Stefanie Schneider Photography

Because I am (Stage of Consciousness) - 2007 featuring Radha Mitchell 40x48cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and...

Untitled 02 (Saigon) - 2003 57x58cm, Edition of 5 plus 2 Artist Proofs. analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, matte surface, based on the Polar...

Dreamscape (Wastelands), 2003 20x20cm 
Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. 
 Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. 
Certificate and Signature label. 
 Artist inventor...

Downtown LA (Stranger than Paradise) - 2005, 40x48cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. 
 Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. 
 Certificate and Signature label. ...

Purple Max (29 Palms, CA) - 1999 20x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label Artist Inventory #793. Not...

Kirsten in front of Charlie's house (California Blue Screen) - 1997 Edition of 3/5, 44x59 cm Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Si...

Lone Pine Motel (The last Picture Show) - 2005 128x125cm, Edition of 5, analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, based on the Polaroid, Mounted on...

Many Fairytales (The Princess and her Lover) - 2007 Edition of 10, 20x20cm. Archival C-Print based on the Polaroid, not mounted, Signature label and Certificate. Artist Inventory...

Crossfire (Californication) - 2019 50x50cm, sold out Lumas Edition of 150, available Artist Proof 4/5, 5/5. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature lab...

Trains (Stranger than Paradise) - 1999 43x59cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature Labe...

Sunset II (Till Death do us Part) - 2005 90x112cm, Edition 3/5. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on the original Polaroid. Artist Inventory No. 9495.03. Signatu...

Gasoline III (Stranger than Paradise) - 1999 Edition 10, 120x120cm, analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on the Polaroid, Not mounted, Certificate and Signature label, artist Inventory No. 271.01 Exhibition photos from the solo show 'Rough Cuts' at the Susanne Vielmetter gallery, LA Projects. The works of Stefanie Schneider evoke Ed Ruscha's obsession with the American experience, the richness of Georgia O'Keefe's deserts and the loneliness of Edward Hopper's haunting paintings. So how exactly did this German photographer become one of the most important artists of the American narrative of the 20th and 21st century? In this captivating artwork, we are drawn into the enigmatic world captured by Stefanie Schneider, where a solitary man, lost in his own thoughts, embarks on a journey while engulfed in a cloud of smoke...

