The Aschaffenburg photographer Jürgen Spachmann uses his camera to get musicians like Steve Hackett, Mike Portnoy, Fish or Beth Hart extremely close to the skin. It's the only way he can get behind her mask, he says.
eclipsed: How did you come to rock photography and especially to the project "bigface", where you get extremely close to musicians with your camera?
Spachmann: BIGFACE is in stark contrast to my daily business, advertising photography. It enables me to work with many musicians, and I am always amazed at the sizes I meet. The starting shot was fired in 2006 with Steve Lukather at a concert in the "Colos-Saal" in Aschaffenburg. Meanwhile I work beside the mobile set also in my own studio directly above the stage of the Liveclub. The project is growing steadily.
eclipsed: How do you meet the musicians?
Spachmann: Many people walk through the world in socially conforming roles, completely unauthentic, without knowing it. This is all the more true for musicians, who are in the public eye and have to cultivate their image. I never care about the part, my goal is the real personality. I want the face behind the face. I think that's exactly why a BIGFACE seems so present and honest to the viewer.
eclipsed: Are you pretending what your counterpart has to do or not to do at the shooting?
Spachmann: There are never any guidelines from me. I tell everyone "come as you are", everything else happens through the encounter. Surprisingly, the artists actually show themselves to me as they really are. It just happens. Mike Portnoy is hardly any different behind the stage than live on stage. Others are completely different in their private lives. I think I'll catch the artists exactly as they are.
