Marco SCHMIDT shoots street photography on the footsteps and in the spirit of the masters of early candid photography. His work features random encounters, strangers unaware of being photographed in city hubs such as public squares, subways, malls and museums.

The shots are taken in natural light without artifices and he does not ask people to pose nor modify reality digitally. Marco is acting as an observant passer-by, and as such maintains a certain remove. He refrains from entering the personal sphere of his subjects and limits himself to the public space. The unawareness of the subject and the natural environment are essential in overcoming the formal and unnatural behaviour of those who are being photographed. The people are extras. A part of the composition. Often with their back turned to us.

The chosen perspectives and the framing is on the other hand very cinematographic and seems staged. So are the textures and the colours during the editing phase.

Playing with this opposition Marco post-processes his images in a personal way in order to create a final and personal printed artwork.

In the end it is not an image the viewer is lured into, but an atmosphere, a story, a visual poetry.