last twelve years of my close-up portraits . I have a show in Rotterdam at the Photo Museum Netherlands in May and another show coming up in Dusseldorf . I have a Gallery show in Berlin in September , and then the usual magazine assignments and commercial work in between .
ANDREA : What was your favorite shoot ?
MARTIN : My favorite was Johnny Cash . I was invited to photograph him at his house . We arrived at eleven in the morning and June Carter answered the door and said , “ Oh , Johnny is going to be right out I ’ m just going to finish his make-up .” She offered us some tea and we said , “ No , no please don ’ t trouble yourself ma ’ am .” But she was unstoppable , so half an hour later she comes out with this big tray of tea . There were no housekeepers , just this old couple home alone doing Johnny ’ s make-up in the living room and making us tea . They were so sweet with each other . Johnny was trying to look his best , but he was already pretty frail . In the end I said to my assistant , “ Go sit next to Johnny so I can take a picture of you two together .” She was so overwhelmed that she just started sobbing . And then Johnny put his arm around her and looked down , and he had tears running down his face , and of course then I started to cry . It was a really special moment for us .
ANDREA : What was the worst ?
MARTIN : There ’ s a lot of bad ones . Mostly just people not wanting to be there , promoting a movie that they filmed years ago and don ’ t even like , maybe they even regret . And now they are forced to do some promotion for it at a time that might be totally inconvenient . Sometimes people are just in a horrible mood , but they have ten or more shoots to do in a day .
ANDREA : Who were you most impressed by ?
MARTIN : A lot of people impress me . I ’ ve always believed we have good and bad sides , hopefully more good than bad , but I ’ ve never celebrated someone so much that I thought they were a hero . Coming from Germany with our dark past , we grew up without heroes , and we questioned everybody ’ s motives . Even today , Germans have a very hard time celebrating anyone German . As soon as a German achieves something , we ’ ll celebrate for five minutes and then find a way to take them down . It ’ s very different than American culture . Maybe that ’ s part of the reason I do these very honest portraits .
ANDREA : What do you think about the # MeToo movement ?
MARTIN : I think it ’ s great , I think it ’ s long overdue . My wife ’ s brother ’ s wife wrote the Harvey Weinstein story . I think it ’ s a movement that really defined this decade , and it ’ s been the most important shift in our society lately . But I think the pendulum has swung a little too far in one direction where everyone is being put in the same basket , where a rapist is in the same boat as people who just say terrible insensitive things . So hopefully there will be more of a dialogue and more orting things out . Hopefully we are reaching a point of due process . I think ultimately there is no better or worse between men and women . I don ’ t think the world would be that much different if women ran it . I think we ’ re all the same , and I think women are capable of the same bad things men are , and I think they ’ re capable of the same good . That for me , is what equality means , and right now I think men are being vilified and women are being celebrated as if they can do no wrong , which is not right either . I ’ m a complete feminist in that I think men and women are the same , good and bad . More and more women will be in power as time goes on , no doubt . The younger generation of women especially are more motivated than men . I think that is because a lot of young men are spending their time playing video games , smoking weed , chilling . And women are just more motivated .
ANDREA : Are you with a gallery now ?
MARTIN : I am with Camera Work in Berlin , and I ’ m thinking of signing on with someone in New York .
Martin Schoeller , Maryse Manios .
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