Who's in the Crew? - Spotlight on Chris Marxen

NAME: Chris Marxen

WEBSITE https://headshots-berlin.de/en/
CREW PROFILE https://headshotcrew.com/actorsheadshotsberlin
INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/chris_marxen/
YOUTUBE https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2zNxxa05dGk6O4M…
FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/chrismarxenheadshotfotog…
LINKEDIN https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-marxen-22a8837b/

WHERE ARE YOU FROM AND WHERE DO YOU LIVE NOW?
I was born in Berlin/Germany in a central part of town named Friedrichshain. My parents quickly moved away 6 months after I was born (not far only a little across town) so I never was fully aware of being born there. Only after moving back to that same district and opening up my first studio, my parents filled me in and I realized that this was a great coincidence. I opened up a studio only a block away from where I was born. I still love it! Now my studio is in another part of town.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN SHOOTING HEADSHOTS?

I started looking into Headshot photography in mid-2014.

WHAT IS YOUR LIGHTING SETUP FOR HEADSHOTS?

I have the original Westcott Peter Hurley Flexkit with two 1x2s and two 1x3 panels daylight balanced. My favorite for women is still the square. I shoot the triangle on location to have the 4th light available as a kick since I always shoot guys with the key+fill+kick setup.

I adjust my lighting for every single person even in 15-minutes-per-person-corporate scenarios. No one-size-fits-all with me. My clients love that individuality and for me, it’s an amazing practice.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR STUDIO. DO YOU OWN IT? RENT IT? OR LIVE IN IT?

Nowadays I rent a studio in a 100-year-old industrial building in a very nice part of town. Great view over a historic airport field used during the cold war to get food into West-Berlin. Stunning location. It’s uncommon to own business space in Berlin. Renting is the way to go.

Before that, I gradually converted my apartment into a studio. Starting from living there alone to getting a roommate and then kindly kicking him out to use his room as a studio and then moving out myself and only coming there to work. Clearly, that was when the business started to grow. For me, that was the lowest risk possible and I would do it like that again and again.

WHAT ELSE DO YOU LIKE TO SHOOT?

Two-part answer. Professionally I shoot a pretty wide range. Once clients trust me they ask me to shoot different things. If I like the client, I do it. Everything business related really. I’ve shot a tone of reports for corporate and start-up branding and branded content, I shot events and conferences as a press photographer and for business clients, product photography, architecture, employer branding stories, I even started shooting fine art for wall art and family portraits for my business clients. Whatever they want me to take on for them, I’m there for them. I never advertise this anywhere. My website is portrait only. All the other stuff happens from client relationships and word of mouth. Plus I do video. Image films, interviews, audition tapes, product video and so on.

The second part is obviously my daily life and my family. I shoot a lot of film, mostly 135 and 120 but also 4x5. I like Kodak Portra and T-MAX but have a ton of stuff in my freezer from Fuji, Ilford, and Fomapan. Film photography is really enjoyable and as one who started photography in the digital age it opened up a new world for me. In the future, I will start offering film shoots to my clients.

WHEN DID YOU FIRST DISCOVER PH AND THE HSC?

Look at my answer in question #2 and take a wild guess. If you don’t know PH and the Crew (by that time PH2PRO) and you are shooting headshots, I can’t imagine you are really serious about it.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO JOIN THE CREW ONCE YOU FOUND IT?

Quite a while. As a German, and with that, by nature pretty hesitant regarding new things, especially when they cost you money, I did EVERYTHING to research before I jumped on board. I’m talking months here. Big shout out to Jeku Arce who even took time to meet up with me IN PERSON so I could bug him with all my questions. I even called other Mentors to dig deeper before joining. Today I feel a little stupid for being THAT hesitant. That would not happen again today. I learned to be decisive from Peter and the crew. Thank you all for that!

WHAT IS ONE THING PEOPLE WOULD NEVER GUESS ABOUT YOU?

Maybe you would guess that but I was terrible in school :D I had to repeat a whole year and was very surprised when I passed graduation (with terrible grades) because I was prepared to redo that year also. Guess they just wanted me gone. When I left school I could not even order a beer in English. I learned English only from the TV show LOST and watching movies in English later. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do and was just doing every job out there. Video store, usher, cashier, entertainer at an Aquarium :D I even ran a tiny hostel on a small greek island, not to mention my music “career” including teaching saxophone.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WISH PEOPLE KNEW ABOUT YOU?

There are a lot of ways to say this but in essence, I feel best when treated like we’ve always known each other. If I had the power I would be everybody’s brother, son, or father. We could be ourselves all the time in happy, sad, weak, and strong moments. Being able to share and empathize with others is our greatest gift as humans and it’s being lived way too rarely. That connection is why I photograph people and the reason I love this crew so much.