SimonBolz

Beauty and Boats Pt. 1 (4K)

Nicci, Tenerife, 2024

When you work with a model repeatedly, many things are easier. You meet at an agreed location, don't need to make a lot of small talk, but can go straight out and take photos. How much I loved it in this little village on Tenerife!

Courtship Display

Loreley, Paris, 2014

The simplest pairings are often the best: chips with ketchup, soccer and beer or a naked woman and jeans. It can be so simple.

I took the photos in an amazing designer loft in Paris. It was an absolute stroke of luck that I was able to rent this thing. The owner was a bit skeptical about my shoot at first, but then luckily he realized that I was okay.

Summer Grapes 4K

Kaya, Rheingau, 2023

Why wander far away when good things are so close? That's an old saying and that's exactly what I followed. I put together a nice little picnic and went to the vineyards with Kaya.

Behind the Scenes: Nasty and Tennis

BTS Clip of me shooting Nastya for my series "Game, Set, Soul (Love All)" on a windy tennis court.

Painted Black

Sabi, Tenerife, 2016

I actually wanted to shoot a model smeared with finger paint for my book "Sublime". It took me two attempts and in the end I wasn't satisfied. Body painting is more difficult than I thought. But Sabi is still a wonderful creature!

Prime Time

Olga, Paris, 2015

Olga is a vamp. I think that's what they call these man-killing women with perfect breasts and long legs. These women who can just have any guy. As a model, she was a real dream. I'm glad I was able to have her in front of the lens.

Arise and Shine

Sailys del Mar, Paris, 2019

When I photographed Sailys del Mar in Paris, Notre Dame had just burned down, Peter Lindbergh had died and I met his 1st assistant Stefan Rappo the first time in person. So there were a lot of special moments and as a reminder, I tried to color grade these photos in the style of Stefan Rappo.

Drive My Body

Melisa Mendini, Wiesbaden, 2011

At my car shoots, the question always arises as to who is the real star, the horny car or the enchanting woman in the picture? You have to answer this question yourself. I only take the photos.

Echoes in White 4K

Bella Ballerina, Tenerife, 2023

It feels incredibly privileged to be able to work with lots of sunlight. With so much light, even a dull hotel room becomes a good location. And I just love wet hair. There should be more of that in my photos. Or maybe not too often.

Rhapsody in Purple

Adem, Frankfurt, 2010

Photography definitely has a learning curve. I can say that when I look back at these pictures. But above all, it's amazing how fashion and the zeitgeist change. Bold smokey eyes were really chic back then. Today I'm almost a little scared.

Hussy by Nature

Michaela, Frankfurt, 2010

This set accompanied a story about partnership and love making in Men's Health magazine. Unfortunately, the magazine is now a bit more buttoned up and no longer has any nude photos.

Bikini Zone

Dianium, Ibiza, 2022

This beach in Ibiza is quite ideal for shooting. You need to climb down a little but then you have a bay all for yourself. It's a popular spot, but off season in the morning, you can be sure to be alone. It's called "Les Salines", just in case you thought about heading there some time.

Endless Love

Lu, Frankfurt, 2010

I was inspired by this music video where the guy walks through New York City carrying a big red heart and singing about his broked heart. Maybe, I have overdone it a bit. But at least, it was a good start in theming shots with a color concept (red and white) and adding symbols to it. 

Backstage

Elle, Paris, 2014

For this shoot, I rented a real apartment with actual people living there. Well, I didn't rent the people, I just wanted to have a lively place and not the typical airbnb emptiness.

So, everything was a bit more dirty and therefore looks more realistic. The look of Elle is quite modern, when you imagine, those images are 10 years old. So, this seems to be a woman from the future.

Descending to Cloud Nine 4K

Margoreett, Frankfurt, 2023

Our first time working together and I was already convinced. She is a wonderful model and also freaky at the same time. This makes shooting fun and the results are great. Even though, I was a bit unlucky with the light as the day was too clouded for my personal taste. 

Lara Bonus 1

Lara, Paris, 2015

Parisian woman Lara fit so well in this apartment that looking back at those images I have no doubt, I visited her in her very own place with my camera. Which if course, wasn't the case. But I don't want to destroy your fantasies, so please, dream on.

