I met Sabine when she was sitting on the stairs next to my house. It took all my courage to ask her if I could take a picture. Before that evening I'd never thought to take pictures of anything involving prostitution.
As a woman living around the red light district in Berlin, hardly any of the sex workers on the street looked me in the eye. But the barrier that had always been there between me and that world, blew open through my encounter with Sabine.
I wasn't interested in capturing portraits of sex workers; it was more about showing the character of the district. Hoping to learn more, I ended up stepping into OLGA, a counseling center in the district for sex workers from the area.
The center has the atmosphere of a living room and offers all kinds of assistance for everyday life, such as beds, showers, and clean injecting equipment.
There's a strict 'No Men' policy that allows sex workers to take a break from the stress of the street. I started volunteering at OLGA one day a week and at the same time worked on a photo project with the women frequenting the shelter, where they were given cameras to show their reality in a new way.
