Frank R. Hoffmann travels through Berlin, follows the rhythm of the city and the people who create it, trying to understand who the residents of the German capital really are. Many people in Germany have known his Berlin images for decades—often without even realizing it. As a cameraman, he documented history: in 1989 he filmed the unrestrained joy after the fall of the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate, as well as the horror at Ground Zero shortly after September 11 in New York. He portrayed people in the capital of North Korea, worked as an embedded journalist during the Second Gulf War, and reported from crisis regions such as Nigeria and Bali.
Today, Hoffmann focuses primarily on photography—and that changes everything. Familiar faces disappear: politicians, stars, public figures. What remain are people encountered by chance: those struggling with addiction, gay men and lesbians, street performers, and often the homeless. Those who live alongside us, sometimes in the shadow of society. No posing, no names. What matters is not beauty, but authenticity.
street.PORTRAIT 