When the talk is about photographing celebrities, most inevitably think about the person in front of the camera. Actually, though, the one behind it is of much greater importance. Because it’s the photographer who sets the stage, chooses the lighting, and selects the lens. The photographer’s work tu...

When the talk is about photographing celebrities, most inevitably think about the person in front of the camera. Actually, though, the one behind it is of much greater importance. Because it’s the photographer who sets the stage, chooses the lighting, and selects the lens. The photographer’s work turns the person in the picture into an icon, or the photos into the witnesses of a personality.

Today, hardly anyone makes this kind of art as imaginatively as the Leica-wielding photographer Manfred Baumann does. Instead of guiding the stars through the same setting over and over, he goes to them. Long before he presses the shutter release, he develops refined concepts for the pictures that will congenially express the individuality of the other person. Caught on film, the faces also always tell a story. It can be read in the eyes, features, and stances in which readers might be all too happy to lose themselves.