An Eye for Faces

Some collaborations begin with a single photo shoot. Others continue for years and eventually become an important part of your own photographic history. My collaboration with Lucerne-based make-up artist Dana Jokic is one of those stories.

We first met in 2012. Since then, we have created more than 37 productions together – editorials, beauty shoots, magazine covers and numerous independent projects. Our most recent work together so far was created in 2024.

What has always made Dana special to me is her extraordinarily sensitive understanding of faces. She looks at a model and seems to know instinctively which make-up belongs to that particular face – and, perhaps even more importantly, what does not.

I cannot remember a single shoot where I felt the make-up was too much. But I have equally never looked at one of her finished looks and thought that something was missing.

Dana always finds that very precise point in between.

That moment when you look at the finished face and simply think:

Now it is perfect.

Over many years and many productions, we have continuously refined the way we work together. For me as a photographer, that is incredibly valuable. Great make-up should not primarily draw attention to itself. It should support the personality, the atmosphere and the story of an image.

From Beauty Covers to Editorial Stories

Our collaborations have included several cover productions, among them shoots for Beauty Forum Switzerland, as well as work for NAZAR Kulturmagazin and other publications.

The portrait of Sabine Hauptmann, used for the imprint and her column in Gala Switzerland, was also created together with Dana.

One particularly important chapter of our collaboration developed together with one of my favourite models, Vivienne Oesch.

At some point, we were no longer simply three people meeting for individual photo shoots. Vivi, Dana and I had become a small and very well coordinated production team.

Together we created several editorials for Gala Switzerland, including a larger year-end production that also looked ahead to the coming year. For these shoots, we deliberately began thinking in terms of characters, roles and visual stories.

Vivienne’s versatility made her perfect for this approach.

One production, for example, was inspired by the timeless elegance of Audrey Hepburn. Another drew on the dark visual world of the Netflix series Wednesday. Many other editorials followed, each based on the idea that make-up, styling, model and photography should become part of one coherent visual concept.

It All Began Rather Spectacularly

Looking back today, I can still remember the beginning of our collaboration very clearly.

When I first met Dana, she was part of the Styleworker, a creative group surrounding Nina Schaub. One of our earliest encounters was connected with their major appearance during Berlin Fashion Week.

The presentation included extraordinary fashion concepts created from recycled materials.

Dana’s creation was impossible to overlook.

Plastic forks and spoons had been transformed into an elaborate headpiece. Together with the model and the styling, it created a spectacular image that has stayed in my memory ever since.

Perhaps that production already hinted at what would follow over the coming years: very different ideas, surprising concepts and, again and again, the pleasure of creating something new together.

More Than a Decade of Images

More than 37 productions are, of course, about much more than photographs. They are also about trust.

When you have worked together for so many years, many things no longer need to be explained during a shoot. Everyone understands how the others work. Dana knows how I photograph and what I look for in a face. And I know that I can completely rely on her instinct.

So far, we have unfortunately not managed to bring Dana to my new studio in Taufkirchen for a production. Travelling from Lucerne means more than four hours by car – and the train journey is not exactly shorter.

Perhaps that is simply the next chapter that still needs to be written.

Because when I look back at all the productions we have created together since 2012, there is really only one sentence that sums it up for me:

I would not want to miss a single one of them.

Every shoot has been a highlight in its own way.

Thank you, Dana.