self service magazine x blommers and schumm

blog page ‘self service magazine, blommers and schumm’

class of 1998
model: lucy
photograpy: blommers and schumm
self service magazine #8, summer 1998

The duo ANUSCHKA BLOMMERS and NIELS SCHUMM met at the Amsterdam based Rietveld Academie, both graduated in 1996. They have been working on fashion, portrait and still-life photography as a team since then. Fashion designers Viktor & Rolf asked them to shoot for Purple magazine in 1997. Although fashion wasn’t a discipline they were comfortable with, the photographs launched them into the world of fashion. Their work does more than just fulfill the standards of the fashion industry. Their hyper-real images constantly invite one to reconsider the tropes bound to define the traditions of fashion and photography. They often use friends as models as they were more interested in the person than the clothing. For ‘The class of 1998’ series they asked extremely young and promising models from a London agency. The models were photographed against a blue background, professionally coiffured, often with a glint of uncertainty in their eyes. The portraits were originally published in Self Service magazine #8.

The series is also a part of the book ‘Anita and 124 Other Portraits’, published in 2006. the book is a collection of their work between 1996 and 2006,  alphabetically classified portraits of people shot by Blommers and Schumm for numerous books and catalogues as well as various fashion magazines.