LIGHT HAS A COMMON LANGUAGE - A day at Fotomesse Tirol
A day at Messe Tirol, a very full room, and a workshop that became much bigger than planned. The day actually started quietly. I was still at the hotel in the morning, sitting down for my little ritual: a short morning meditation. Nothing spectacular. Just a few minutes to slow everything down and get myself into the right headspace. Because I know what days like this can become. A lot of people. A lot of conversations. A lot of energy and very quickly, a lot of people wanting something from you at the same time. So I wanted to start differently. Quietly. Then breakfast and then off to Fotomesse Tirol.
01 – Before the stage
Once I arrived, things started moving pretty quickly. A bit of networking. Meeting people. Looking at the main stage. Getting a feeling for the space. And then suddenly it was almost 11. My keynote was about to start. What always makes me laugh at these events is what happens about five minutes before you go on stage. The room can be almost empty. You look around and think: „Okay… I guess there aren’t that many people.“ And then you walk on stage. And somehow the room is full. Suddenly there are people everywhere. You start speaking and think: „Wow. That’s actually a lot of people.“ It still makes me smile.
02 – Then it got even bigger
After the keynote, the plan was simple. There were already twelve people registered for the outdoor practical session. Twelve was a nice number. Manageable. We would go outside, photograph, experiment with natural light and work together. Easy. Except that the moment I walked off the stage, people started asking: “Can I still join?” Then someone else: “Is there still a place?” And another one. And another one. I went outside and someone told me there were already several more people waiting. I just looked at him and said: „Fuck it. We’re taking everyone. We’re not sending anyone home.“
03 – And then I went back inside for a drink
I knew I had about ten minutes before we had to leave. So I quickly grabbed something to drink, walked back outside…and stopped. „Fuck. That’s a lot of people.“ Suddenly all these people were standing there. Waiting. Looking at me. Wanting to photograph. Wanting to learn and for a second I had exactly the same thought I often have when I walk onto a suddenly full stage: „Where did all these people come from?“
04 – Then we started walking
The original idea was that everyone would photograph each other. And that turned out to be one of the best decisions of the whole day. Because suddenly it wasn’t just a random group of people attending a workshop. They had to talk to each other. They had to work together. They had to direct one another. They had to step in front of the camera and behind it. People who had never met before suddenly had a reason to communicate. Photography did that for us.
05 – The group was incredibly diverse
That was probably one of my favourite things about the whole experience. We had people who were around fifteen. And people who were somewhere around sixty-five. Different generations, different levels of experience, different cameras, different backgrounds, different reasons for being there. And yet, once we started looking for light, none of that seemed to matter anymore. Nobody cared how old the person next to them was nobody cared how much their camera cost. They were just trying to find the light. Trying something, helping each other, laughing and taking photographs as well as enjoying themselves.
06 – Light has a common language
That’s what stayed with me. Because light doesn’t care who you are. It doesn’t care how old you are. It doesn’t care whether you have the latest camera or an old one. It doesn’t care whether you’re a professional, a hobby photographer or someone who has only recently picked up a camera. You can stand next to someone you’ve never met before and still experience exactly the same thing: “Look at that light.” And suddenly you have something in common.
07 – We stayed out much longer than planned
The workshop just kept going. We walked. We photographed. We talked. We experimented. And somehow, we ended up almost half an hour over schedule. But nobody seemed to care. It was just one of those situations where stopping felt more difficult than continuing. And then something happened that I won’t forget. I was the last one coming back. Everyone else had already made it back. And they were waiting outside. For me. The whole group. Just standing there, waiting until I arrived so we could finish together. It was such a small gesture. But somehow it said a lot. Because at that point, it didn’t really feel like a workshop anymore. It felt like a group that had spent a few hours together and genuinely enjoyed being there.
08 – By the time the day was over, I was completely done
Tired. Happy. A little bit overwhelmed. And very grateful. Not just because the keynote was full. Not because more people joined the workshop than expected. But because of what happened when all those people actually came together. Different ages. Different experience levels. Different backgrounds. One common interest. One shared curiosity. One thing everybody was looking for light. And maybe that’s one of the reasons I still love photography so much. Because sometimes it gives you a language before you even know someone else’s name. You don’t need to have the same background. You don’t need to be the same age. You don’t even need to have the same level of experience. Sometimes all it takes is someone pointing at a wall and saying: “Look at that light.” And suddenly you’re speaking the same language.
