Max Merz grew up in the Bavarian town of Füssen. Most people know Füssen as the quaint little village they drive through on their way to Neuschwanstein Castle, the place Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Castle was based on and one of Germany’s favorite tourist traps. Apparently living next to a fairytale wasn’t enough to hold Max's interest, so he moved to Berlin in 2008 where he spent 18 months working for film luminary Ralf Schmerberg. Recently, he sent us a bunch of photos from his personal projects, like the Morgue Maestros shoot from our Photo Issue.VICE: Hey Max, can you tell me how you got in touch with the brothers?
Max Merz: A friend of mine from Vilnius introduced us. He was a childhood friend of the brothers.Were they hesitant to let you take pictures of them?
They were really into it from the start, but their boss was a little reserved. He made rules about what I was and wasn’t allowed to photograph, which I ignored. After two or three days he stopped caring anyway. The brothers didn’t speak any English, so he translated a lot for me. I really wanted them to pretend like I wasn’t there, which they did.What was it like seeing all of those dead people?
I was thrown straight into the deep end. I was hanging out at my friend’s house when they called us. I thought we would meet them and set up a date and stuff, but no, they were like, “We’re getting a corpse now and you have three hours to take pictures.”When I first got there I had to go outside after five minutes. Then I flipped the switch and just imagined they were dolls. I was mainly afraid that my three hours would be up too soon and I would miss something. I’ll never forget that moment when they unzipped the bag and I saw an old woman inside. I knew I had to start shooting right then. There was no time to prepare.
Did the place smell all weird?
Surprisingly there were almost no “dead” smells. The stuff they pumped into the bodies smelled like some kind of cleaning agent. Fortunately, the corpses are stored at minus 20 degrees Celsius, so they don’t really have a scent. The worst was the sounds, like when they straightened out the fingers there was a crunching sound, almost like a brittle branch slowly breaking off.What was the best thing that happened while you were hanging out with the guys?.
When they were cleaning the place on a Saturday they knocked over one of the trashcans and an empty vodka bottle rolled out. Everyone was silent as we watched the bottle roll loudly across the tile floor until it stopped. Then everyone broke out in laughter. You could tell by the way they laughed that they weren’t embarrassed about drinking on the job, and that was really cool.OK, and the most shocking thing?
That would definitely be when Remigijus showed me ALL the corpses. The things I saw really expanded my imagination. There were burned, beaten, suffocated, stabbed, and mutilated corpses. That was the night after the guys made me drink vodka with them. My stomach turned for a second. Thankfully, my worst fear didn’t come true—I was terrified of seeing dead children. I’m not sure if hiding behind my camera would have been enough.
Do you think they dig their profession?
Remigijus, the older one, has been doing it for a while and he really loves his job. They went through long periods of unemployment before they found this job. Remigijus just walked in one day and asked Danas (the boss) if he could do anything for him. According to Danas, he’s one of the best embalmers in the country now. When his brother started, Remigijus taught him everything he knew. They’re a great team. The only thing they dislike about their job is the paperwork.Why did you shoot these photos in black and white?
Because it reduces the picture to its essence and supports the morbid character of the series—death, black metal music, and black clothing. It’s just made for black and white.BARBARA DABROWSKA
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Max Merz: A friend of mine from Vilnius introduced us. He was a childhood friend of the brothers.Were they hesitant to let you take pictures of them?
They were really into it from the start, but their boss was a little reserved. He made rules about what I was and wasn’t allowed to photograph, which I ignored. After two or three days he stopped caring anyway. The brothers didn’t speak any English, so he translated a lot for me. I really wanted them to pretend like I wasn’t there, which they did.What was it like seeing all of those dead people?
I was thrown straight into the deep end. I was hanging out at my friend’s house when they called us. I thought we would meet them and set up a date and stuff, but no, they were like, “We’re getting a corpse now and you have three hours to take pictures.”When I first got there I had to go outside after five minutes. Then I flipped the switch and just imagined they were dolls. I was mainly afraid that my three hours would be up too soon and I would miss something. I’ll never forget that moment when they unzipped the bag and I saw an old woman inside. I knew I had to start shooting right then. There was no time to prepare.
Surprisingly there were almost no “dead” smells. The stuff they pumped into the bodies smelled like some kind of cleaning agent. Fortunately, the corpses are stored at minus 20 degrees Celsius, so they don’t really have a scent. The worst was the sounds, like when they straightened out the fingers there was a crunching sound, almost like a brittle branch slowly breaking off.
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When they were cleaning the place on a Saturday they knocked over one of the trashcans and an empty vodka bottle rolled out. Everyone was silent as we watched the bottle roll loudly across the tile floor until it stopped. Then everyone broke out in laughter. You could tell by the way they laughed that they weren’t embarrassed about drinking on the job, and that was really cool.OK, and the most shocking thing?
That would definitely be when Remigijus showed me ALL the corpses. The things I saw really expanded my imagination. There were burned, beaten, suffocated, stabbed, and mutilated corpses. That was the night after the guys made me drink vodka with them. My stomach turned for a second. Thankfully, my worst fear didn’t come true—I was terrified of seeing dead children. I’m not sure if hiding behind my camera would have been enough.
Remigijus, the older one, has been doing it for a while and he really loves his job. They went through long periods of unemployment before they found this job. Remigijus just walked in one day and asked Danas (the boss) if he could do anything for him. According to Danas, he’s one of the best embalmers in the country now. When his brother started, Remigijus taught him everything he knew. They’re a great team. The only thing they dislike about their job is the paperwork.Why did you shoot these photos in black and white?
Because it reduces the picture to its essence and supports the morbid character of the series—death, black metal music, and black clothing. It’s just made for black and white.BARBARA DABROWSKA