We are delighted to introduce Bennet Böckstiegel’s captivating series to you. Born in 2000 in Schwerte, Germany, Bennet is a Berlin-based photographer whose work encompasses documentary photography, portraits, and editorials. Since March 2023, he has been honing his craft at the Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie in Berlin, where he continues to deepen his creative and technical expertise. Many of Bennet’s works thoughtfully explore themes of sexuality and gender, inviting viewers to engage with the deeper nuances of human experience.
Within his series, he captures the essence of Sitges, an enchanting coastal town that defies the conventional norms of Spanish coastal living. Sitges is a celebration of hedonism, a place where pleasure is embraced as a way of life. Through his lens, Bennet reveals the unique essence of this queer microcosm, highlighting the connections formed between individuals in a space that encourages authenticity and vulnerability. His photographs serve as a tender exploration of the interwoven themes of intimacy, romance, and the longing for belonging, transporting us to a world where freedom and expression flourish.
bennetboeckstiegel.com, IG: @bennetbockstiegel
“Sitges is different. It’s not your typical Spanish coastal town; it’s a place that feels like a promise. A place of hedonism, not just loud and flashy, but quiet, as an attitude, as a way of life. Hedonism: the pursuit of pleasure, sensuality, freedom. Perhaps that’s exactly what Sitges is all about, a town that doesn’t condemn pleasure, but celebrates it. A myth, a refuge, a queer microcosm where different rules apply. A life without shame, without fear, without the constant need to conform.
This town by the sea is located about 35 kilometres from Barcelona. The narrow streets of the old city, through which a salty, warm air blows, voices intertwine with music. And in summer, men, everywhere. Since the 1960s, Sitges has attracted them like a magnet that collects desires. Today, it is considered one of the most famous gay destinations in Europe. But it’s not just about vacationing here. It’s about bodies, about closeness, about visibility. Nudity is not taboo, but a matter of course. You can show yourself, desire, lose yourself, without the scrutinising gaze of the norm. This lightness is rare. This freedom is a state that many have long forgotten.
In Sitges, you don’t have to belong. No scene, no dress code, no ideal. A silent agreement: everyone is equal. Perhaps that’s what makes this place so special. Sitges keeps a promise that many cities only hint at. A place to let go. A place where rules become blurred, where affection becomes natural. A space where you can be gay without talking about it. And yet Sitges is also excess: intoxication, bodies, parties, sex. Here, people forget who they are and remember it at the same time. On beaches like Platja del Home Mort or Platja del Balmins, in the cruising forest, in the vibrant bars at night, everywhere the same story: of lust, of freedom, of the happiness of not having to hide.
But for me, Sitges was always romantic. Perhaps naively romantic. Again and again, I tried to see the city as many see it: alcohol, partying, sex, cocks. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t part of it. And yet it was never what really interested me. I was drawn to something else: the connections between men that I saw forming, growing.
I spoke to many men who told me how they had sex with lots of other men in just a few days. They quickly realised that I was looking for something else. I often asked myself what exactly I was looking for. What I saw in their faces, what my mission was beyond photography. I was there four times in one year, and each time it was different and yet the same. Different faces, different bodies, different stories. And yet the same longing: for closeness, for authenticity, for love.
I saw myself in them. We shared the same hunger for belonging, for a place where you can just be. A different kind of closeness developed between us, not physical, but emotional. A quiet trust between strangers.
My gaze on the men was never sexual. It was romantic, vulnerable, open. In Sitges, I often fell in love, not only with people, but sometimes with moments, with glances, with conversations, with a laugh that lingered. This place softened me. It showed me a side of myself that I hardly knew in Berlin. While others lost themselves in the excesses of the night, I found myself. And yet, after every trip, a trace of heartbreak remained. Perhaps because Sitges reminded me of something I was looking for but could never quite grasp.
Since February 2023, I’ve been studying at the Ostkreuz School of Photography in Berlin. Recent exhibitions include contributions to the European Month of Photography in Berlin, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Foto Wien, and the Gaze Pride Awards. My work has appeared in Tax Magazine (Issues 5 and 6) and UND-Heft. In May 2025, I presented a solo talk within the monthly queer format “Mannsbilder” at Sankt Studio in Berlin.
My photographic practice explores queer identity from the perspective of a gay man and focuses on those layers of masculinity that often remain invisible in public perception of being a gay man: romance, vulnerability, melancholy, tenderness and the need for genuine connection beyond sexual projections.
In my work, I am less interested in the spectacle of desire than in the quiet spaces where closeness arises – moments when bodies, glances and moods form a web of intimacy that is neither erotic nor innocent, but something in between.
My photography is not a voyeuristic gaze at men, but a dialogical one. I approach them with openness and a willingness to reveal myself. This attitude creates a kind of emotional closeness that carries my images: quiet, romantic, sometimes naive, always truthful.
Ultimately, my work revolves around the same question: how do we see ourselves, and how could we see ourselves if shame, role models and expectations fell away? I photograph to capture those moments when queer life doesn’t need to be explained, but is simply allowed to happen.”
