle, a free space is created, in which anything can arise<br>in front of the camera, or even just a little bit, or just depending on,<br>or even nothing. Most of the time, however, as shown by a majority of<br>the photographs assembled here, something happens: The women present<br>themselves sexy, provocative, wholly seductive in body posture<br>and looks, in front of Karsten\u2018s camera. The women are not professional<br>models, no body acrobats, no busty wonders and no front page beauties.<br>Their bodies are not trimmed. Their bodies are just how bodies are, after<br>all. These are young women, as we can meet every day on the street, in<br>shops, wherever. Thomas Karsten\u2018s photographs are distinctive in that<br>he lifts these women out of their everyday experience and gives them,<br>through his camera, an opportunity to try out and show themselves.<br>In everyday life, the possibility to \u201eShow yourself, how you\u2018d like to<br>show yourself\u201c is rarely present. This is probably why it is used by most<br>women in these images to really put themselves once into the scene.<br>They play with trim, makeup, scenery. They use the space with the undivided<br>attention that the camera gives them, to bring their quirks and<br>tricks, when it comes to seduction, perhaps not to the man, but rather<br>into the picture. If I can be like I want to, I want to be sexy. \u2013 That<br>seems to be the logic.<br>How does that look? What is sexiness and how do you get it?<br>The pose provides the answer and remedy. Seen by everyone a hundred<br>times, these are the classics: hand in the hair, hand in the lap, eyes<br>formed to a slit, viewing from the bottom, head slightly tilted, lips<br>pursed, and above all: Breasts out, stomach in, chest thrown into a<br>hollow back. That\u2018s sexiness, yes, exactly! This way the media have set<br>it for years. These images are carved into the collective memory, women<br>use it with confidence.<br>In short, the posing expresses the desire to be sexy and this is transposed<br>through the pose.<br>A look at myself and posing \u2013 that sounds contradictory, doesn\u2018t it?<br>When the recourse of the pose the obvious is and the motto: Show me<br>how you want to show yourself to me &#8211; you guessed it: the important<br>thing is \u201ayou\u2018 \u2013 it is about the you and so the individual \u201aI\u2018 in front of<br>the camera but isn\u2018t it at the same also gone again? But has the \u201ayou\u2018<br>not already changed from the very beginning?<br>One could argue that the personal you, the individuality and \u201abeing me\u2018<br>in front of the camera are not necessarily and inevitably the same. That<br>the personally meant you, character study, individuality is not absolutely<br>a must. In front of the camera, the woman should quietly be allowed to<br>parade as an object. Of course. That\u2018s also beyond debate.<br>But what happens when what the camera is looking for is you? But what<br>it gets is posing?<br>Such an argument would not exist, if from the outset, the wanting to<br>be in front of the camera is laid down as rule. If self-staging would be<br>ignored. If it would be clear: I don\u2018t want to see how you would like to<br>be. I only want to see how you are. Only with such rules would you get<br>to the posing. But not only that. Also the above-mentioned motto would<br>be passed by. It seems a real dilemma: The free space is the place to<br>pose and the self is at the backend. However, if one fails to pose and<br>shows only interest in the you, then the available space is cut back<br>badly. Then one sacrifices everything what Karsten\u2018s photography is all<br>about, and on which it feeds.<br>The question is, what is causing such a stalemate.<br>Perhaps because it\u2018s all but easy to be yourself, naked in front of the<br>camera. Perhaps because the bond in pose, role, staging comes in handy<br>in such explosive circumstances. Perhaps because, when you need it,<br>it\u2019s easier to play than to be. Perhaps because posing allows to show<br>everything in one swoop and, at the same instance, nothing. Perhaps<br>because staging and transfer into the extreme lightness, are so much<br>easier when, naked in front of the camera, you not only have to fill just<br>an image, but also a situation. When it goes as: Do what you want, I\u2018ll<br>just watch and press the button.<br>But is it really a stalemate? Would posing and the claimed \u201ayou\u2018 really<br>exclude each other?<br>It depends. Every pose \u2013 even the most simple one \u2013 requires exercise,<br>so it fits properly and becomes a genuine pose. It requires repetition,<br>requires a certain amount of training until it reaches the self-evident,<br>which characterizes every pose. Because of their non-professionalism<br>Karsten\u2019s models are exactly lacking this exercise \u2013 and here it gets<br>interesting:<br>For, if one focuses more closely, one realizes that the hand in the hair,<br>the fingers in the lap or the rollover into the hollow back resulting from<br>a very charming embarrassment, is penetrated by an inner and honest<br>wondering of women about themselves. Is it really me who is doing that?<br>This shyness, awkwardness, and thus honesty of women in front of the<br>camera makes, over and over again, the posing to become brittle. It<br>blasts their stiffness, mask-like behavior and provides free space free<br>for what seemed missing at first: Naturalness and You.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Karolin Sander<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>224 Seiten220 AbbildungenFormat 24&#215;32 cm,170g schweres Kunstdruckpapier,Farbe (alles 4 farbig CMYK)&nbsp;Hardcover + amerikanischer UmschlagFotobuch mit einem kurzen EinleitungstextTexte: Deutsch, EnglischPreis: 39,90 EuroISBN: 978-3887693657Konkursbuch Verlag Claudia Gehrke, 2011 Hier direkt bestellen:&nbsp;info@thomaskarsten.com [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2011--a-look-at-myself"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomaskarsten.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}