as a musician. Then, as my visits in Romania were repeated year after year, the gypsies also slid more and more back into the focus of my interest – this time as a photographer. I have to admit, that my process of coming closer and being accepted by them was not free of fear and prejudices, on both sides I guess. For me this was - and still is - an opportunity for personal growth, because you have to face and surrender to this situation if you want to capture portraits with a certain amount of truth in them. It's my conviction that it is not possible to take good portraits from "outside" - of course occasional exceptions are possible.
As the years went by I developed my own way to cross the frontier that always lies between me, the traveler passing by, and the inhabitants of a gypsy community. This border is made of shyness and distrust against Gadje (the word used for non-gypsy people in their language). This is necessary for them and easy to understand if one knows about the hate, prejudices and rejection that gypsies frequently have to experience in contact with their Gadje neighbors.
As I visit some of the Roma villages again and again each year, I see children