After working as a film cameraman for nearly a decade, in 1928 Lerski was preparing to return to portrait photography. Now he was interested in depicting artists, intellectuals, and very important persons from cultural and political spheres. Between 1929 and 1931 his images appeared in 'Vogue', 'Die Dame', 'die neue linie', 'Scherl's Magazine', 'Sport I'm Bild', and 'Die Weite Welt'. After a twelve year hiatus, the photographer managed once again to gain public recognition extremely quickly.

During this period Lerski's studio (and living quarters) were frequented not only by celebrities, but also by unknown models. The unknowns were often unemployed workers, sent over by the unemployment office. Thus, he initiated his series 'Köpfe des Altags' (Everyday Faces).

With a cut-out, an optical close-up, he tried to capture the essence of a face: eyes, nose, mouth. However, it was not recognizable features, not the individual appearance of his models with interested Lerski, but rather the undefinable, the "inner structure", which he hoped to "illuminate and penetrate", by utilizing a technical medium, a materialist method of image making.