I sculpt with light.
My photography blends technical precision with creative experimentation, creating visual and introspective narratives.
Unlike most photographers who capture moments in split seconds, I build my images slowly — through long exposures at night, shaping surreal scenes with both natural and artificial light.
Staging and playful exploration
Each photograph balances meticulous planning with a free experimental approach that dissolves the line between staging and play, which allows for surprises. I’m not trying to create a perfect image.
I work without Photoshop filters or AI manipulation — nothing that couldn’t be done in an old-school darkroom. For me, it’s all about the raw connection between light, space, time, and subject.
My images live somewhere between precision and spontaneity, inviting you to see light not just as illumination, but as a sculptural, storytelling force.
What is real? What is human?
What is created by humans?
What is not generated by AI?
What is truly authentic?
How can we even evaluate that?
At a time when the boundary between genuine human action and the results of artificial intelligence has long since blurred, we need to find and pursue paths that AI cannot follow.
Performance and play might be the last domains still reserved for humans.
Homo sapiens as a model may soon be obsolete. Perhaps Homo ludens — the playing human — is the right approach.
Through play, we can cross boundaries with seemingly irrational, unpredictable behavior and override assumed rules of logic.
By observing or participating in what happens on-site, we can determine the authenticity of something.
Human action — regardless of its content — is evidently real and authentic.
Side effects
Photographing in this way can be both physically and mentally quite demanding, and each image carries its own additional story. I often stand, walk, climb, crouch, or hold still for extended periods in unusual positions. Temperatures can range from freezing cold to uncomfortably hot, and wind and weather don’t exactly make the process easier.
Working outdoors at night also brings unpredictable encounters — curious passersby, sometimes very strange characters, attentive animals, and constant companions like mosquitoes or ticks, all of which make the creation of these images especially memorable.
Martin Doerken, born in 1972, is a photographer and designer from Berlin.
