The fascination with Wagner’s Ring is clearly universal and has produced countless interpretations, some quite profound and others... well, less so. Otto Schenk chose not to create yet one more “high-concept” version, but to tell the story as Wagner envisioned it. By both evoking timelessness and remaining faithful to the libretto, Schenk has allowed us to create a world as complex or as simple as we choose, which is certainly part of this production’s great appeal. As a photographer, my choice was to follow Schenk’s lead and to concentrate on the story’s dramatic power, to focus on the actors, and to respond emotionally to the music. It was about the human experience; Wotan and Brünnhilde were real to me, and their epic saga of love, power, and suffering is deeply compelling.