Side Effects (The Girl Behind the White Picket Fence) - 2013 20x24cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Signature label and certificate. Artist Inventory #13303. Not mounted. Offered is a piece from the movie: The Girl Behind the White Picket Fence. Written and directed by Stefanie Schneider A tale told with blemished and expired Polaroid film about the hopes and dreams of a newly orphaned girl after losing her parents who lived in the Californian desert in an old travel trailer. -filmed with Polaroid film stock and Super-8 footage, overlaid with poetic voice-over monologue - this feature film creates a dynamic kaleidoscope of words and pictures, a dreamy tale that channels Terrence Malick, Gus Van Sant, and pages torn from a lonely girl's journal. (Palms Springs life magazine / Caroline Ryder) Stefanie Schneider By Caroline Ryder Inside the trailer are period accents—a vintage radio, vintage fridge, little crocheted doilies, and dusty gilt-framed photographs. It’s a surreal home-sweet-home, an Americana fantasy as imagined by German artist and experimental filmmaker Stefanie Schneider whose work is so inspired by the desert landscape, she made it her home in 2005. “There’s a completely different light here than in Germany, a beautiful light,” says Schneider, whose property in Morongo is dotted with vintage trailers. They surround her midcentury home and serve as sets for her photoshoots or as guest lodgings for her friends from Hollywood and Berlin. “But what I really love about the desert is the desolation,” she continues. “The sense of hope for something that might or might not come. It’s easy to see our dreams projected in the desert.” Famed for shooting trailer park chic fine art photographs exclusively on vintage Polaroid film, Schneider recently completed her most ambitious project to date—a feature film made entirely of Polaroid stills (4000 images in total), the story set around her magnificent 1950s trailer. The film, called “The Girl Behind The White Picket Fence” tells the story of a broken-hearted girl who lives in the trailer. Her name is Heather, and she is played by model Heather Megan Christie, girlfriend of actor Joaquin Phoenix, and former partner of Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis, with whom she has a son. Heather stars opposite Kyle Larson (who plays ‘Hank’), a real-life gypsy fisherman who catches crab in Alaska when he’s not surfing in Southern California. Neither of the two had ever acted before, and never in the history of movie-making has a director shot a film entirely on Polaroid film. “There was great difficulty shooting a film this way,” says Schneider, who, with her long straight hair, wide innocent eyes, and thick-framed glasses, conjures an art-house Gretel. “If I had used a regular camera I would have had 36 exposures per minute, much faster and easier than using the old Polaroid camera which takes a long time to shoot one frame. Also, sometimes it doesn’t shoot at the exact moment you think it’s going to—but that’s really great because then you miss the perfect moment…and often those are the best shots.” Individually, the Polaroid photographs that comprise 29 PALMS, CA stand alone, but together and in sequence, filmed with super 8 and 16mm film stock and overlaid with poetic voice-over monologues, they create a dynamic kaleidoscope of words and pictures, a dreamy tale that channels Terrence Malick. Gus Van Sant, and pages torn from a lonely girl’s journal. The idea to shoot a movie in this way came about in 2004 when Schneider was working with leading German director Mark Forster (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland, Quantum of Solace) on his film Stay. She had met Forster at director Wim Wender’s birthday party in Hollywood. A few years later, Forster asked Schneider to shoot Polaroids of scenes from Stay as he filmed; he used those photographs for dream and memory sequences in the movie. For the first time, Schneider saw her Polaroids strung together in sequence, moving with rhythm like a flipbook, in the context of a story. When Forster urged her to consider making a feature film using that technique, the seed of 29 PALMS, CA was sown. She mentioned the idea to her good friend German actor Udo Kier, who also gave the idea a big thumbs up, and agreed to play the part of a mysterious shaman in the film. Thanks to her strong reputation in the art world and her Hollywood connections, getting talented people on board was the easy part (for a while, Charlotte Gainsbourg was pegged to play the starring role, although she pulled out two weeks before shooting commenced because she was pregnant and not fit to travel to the desert.) The hard part was finding the perfect trailer—and bringing it to the desert. “This trailer almost killed us,” says Schneider’s partner Lance Waterman, who lives and works with Schneider in Morongo Valley. After finding it on eBay, the couple drove to Utah to pick it up, the plan being to tow it all the way back to the high desert themselves. Bad idea. “We were driving down a hill with this enormous trailer behind us when we realized that if we wanted to stop, there would be no way to do so without the trailer crushing us,” says Waterman. Adds Schneider: “Lance was even giving me instructions on how to jump out of the truck if we needed to.” Thankfully the road leveled and as soon as they were able to slow down and pull over, they called a professional towing company, which transported the trailer the remaining distance to Morongo Valley. Filming took place in Spring 2011 and 2012. Schneider recently submitted the film to major film festivals in Europe and the US, and it will be broadcast in 2013 by leading German television channel, Arte. While Schneider may come from a long tradition of photographers-turned-filmmakers—Stanley Kubrick started out as a photographer, as did Ken Russell (Tommy, Women in Love) and Larry Clark, who was a controversial fine art photographer before directing smash hit Kids—she does not see her future in Hollywood, directing blockbusters. Not necessarily. “I don’t think I want to make more films,” she says. “The actors were saying they would love to work with me again, and were asking if I would like to make other movies. But being on movie sets is far too stressful, and at least with this, I was in complete power of what was going on creatively. That said, if this gets a lot of acclaims…we can always think again. One should never say never.” Film features original soundtrack with songs by Adam Weiss, Daisy McCrackin, Billy Harvey, Sophie Huber, Zoe Bicat, Max Sharam, Cheyenne Randall...

Cardiz Valley (Stranger than Paradise) - 1999 Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs, 50x49cm. Archival C-Print, on Archive Fuji Chrystal Paper, based on the Polaroid. Artist invento...

Palm Springs Palm Trees XI (Californication) - 2019 40x40cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory Number 22...

Untitled 06 (Saigon) - 2003 Edition of 5, plus 2 Artist Proofs. 58x56cm. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on the Polaroid. Artist inventory Number 474. Not mou...

Playing in Heaven (Zuma Beach) - 2004 29x28cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory #2...

Life on Mars (My Desert Living Project) - Hatching Edition of 10, 40x30cm, Archival C-Print. Artist inventory E007. Signature label and Certificate. Not mounted. Life on Mars ...

Untitled (Olancha) - 2006, 38x37cm. Edition of 5, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and Certificate. Arti...