Boobservation

Karina, Berlin, 2017

Whenever I see photos of other photographers with just a bit of this window frame, I can immediately tell where the photo was taken. Weird, isn't it?

This was my first shoot after the winter break and I had a bit of a hard time getting into it. Basically, the model's profile was full of extremely photoshoped images and I had envisioned her differently. You learn from mistakes.

Look of Love

Sanctum, Leipzig, 2015

I booked Sanctum because I loved her haircut. And her presence in front of the camera. 

But unfortunately the only thing I remember today from the shoot was that she greeted me saying "Simon, you look like a hobbit." What the fuck. I laughed for sure. But that wasn't a very polite introduction of hers.

Mellow and Sublime

This is a quick info that my pre-sale for the book Mellow runs out on Friday. If you haven't ordered a copy yet, you could save until Friday.

While tidying up to create storage space, a box of originally packed Sublime books turned up. If you would like to buy one, please contact me.

Natural Ingredients

Sabi, Tenerife, 2016

This was from my very first trip to Tenerife. I had Sabi with me and those were wonderful days. The sea was much warmer than expected even though it was winter time. And being alone during a shoot is always fantastic.

Bubble Bath

Chiara and Kitrysha, Milan, 2018

I met these beauties in Italy. To be honest, I knew Chiara already. And for my coffee table book Sublime, I wanted to photograph the topic with two women sensually together. It's kind of a difficult theme as so easy it can become pornish. Anyways, these were outtakes. We shot them after lunch and I simply didn't need the photos for my book anymore, because the morning photos were so good. Until today, I still believe, these two are fantastic models.

Girl on Fire

Melissa Mendini, Wiesbaden, 2011

I am very grateful that I got to work with Melissa Mendini in the early 2010s quite a lot. She was a super professional model, always on point and these were the days before Instagram. So models were different and she was always so focused. Actually, a perfect model for a beginner photographer, because you couldn't really take bad shots of her.

Behind the Scenes Nastya 1

Some people asked for it, so I filmed a behind the scenes video of me shooting Nastya while working out a series for my photo book.

I dressed her up as a cheerleader for this.

As something didn't work with displaying the video here, I set a password. In small letters:

cheers

Jacqueline

Jacqueline asked me to work with her. And I immediately saw her potential. I took these test shots in a local hotel and suggested her to Playboy. It took a while, but two years later, I was commissioned to photograph Jacqueline for Playboy Germany then. Those are great memories. And they all began with these pictures.

Roadtrip

Sloane, Sitges, 2016

In 2016, I drove around Sitges, over the mountains and back to Barcelona with Sloane in the car stopping here and there for a little roadtrip story.

Nika

Nika, Frankfurt, 2017

Somehow the bad memories are always stronger than the good ones. First, the good ones: Even though Nika didn't speak English, we got along well during the shoot. I tested out working with the Profoto B10 flash. And the bad memories that sticks is that I was communicating with her manager before the shoot who wrote under her name which was very weird, as I had no idea. His English was fine, so the whole situation got me really confused.

Whispering Whims (4K)

Lina Linn, Karlovy Vary, 2023

This is the most basic underwear I own from Maison Close. It consists of only 3 elastic strips that give the illusion of underpants and this funny bra which empasized the beautiful boobs of Lina.

Beach Bonus

Baby Nicols, Tenerife, 2021

So, I went to explore some beaches with Baby Nicols. She is a wonderful woman and I won't forget these days. I am actually quite grateful for having met her and learning about her career was super interesting. I mean, even in my job, I don't run into porn stars every day.

Stripe Me Pink

Vivian Dubois, Frankfurt, 2011

This was my very first shoot with a medium format camera. The whole handling was totally different and to my surprise, the model said, she does not like my camera.

I was super excited with the new gear and probably did not give enough attention to her.

Anyways, she is such a lovely blonde and in stockings, she looks even better.

Thinking back at those days now, I am happy, that I don't own a medium format camera anymore. It was just not f...

Printing my new Coffee Table Book

Yesterday (Monday, 19th of February, 2024) my new coffee table book was printed. 26 x 4 printing plates for the 208 pages plus cover.

I'd like to share a little behind the scenes video with you.

If you would like to claim a copy: https://www.simonbolz.com/shop/mellow/