xprssnst   ›   English   ›   Introduction

Introduction

Author

My name is Robert C. Lemm1, born in 1965, and I was given my first camera as a present in 1977 - a gift that sparked my lifelong fascination with photography. But I was interested in photography much earlier2.

Berlin, May 2025 (Photo: Boris Kownatzki)

My journey moved into the digital realm in 2000, and from 2006 to 2022 I immersed myself in creative projects with musicians3. Since 2019, I have also been capturing headshots, portraits4, and private events such as weddings and family celebrations.

I only take authentic photographs. So-called artificial intelligence, which goes beyond assisting with image processing and seeks to replace the role of the photographer, is neither intelligent nor helpful to the development of photography as a form of communication.

Expressionist

What is the title of this page all about? I have been using the synonym expressionist5 for my photography for some time now.

My work seeks to distil a scene to its most expressive moment. I achieve this by stripping away distractions, favouring an open aperture for a shallow depth of field, and presenting my images in black and white6 to let form, light, and emotion speak for themselves.

When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in black and white, you photograph their souls. (Ted Grant - *1929 †2020)

  1. Since 2016, I have also been using the artist's name Rob Cale for some projects. ↩

  2. That was around 1970 looking through my father's Rolleiflex 4x4 - I found the unfolding viewfinder with the image of the world in front of the camera very interesting even back then. ↩

  3. This also resulted in some publications in magazines and newspapers such as Goodtimes, Bluesnews, Gitarre & Bass, Focus and Süddeutsche Zeitung and in the context of CD and DVD productions. ↩

  4. Link to my portrait site ↩

  5. In the form without vowels xprssn.st as internet address or xprssnst as account for photo galleries. ↩

  6. My cameras are set to black and white for photography. However, the digital negatives are in colour so that I also have colour versions if required. So occasionally you can see colour pictures here and at flickr. ↩