Life on Mars - 2022 - Hatching Edition of 10, 40x30cm, Archival C-Print. Artist inventory E006. Signature label and Certificate. Not mounted. 'Life on Mars' series is part of ...

Dodgers Stadium, Echo Park (Stranger than Paradise) - 1999 50x48cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid, Certificate and Signature label....

American Pie (Oxana's 30th Birthday) - 2007, from the 29 Palms, CA project - 78x76cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature lab...

Fabien I (The Last Picture Show) 2005 - 38x36cm, Edition 3/5. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Archive Fuji Crystal Paper, based on an original Polaroid. Certificate...

A Dream Play (Strange Love) - 2005 20x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and certificate. Artist Inventory No. 612...

Guns ´n Roses (Sidewinder), diptych - 2005, 98x97cm each, 100x200cm installed, Edition 1/5. 2 analog C-Prints, printed on Fuji Crystal Archive paper (matte), hand-printed by th...

Revisions. (Deconstructivism) - 2020 - about the narrative potential of images. 20x24cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid, Artist Inventory 15714. Signatur...

Springtime (Suburbia) - 2004 50x50cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print based on the Polaroid, Signed on verso with Certificate, Artist inventory number: 18251. Not mounted. Thi...

Felix and Dominique (California Blue Screen) - 1997 44x59cm, sold out Edition of 5, Artist Proof 1/2. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on the Polaroid. Artist In...

The Games we played (Till Death do us Part) - 2005 20x20cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 artist proofs. Archival C-Print print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label, a...

The Mountain (Stranger than Paradise) - 2003 57x56cm, Edition 4/5. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, based on the Polaroid. Artist invento...

'Salton Baptistes' (California Badlands) - 2010 50x60cm, Edition of 5. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the Artist, based on the Polaroid. Mounted on 3mm Aluminum with matte UV-Pro...

Hemispheres Away (The Girl behind the White Picket Fence) - 2013 75x93cm, Edition 1/5, analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature...

Closer (Sidewinder) - 2005 Including Stefanie Schneider's new monograph "A Half Forgotten Dream" signed. 192 pages, hardcover, published by Snap Collective, 2024. 100x60cm includin...

Dreamgirl II (29 Palms, CA) - 1999 Edition 2/10, 58x56cm. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on the Polaroid. Mounted on Aluminum with matte UV-Protection. Signe...

Stefanie Schneider's Minis American Pie (Oxana's 30th Birthday), 2008 featuring Radha Mitchell Signed and signature brand on verso. Lambda digital Color Photographs based on a Polar...

Untitled (Traintracks) - The Last Picture Show - 2004 38x37cm. Edition of 5, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and Certificate. Arti...

Fall (The Last Picture Show) - 2006, 50x49cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inv...

'Jane's Place' 29 Palms, CA, Edition 1/5, analog C-Print on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, 70x80cm Mounted on Aluminum, hand-printed by the artist, enlarged from a Polaroid. THE GRE...

Boccia VIII (Beachshoot) - 2005 30,7x30cm, sold out Edition of 68, Artist Proof 4/5 Lambda Print, based on a Polaroid Certificate and Signature label, artist Inventory # 1467. Not...

Palm Springs Palm Trees (Californication) - 2023 50x49cm. Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist I...

Tralfamadorians (Ensign Broderick record Shoot 'Blood Crush') - Bombay Beach, CA - 2019 20x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signat...

Jules and Jim (Renée’s Dream) - 2007 including Stefanie Schneider's new monograph "A Half Forgotten Dream" signed. 192 pages, hardcover, published by Snap Collective, 2024. 80x78c...

Kelly (Beachshoot) - 2005 80x80cm, Edition 3/5, analog C-Print, hand-Printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, matte finish, based on a Polaroid. Certificate and signatu...

Jane Bond I (Heavenly Falls) - 2016 20x20cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print based on the Polaroid Certificate and signature label, Artist inventory number: 19502. Not mounted. ...

