The toilet situation with the friend who is buttoning up her bodysuit in the flashlight, a row of pensioners eating ice cream in South Africa, her own grandmother at the carnival and her daughter Cleo again and again - distance is not the essence of her themes, she likes to be a voyeur and is often involved in the action. As her final project at the Ostkreuzschule under Ute Mahler, Julia presented a sensitive portrait of "Mr. Wolle" - a manic collector of teddy bears, garden gnomes, cuddly toys and dinosaurs.
Sometimes on the go with her iPhone, sometimes with her SLR camera, @zoooi.de is always looking for that certain something and tongue-in-cheek moments, she has an eye for the madness around her and, when she is not working on new series, takes spontaneous snapshots. Among other things, she works for a series of parties at the Prince Charles and for the Nido - whose imagery she embodies with her references to Nan Goldin, Jürgen Teller and Ryan McGinley. "But I'm not interested in fashion, that's not real life. I prefer to photograph weddings, at least then you can share in the joy," she explains.
On Instagram, where she has been privately since 2011 and publicly since the end of 2014, she doesn't want to "catch likes" but uses the platform for self-marketing because she knows where the picture editors look for their photographers. For Julia, Instagram is an archive, a source of inspiration and a treasure trove of creative hashtags.
"For me, photography means a feeling of freedom," says @zoooi.de. On her trips to Bali, the USA, Sri Lanka, India and South Africa, she captures everyday observations with "goosebumps". Her life and her inner circle have a regular place in the series, for example about boys with red lipstick. If your gaze lingers and you look for a while, she has done a good job.
@zoooi.de's favorite Instagrammer:
@arnold_daniel , @boy.hill , @der_greif and @fotografiamagaz
