The self portrait with strangers is a photographic genre that I came up with in 2004. The idea is simple: I take a photograph of myself, holding the camera - arm stretched out - in such a way that other people are imaged together with me. The strangers should not be just accidential bystanders, but appear with me as the main subject of the picture. I try to catch the particular moment, when the stranger suddenly realizes what I am doing.

Starting from this simple idea, the series over the years developed into an exploration of my personal role in society. It's about me and the others. In fact it touches the very core of why I do photography at all.