What do you do when you meet a master?  Whenever you meet someone for the first time who has had a profound impact on your world view it is an experience that can be filled with "expectations"....but expectations often lead to disappointment.  I approached the meeting with LAPP-pro consciously supplanting expectations with intrigue.  After our visit we had a familiarity and friendship, but the intrigue was increased "ten fold". 
 

      When I saw Janleo and Joerg I saw a twinkle in their eyes.  I saw an electricity and humor.  I felt power and strength.  After a few words exchanged I knew they understood why we were there, what we needed to do, and how they intended to make it all happen.  This gave me supreme confidence in them and the success of Luminary's visit with them.  Needless to say I was not disappointed and neither will you.

      We were fortunate to have a lovely and talented translator at our side for our interview, her name is Nesrin and she is the wife of a dear friend of mine, Stefan,  who now happens to live in Haamburg with Nesrin. 

      If you have not already been to the LAPP website then I command you, before you read any farther, to spend 5 minutes looking at their images.  OK, now what I can tell you, that no one else knows yet, is that Janleo and Joerg have shit loads of fun during their LAPP sessions.  This was the main surprise I had during the visit with them.  Sure, everyone we visited until then was full of passion and exuberance, but Jan and Joerg took this to a whole new level.  The sheer joy of being engaged in the process was overwhelming.  Their energy is quite literally immeasurable.  Their spirit of teamwork is significant and based on a supreme respect for each other as well as the artistic process they perform so well. When their individual enthusiasm is combined in a team effort the power of their presence becomes an almost tangible force. 

     I, all of a sudden, knew their secret. 

     But their secret, even when known, is not co-optable.  Their secret is theirs regardless of our ability to see it.  Their secret is that they reach out emotionally, psychically, spiritually, intellectually and physically towards each other and towards an Objective.  They combine their efforts, minds and energies into a singular objective that shifts with each image taken over the night,  The objective is understood, stated and known from the outset and yet a new discovery in every moment.  They work with the nature of their tools, the nature of their surroundings, the essence of each other and picture after picture they listen to their camera, they listen to the pictures, they hear each others thoughts and then follow the trail towards their masterpiece like happy hounds hunting a golden egg laying goose. 

     If you have looked at their images by now then I'm sure you've had more than a few "holy shit" moments.  I am trying to describe to you where those "holy shit" moments come from.  They don't come from technical precision and mastery, although those are prerequisites, they come from all of the other intangibles.  Janleo and Joerg understand and truly "get" all the things that go into creation that are inexplicable. They recognize and value those experiences we can have together that stand outside of "reason" but at the same time are strictly guided by intellect while simultaneously being purely emotional.  This is the universal "yin yang"  the "ebb and flow" the "transcendence" that comes from cultivating both intellectual rigor and artistic/emotional awareness simultaneously; incorporating these two diametrically opposed human characteristics in a way that allows them to feed off of each other without ever crossing the boundary line of each one's "territory".... 

      These guys are hard to describe, impossible to quantify and a freakin' blast to be with.

      I should mention that some of their magic stems from these lights...I STRONGLY suggest, after seeing them in action, that you check out the LED-Lenser lights.  I'm no light expert, but after hearing Janleo and Joerg talk about the R&D they provide for LED-Lensor, seeing some of the pics they took in China while beta testing new LED-Lenser lights, and most importantly handling these lights myself I must say that they seem to be unparralelled in the world.  Seriuosly.

     Danke LAPP-pro!