An interview with Ekkardt from Sonntagraphy

When our second son was born here in Amman, unfortunately, no photographer came to the hospital and the weeks after we were a bit low on time. Later then while searching for a photographer who can take some photos of our second born son, I stumbled upon Ekkardt’s Facebook Page. I had a look at some of the pictures he posted and since he had some free time slots I approached him. The pictures Ekkardt took turned out to be very nice and natural, exactly what we wanted. He was very welcoming, took his time and listened to our needs, while being of course very child-friendly as well, being a father himself. After meeting each other on the photo shoot and getting to know each other better, we decided that it would be great to do an interview – here it is.

Dear Ekkardt, you are a photographer offering locals and expats different services around photography. Please introduce yourself.

My name is Ekkie, I’m a German expat and I’ve been living in Amman with my family since 2008. I’ve mostly worked with the German Jordanian University, but also a few other places and also spent a lot of time on research of Jordanian society for some doctoral research until finishing the degree in late 2015.

And I’m a guy with a camera who sometimes gets carried away with the hobby a little.

You have been living in Jordan with your family for about 9 years. Please explain in a few sentences what makes you stay?

I ask myself that too sometimes, and the answer is probably – it’s been really working out for everyone in the family, in unexpected ways sometimes. There have always been new opportunities, new people to meet, new adventures. We never expected to be here that long, but it seems like there was always the next great thing around the corner. And the culture just has a very solid, deep friendliness and hospitality to it.

Let me know your approach to engage with customers to get the best pictures for them?

Many people are friends or friends of friends or people I’ve met elsewhere in the community. So I think my MO is that I don’t have one really. I enjoy having interesting people over and getting to know them a little. Photography is what I do outside of my normal work (a self-financing hobby essentially), so I don’t even think of it as ‘work’; which means I have time, I’m relaxed, just enjoying my hobby. I found that, in an unexpected way, that actually produces good photos because everyone is relaxed and actually enjoying themselves, joining together in a creative process.

You offer a different type of Photography art, such as portraits, studio sessions or event photography. What type of services do you offer? Is there anything you explicitly exclude?

I offer studio portrait sessions for individuals, couples or families. And I guess I offer to try everything else that sounds fun – recently that’s been product shots, a big black-tie event, an engagement, and obviously I try to capture the beautiful landscape of Jordan when I get a chance. I want to do more street photography, but time always seems tight (+ I’m a bit shy, believe it or not). Anyway – if it reflects light, I’ll shoot it!