Photography is an honest and inner urge. Powerful images continuously pop up in my mind. And I – Tejo Fickinger – want to stage, realise and capture these. I have been fascinated by images since I was a child. The little black Kodakbox from the sixties was my introduction to photography. The little click, the in black and white recorded moments of family life: they had magic. The combination of creation and technique has always remained a leitmotiv in my work. No wonder my second car was a French Citroën DS, a model in which sublime, progressive technique was linked to a beautiful interplay of lines. I portray women and men in an environment of lost industrial glory. Why? An enormously powerful effect is aroused. My décors are scrap trains, dilapidated houses and ugly, old and deserted factories, with rusted nails and dust. If you put a person with a strong charisma in such an environment, something special will happen. The incidence of light and the choice for asymmetrical lines strengthens this effect. In my work I especially try to catch the moment. I search for self-confidence, personality and a certain toughness in my models. Authenticity, realness, is a starting-point in my work.