Ancient Bridge Views III (Stay) - 2006 20x20cm, Edition of 5 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory No. 2490. Not mounted. Torsten Scheid, “Fotografie, Kunst, Kino. Revisited.”, FilmDienst 3/2006, page 11-13

 Photography Art Cinema. Revisited Stay expands a traditional connection through new facets Interwoven between the media of photography and film is a veritable mesh-work of technical, motific, metaphorical and personal interrelationships. Extending from photo-film which, as in La Jetée by Chris Marker (France, 1962) is a montage of single, unmoving photographs all the way to the portrayal of photographic motifs in Hollywood cinema―most recently in Memento (USA, 2000) and One hour photo (USA, 2002)―is the range of filmic-photographic interactions on the one hand, and from the adaption of modes of cinematic production to the imitation of film stills on the other. For instance, with the legendary Untitled Film Stills (1978) of the American artist Cindy Sherman, who later made her debut as a film director with Office Killer (USA, 1997) and thereby, like many others, changed sides: Wim Wenders, Robert Frank and Larry Clark are doubtlessly the most successful of these photographic-filmic border crossers. This brief survey provides only a vague indication of the dimensions of this intermedial field, which in fact extends much further and is constantly being cultivated. Also as a motif in film, photography has experienced a historical transformation: Photographers were once considered to be technicians who mastered a craft but never achieved the status of artists. Photographer-figures were caught in the allure of beautiful appearance, incapable of penetrating to the actual essence of things. Such depth was reserved for literature or painting. When photography in film touched upon the sphere of art, then most often as its contrasting model, as the metaphor for a superficial access to the world. Coming to mind are Fred Astaire as a singing fashion photographer in Stanley Donen’s musical film Funny Face (USA, 1957), or the restless lifestyle-photographer in Michelangelo Antonioni’s genre-classic Blow up (GB, 1966). For the doubting Thomas, only that exists which can be photographed. He ultimately enters the world of fantasy and thereby the field of art only unwillingly, when he becomes entangled in the world of his images. The last of his detail-enlargements shows only the photographic grain and has lost all connection to reality. The photograph looks as if it had been painted by Bill, the painter who is both friend and antagonist to the protagonist.

 Photography as Art It was first around the end of the last century that numerous filmmakers discovered photography as a genuine art form. In The Bridges of Madison County (USA, 1995) a sensitive Clint Eastwood stands, camera in hand, on the threshold of artistic status, and in Smoke (USA, 1994) a tobacco merchant ripens into a philosopher through his involvement in photography. Finally, in John Water’s parody of the art market, Pecker (USA, 1998), a provincial tom-fool is hyped into celebrated stardom amid the New York art scene because of his blurred snapshots. This film about a postmodern Kaspar Hauser in photographic art (with clear parallels to Richard Billingham, the British shooting...

Mad Max (29 Palms, CA) - 1999 20x20cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid, Signature label and Certificate. Artist inventory Number 18...

Rapscallion (Stage of Consciousness) - 2007 20x24cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and signature label. Artist Invento...

'A Room with a View' (Strange Love) - 2010 20x20cm, Edition of 5, Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid, signature label and certificate, arti...

Revelation (Stage of Consciousness) - 2007, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs.
 Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid.
 Signature label and Certificate.
 Artist Inv...

Stefanie Schneider's Mini Her Eyes, the Color of the Sky (Till Death Do Us Part) - 2005 featuring Daisy McCrackin signed in front, not mounted. Digital Color Photographs based on a...

Fairytales (dyptych) - 2006 Edition of 30, 38x36cm each, 38x85cm installed, including gaps. 2 Archival Prints based on 2 Polaroids. Signature label and Certificate. Artist Inv...

Afternoon Drifter (The Last Picture Show) - 2006 20x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Artist inventory number: 1012. S...

Dusk (Deconstructivism) - 2015 - about the narrative potential of images. 40x48cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Signatur...

'Penelope' from the movie Immaculate Springs - 1998 Edition of 10, 20x30cm, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature Label and Certificate. Artis...

Soraya, the Foreign Princess (The Princess and Her Lover) - 2009 Including Stefanie Schneider's new monograph "A Half Forgotten Dream" signed. 192 pages, hardcover, published by Sna...

Bates Motel III (The Last Picture Show) - 2005, 38x36cm, Edition 2/5. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, matte finish, based on the origin...

Just the Way You Are (Till Death Do Us Part) - 2005, 38x37cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artis...

Stevie’s New Dress (Sidewinder) - 2005 including Stefanie Schneider's new monograph "A Half Forgotten Dream" signed. 192 pages, hardcover, published by Snap Collective, 2024. 20x2...

Romeo (Haley and the Birds) - 2013 50x49cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory # 176...

Time stands still (Chicks and Chicks and sometimes Cocks) - 2017 50x50cm, Edition of 2/10. Archival C-Print, mounted under matte Plexi, based on the Polaroid. Signed on verso wit...