Ursula Sprecher & Andi Cortellini

Poodle Club © Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini

Ursula Sprecher & Andi Cortellini

BDSM Regular’s Table © Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini

People with shared interests have gathered to celebrate their hobbies for a long time now. Basel-based photographers Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini have expressed some of the most hilarious iterations of this pack-animal tendency with their series of staged portraits, HobbyBuddies, published by Kehrer Verlag.

Sprecher and Cortellini carefully staged each picture, choosing a specific number of club members to pose on a constructed set to portray an imagined reality of these hobbyist groups from the outsider’s perspective. So, the depiction of the St. Brandan Scout Section (seen above) doesn’t indicate that the members actually hide in the bushes during their meetings. Luckily for us, the photographers have derived this imagined reality from their own imaginings about the clubs, to striking and fantastic effect.

HobbyBuddies releases in the United States in November 2014. 

Ursula Sprecher & Andi Cortellini

Swiss Garrison (Serving the 501st Legion) © Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini

Ursula Sprecher & Andi Cortellini

Rubinia DJanes © Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini

Ursula Sprecher & Andi Cortellini

Butchers’ Friends Society © Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini

Ursula Sprecher & Andi Cortellini

Photo Club © Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini

Ursula Sprecher & Andi Cortellini

Dintefisch Diving Club © Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini

Ursula Sprecher & Andi Cortellini

Children’s Chess © Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini

Ursula Sprecher & Andi Cortellini

St. Brandan Scout Section © Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini

Ursula-Sprecher_and_Andi-Cortellini_01

Boardgames Club © Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini

Ursula-Sprecher_and_Andi-Cortellini_02

Camping and Caravanning Club © Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini

Ursula-Sprecher_and_Andi-Cortellini_03

Coffee Cream Lids Swap Meet © Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini

Ursula-Sprecher_and_Andi-Cortellini_04

Film Appreciation Group © Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini

Ursula-Sprecher_and_Andi-Cortellini_05

Friends of the Tattoo © Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini

Ursula-Sprecher_and_Andi-Cortellini_06

Santa Claus Group © Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini

Ursula-Sprecher_and_Andi-Cortellini_07

Tupperware party © Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini

Ursula-Sprecher_and_Andi-Cortellini_08

Warriors Cheerleaders © Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini