Series - FotoSlovo 2024 - Category « Architecture and Urban life »

"Hidden Souls" is a series of unposed street photographs taken by photographer Stefan Lauterbach, which delights in playing hide and seek with its subjects. Figures hide under hats and behind hair, manifesting as silhouettes or reflections, leaving more questions than answers. The world often plunges into deep shadows, granting it an elusive, enigmatic depth. Stemming from Lauterbach's childhood fascination with secretly watching horror films, the series exudes a love for the sinister and the ambiguous, continuing to inspire him to this day. Captured in various locations but with a particular focus on Frankfurt a.M. (Germany), Stefan Lauterbach's hometown, these images portray complex, high-contrast scenes where the identities of the figures remain anonymous. Urban settings, defined by strong contrasts and geometric shapes, heighten the mysterious and somewhat unsettling atmosphere. Each photograph invites the viewer to delve deeper, uncovering the hidden stories behind the visible, reflecting Lauterbach's fascination with the eerie and the unknown.