Martin Schoeller is well-known for his signature close-up portraits, but he’s an extremely diverse portrait photo rapher. Schoeller has kept his portfolio fresh over the years, adding new studio portraits, environmental portraits and subjects. He photographs both celebrities and non-celebrities with a creative eye, always pushing his ideas further. In an interview with Smithsonian.com from 2009, Schoeller was asked to identify his influences. He referenced German duo Bernhard and Hilla Becher, whose images of industrial structures were graphic and repetitive. Schoeller continued, “(Bernd and Hilla Becher) have always treated photography as accumulating as a collection of the same, allowing people to compare structures, buildings with each other. And very different places. And that always fascinated me, the idea of taking portraits, in my case, that allow comparison, treating different people from different walks of life and backgrounds all the same.”
Schoeller’s new 260-page book, “Portraits” (teNeues 2014), includes 150 color and black-and-white full-page portraits of political leaders, Hollywood actors, entrepreneurs and pop culture icons. The book is accompanied by exhibitions opening November 13 at Hasted Kraeutler in New York City and November 21 at CWC Gallery in Berlin.