so my name is stephanie schmidt lincoln
i'm a photographer based in london and i
am german colombian
i started photography very young it's a
little bit of a cliche i'm always taking
pictures basically
i developed my first film when i was 14
in school so yeah i really enjoyed it
and i realized very soon i just want to
do something with visuals either film or
photography
so yeah that's that's me and that's what
i do
[Music]
my first digital camera ever
uh was this tiny cute one the canon 400d
um
that has also an internal flash which i
thought was really cool back then um
yeah and i had it with a small landscape
3580. i was living in colombia and my
dad came to visit and he bought me from
germany so that was like a really nice
surprise because i was back then only
doing analog photography so there was
definitely a big big change in an eye
opener and so when i jumped to the 70
that was a big big step back then this
was like the newest
camera for canon
and um
so yeah so when i changed from this one
to the
5d mark ii
i i upscaled it because a friend had it
and i thought this is really another big
step
and the quality was just really cool it
was really really fast and then i
realized oh i really have to
upgrade my kid also
some part inside broke and so all these
little things make you realize okay you
have to change and evolve and
you know try to find also your your best
way to
express your pictures but also in a very
good quality and it's very important to
feel very comfortable with it
my first berlinale was in 2015
that i
had
the pleasure
to be part of as part of the ceo of
berlin young talent back then like a
competition that you have like 10
photographers
from germany to be able to take pictures
there in the end there's an exhibition i
chose back then to kind of take intimate
looking pictures from all the
celebrities and stuff like that
so for that back then i used only the 7d
with the 3580
um so this was all i used nothing else
back then like when you're like having a
smaller kit like a small camera or lens
and you have other people next to you
that are like you think oh they're more
professional because they have
like bigger lenses or like just like
five of them and like hanging around
everything but it does inspire you at
the same time to be like okay what is it
that they have why does it look
different and then you kind of lean into
it and start researching also about
kits and lenses and stuff and then
sometimes you realize oh it looks also
very similar to what i have or like oh
yeah i really need to get this one
fast forward a few years later i am part
of the official crew of the berlinale
photographers and this time i am on the
like on the red carpet backstage
everywhere i'm like the to go person for
the images it's definitely
an upscale
and that includes also an upscale of
your equipment of your kit
for the first one in 2019
um
i got the
canon
5d mark iv
and i got it with
this
big baby
and i used my 50 with my camera
so
to be switching the whole time so you
have one time the 50 with your own
camera and then
one time um
the 7200
for the berlinale 2020 and 2022 i
changed from the 7200 to the
2470
um
still keeping two cameras one with the
50 and one with the 2470.
first of all i changed i because it's
more handy you can wear quicker
these lenses for me are not as
spontaneous how i like to work with and
but the 2470 and then with the flash
it's super good for doing the whole like
red carpet and like the backdrop
pictures the best pictures you need
because you get a very good light you
can you know change going from being
closer and then
you have to be
more far away then you have to have the
red carpet and you have to have the
backdrops and now for the more intimate
pictures i use the 50.
so for example for this picture from
amandla sternberg
at berlinale 2020
um
with the spotlight i really love this
picture i took that just with a 50. and
so i started doing a little series about
this kind of light i really like when
they get into the cinema and everybody's
clapping and they're like it's a
presentation but i think it's also like
a very intimate moment and really pretty
like
yeah just enjoying so i really
i really like for these kind of things
using the 50.
so
back in 2020 right after the berlinale
the pandemic hit and so we had to stay
home and we had to be creative and so i
started doing a
personal project called quarantine
habitat so i messaged a bunch of female
musicians i've worked with or that i
know
and asked them if i could do like a
portrait session of them via
facetime so that was a really big
challenge so i did it and i'm really
happy with the results because they also
look very
intimate and very um
like basically i wanted to feel like
you're not doing it through the phone
but what i did is that i actually
i photographed the phone then you
cropped it out and everything but the
the feeling is just like um
like if it's not through the phone and
it's not facetime
and that's what i wanted to to show and
so for this project i used my personal
camera the canon 5d mark iii
with my lenses the 50 and the 28
switching in between
um
so yeah it was a
really good experience
back in 2016 and summer 2016
uh during the usa elections
back then i did a road trip from new
york to portland
so i was the time that i used a lot the
canon 5d mark ii
and i had the 50 the lens 50 always i
didn't change at all i spent at that
little town in pennsylvania 20 minutes
there was a
there was like a a fair
and like a carnival and like a street
parade and so i went through the town i
just started taking pictures because
also the location
like the whole
houses everything looked very timeless
but it was also like the part of the
election so i did have i didn't do a
series about the us flag of the colors
and um yeah so these three images are
like my favorite of them they also have
like a you can see they're connected for
example this
girl uh amish girl
standing in front of a milkshake truck
with the purple dress and like the
purple sign and the colors and the light
of the sun was just hitting it was a
sunset
it's like very timeless and it has that
it's a really
nice moment it's like a really beautiful
uh
sense to it but i always have the
american flag in it so it's like part of
it so
shooting all this stuff like with the 50
i really really really enjoy and i
it's basically the lens that i use the
most for almost absolutely everything
so looking back at my concert pictures
and festival pictures from 2013
that i used to do back then with the 7d
um
you definitely notice a difference from
now but when i look at them you get like
a so i have like this sort of nostalgia
and like all these memories about you
know because i had like a smaller lens
and it was not the most
high uh of equipment that i had also
like a like a cheap tamron that would
have like a not very stabilized focus
and then next to me were all these
uh big cameras all these other
photographers that were also like like
hired from the festival or other
other magazines and you would get
intimidated by that you know like kind
of small stuff but then at the end i
look at the results and i was just like
at the end it's what you make with it
it's the best out of it and
that's i think uh
a skill you kind of have to have in your
head mentally that at the end it's how
you do it how you work with it and also
not get intimidated by other people
like with their equipment kind
of so this is my current kit that i've
also had for a while it's the canon eos
5d mark iii
with my lenses the 28 and 50 also from
canon and then i have a special one from
tamron it's an 18 to 200
but i only use it with 18 because it
gives it like a fisheye effect and it
has like a
yeah like a very interesting um
it looks totally different but i never
used to 200
and then i also every once in a while
for i like this little
nice dreamy effect so i use like either
a kaleidoscope or like this
this uh i just add on where you can like
move around and you have like a very
dreamy or crystal effect or you can have
it like three four times the same person
so this is actually my digital kit that
i use and that i really
like and my babies and i really care
about them
you