Who does not know the cult film from the 80s with Ralph Macchio in the role of the Karate Kid! I grew up with it, and the film series like many other movies from the 80s indirectly influenced me. So I was very happy to have one of the main actors – Martin Kove alias John Kreese – in front of my lens recently. And all the more so as NETFLIX released “COBRA KAI“, where Ralph Macchio was able to convince almost all actors from the 80s to play in this really great series!
Everybody can become an average photographer, if he/she only takes pictures of the things he/she observes, loves, focuses sufficiently and therefore deals with them sufficiently! If you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes, if you photograph them in black and white, you photograph their souls!
I photographed Martin in the Leica Gallery in Los Angeles. He came to the set with his son, Jesse Kove, who is also a successful actor in Hollywood and can be seen in D-Day or Wings of Freedom. Martin is a legend, he not only starred in Karate Kid, but was also the bad guy in RAMBO 2. I love to shoot with such strong characters, who are not only visually interesting, but who either act in front of the camera or are themselves.
As light sources I used two Hensel Light Stripbox 30 x 180 with crest and an Octagon Softbox. By a unique and timeless photography you should recognize the photographer – even if he is not to be seen on it! I find it essential to communicate a lot with the people I photograph, so that I can bring out different emotions! The more I know about a person, the easier it is for me to control many things on the set to get what I want to photograph!
As a good photographer you are always a little bit of a psychologist, someone who can listen and understand how to use this! ..and then you just have to wait for the right moment, or simply be able to read between the lines. Because with every story I have to hit the moment that tells the whole story.
When people look at my photographs & works, I want them to feel like me, just before the camera is released, but also as if they want to read a line of a poem twice!
In today’s world where there are billions of photos, you have already won if someone looks twice or longer than 5 seconds.
For the farewell there were also some photos with his son Jesse! I am looking forward to seeing them again and season 2 of Cobra Kai!
See you soon, your Manfred!