Lotta van Droom

about me:

I was born and raised in a small town in the mountains of Saxony in Germany. In 2013 I moved to County Galway / Ireland, lived there for about two years and in 2015 I moved to Amsterdam / Netherlands. When I was 15 I discovered my love for photography when my grandfather gave me his old SLR camera (a Praktica). I began to photograph still lifes, plants and ruins and was quickly hooked to the idea of capturing and holding short moments that were quickly fading. In order to have more control over the final results, I bought the components for a darkroom. I loved experimenting with exposure, coloring etc. and all the possibilities that arose from it. In 2010 I switched to digital SLR. It was not easy for me because of all the work and time invested in analog photography but it took not long until I started appreciating all the new possibilities. Nowadays I spend many hours daily in front of my computer, building my own world of imagination.

Everything I know about photography, I taught myself. I started with simple static motives. Thereby I learned a lot about the right light. Later I took self-portraits which gave me a better understanding how to allegorize different facial expression and gestures.

Each of my photos derived from a story that developed in my mind and this story continues after the photo was taken. They are little excerpts of my thoughts which I try to reflect in this way. It's not important for me to show reality. I want to show my world of fantasy and wishes. My moods, feelings, dreams and aspirations are components in all my photos. You could call me a daydreamer. I often digress with my thoughts towards far and surreal places where I am the Queen and this world develops itself further with every thought of mine.

I'm fascinated of humans with interesting faces and their emotions and expressions. Every face is unique and the same face can look totally different in varying scenarios.

I find inspiration for my "dream-stories" in a lot of things like music, books, films, conversations, faces and so on. I have a little book where I write my ideas down. There are countless ideas which I want to realize but there is barely time to finalise them all.

Under normal circumstances my photoshootings are precisely planned and prepared. That means that I arrange the setting beforehand to test how things will appear. But of course there are at times photos which arise spontaneous. Mostly this happens when I try to photograph children or animals.

I flesh out my ideas with attention to detail. The preparation for a photoshooting can take a few days. Styling can also require a few hours. But the most time I spend with post-processing. I prefer to work in studio environment because there I can adjust the light according to my priorities and don't have to prepare for contingencies.

I find my models amongst my friends, on the streets or on Internet model-pages. I´m always open for new and interesting faces.


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