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Joy Dana

“Because I can't resist. I often make decisions based on a gut feeling. Taking pictures was one of them and it still feels right. I meet many people I would never have met otherwise and I can follow my own development (photographically as well as personally). Photography simply means a lot to me, I cannot put that into words.”

Equipment used:

Digital: Sony A7rII, Minolta Rokkor 55mm 1.4, Tamron 28-75mm 2.8, Helios 44-2
Analog: Pentax 6×7 mit Takumar 105mm 2.8, Leica M2 mit Voigtländer 35mm

Even though I love to prepare and plan, I always end up with a relatively spontaneous photo shoot. It is important for me to choose the outfits, the location and the basic mood in advance. But all in all you can say that the photos usually have and should have something very melancholic. Everything else should arise from the moment and the shooting should feel like a walk among friends. Meanwhile I work mainly with natural light as far as I can. I want to create something timeless, get to know people and introduce them to others through my photos.

If you look at my photos you will soon notice that they are mainly male models. This is for me the “niche” that I have found and with which I can start the most. You often hear that it is boring or too easy to photograph men. That you could only photograph the “hard look” anyway and that there is little changeability. But especially in the beginning I found it more difficult to photograph men than women. I reject the “hard look”. Men also have a soft, vulnerable side and I want to show this. Quasi the soft core under the hard shell.

Photographed by Joy Dana featured by dudewithcamera

My photos are made digitally, but lately also increasingly analog. For almost 3 years now I have only taken black and white portraits. Slowly but surely colour (analogue) is creeping in here and there. I am curious how it goes on. I develop and scan my analog photos at home. This is important to me because I get the results quickly, but I also have the urge to do something like this myself. Now in quarantine I have also developed my first colour film myself.

Photographed by Joy Dana featured by dudewithcamera
Photographed by Joy Dana featured by dudewithcamera
Photographed by Joy Dana featured by dudewithcamera

Location:

My favourite locations are outdoor locations. For photo shootings for my magazine, Portrait Diaries, I like to go to foreign cities, explore the streets and choose a location. My aesthetics are best suited to beautiful old buildings, cobblestone streets, daylight lofts or even lakes and wide fields. Of course, the lighting situation must always be right, too. For studio portraits, in contrast, any location with a little shade does. One of the portraits shown here was taken in a 12sqm hotel room in Berlin, where the model and I only had 1,5m space to take pictures. For indoor locations I usually use LED lights instead of daylight because I can decide where and when I take pictures. In principle there is also no bad time for me to take pictures. If the model is with me I stand at the lake in the rain or look for a shady place in the midday sun. I don’t want to be limited there.

Photographed by Joy Dana featured by dudewithcamera
Photographed by Joy Dana featured by dudewithcamera
Photographed by Joy Dana featured by dudewithcamera
Photographed by Joy Dana featured by dudewithcamera
Photographed by Joy Dana featured by dudewithcamera
Photographed by Joy Dana featured by dudewithcamera

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