The shoot with Justus Schmidt and Max Böhme in Santander was much more than a classic photo assignment. It was an experience at eye level – and sometimes below. Because when you’re in the water with your camera and two professionals in a 49er are flying just centimetres above you, one thing counts above all: trust.
Justus and Max are absolute team players. They don’t just move their 49er, they merge with it – every turn, every manoeuvre is precisely coordinated, every grip is right. This coordination is also transferred to the shoot: they have to trust me to be in the right place at the right time – and I have to trust them to manoeuvre their boat over me with pinpoint accuracy without us taking each other out of the picture – or worse – out of the water.
The 49er is fast, technically demanding and unforgiving. But when it is sailed by two athletes like Justus and Max, it unfolds an elegance and energy that is difficult to capture in pictures – which is precisely why it is so fascinating.
What particularly impressed me was not just their sporting performance, but how openly and respectfully they treated each other and me as the photographer. A real team culture, not only on board, but also in their dealings with everyone around them. And that’s exactly what made the last moment of the day so special: I was allowed to steer the 49er myself. Only briefly – but long enough to understand how finely tuned everything has to be for this boat to work at all.
A shoot on, above and below the water that I will remember for a long time – because of the action, because of the pictures and, above all, because of the mutual trust that made it possible.
