It was in the offices of the Bild, one of the most-read newspapers in Germany, that Kiki Kausch met such celebrities as Justin Timberlake, Matthew McConnaughey, Cameron Diaz and Kevin Costner. However, she gave them far shorter shrift than they were used to from photographers.

"Sorry, I only have three minutes for you," Kausch would say to each of the stars. Often, her subjects would laugh, as normally it would be them hurrying the photographer.

Berlin-based photographer Kiki Kausch Photos: Courtesy of the photographer

It is the fruits of these sessions that make up Kausch's photo series 3 Minutes with… .

The project was supported by Kai Diekmann, editor-in-chief of the Bild. It was in Diekmann's office that the photo sessions took place, with no special lighting for the shoots. During the three minutes, rather than hurry her subjects, Kausch talked with them to get them to relax, occasionally snapping pictures. Sometimes she would end up with as few as eight shots.

Every celebrity who took part was satisfied with the outcome. Kevin Costner even asked her to send him an invitation to her exhibition.

The pieces showcase Kausch's talent for bringing out the unguarded sides of the stars.

The series, along with other works by Kausch, is currently on display at the Four Seasons Hotel Pudong.

Each piece in the series is presented in the form of triptych. In 3 Minutes with Justin Timberlake (pictured above), the first photo sees the singer peaking through his hand; in the second he has his face buried in his hands; and in the third he rests his hands on his thigh while bending forward and looking directly into the camera.

"It's like a short movie," said Kausch, describing the process of selecting and arranging photos in a triptych. "I have both opportunity and pressure to create a story."

Although Kausch seldom uses photo processing software to manipulate her images, in the Timberlake sequence she highlighted the heart line of his right hand in the first photo as a nod to his status as an international heartthrob.

Life in another way

Kausch told the Global Times that it is a challenge showing these celebrities in a way that differs from the thousands of pictures we've seen of them before.

She left her job as a TV journalist in Berlin 10 years ago to become an independent photographer. One of her first celebrity subjects was fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, whom she snapped several photos of during a chance encounter on a street in New York. It was 2005, and Kausch was still working at the TV station. Out of this came the piece Man at Work, which was later included in an exhibition put on by the world-famous fashion designer.

Kausch does not limit herself to celebrity subjects. Five years ago she created her Follow the Red Bag series, featuring the red bag that she takes with her on her world travels.

"I give my red bag a parallel life, because we are both traveling, we both have our impressions and see what we hear and what we feel, so we share experiences," said the photographer, who is planning to make the 50th work in the series in Mauritius later.

She also shares her travel experiences in another series named Sunday in… , in which she captures people around the world on Sundays. Sometimes it's a quiet street, and sometimes it may be just a portrait of a person she met.

Female fliers

In 2013, with the support of Lufthansa Airlines, Kausch - who is a nervous flyer - photographed two female pilots as they flew an A380 from Frankfurt to Singapore.

At the time, there were only 10 female A380 pilots in the Lufthansa fleet, making it a rarity that both pilot and co-pilot on any given flight would be female.

The piece A380 Female Cockpit (pictured above) captures the pilots as they fly above Afghanistan and the Hindu Kush range at sunrise.

"They were so cool, so ladylike, so elegant and so highly professional," recalled Kausch. "That was one of the most exciting things I did in my life, I really like these women. They have to know so many things, and they have to act in so many ways."

The experience also helped the photographer overcome her fear of flying.

For her next project, she will collaborate with the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation to photograph female hunters in Europe this summer.

"I'm not a fighting-for-our-rights person, but in our times, women's role has changed a lot," said Kausch, who for a time put her career on the back burner after having her daughter 19 years ago. "Now it is possible for women to go the way they choose, and no longer follow a path chosen for them by men."