PHOTOGRAPHER
To me, the beauty of photography lies in its marriage of creativity with being out hiking and experiencing the outdoors.
When I was a kid, my family would go on hikes in the forest almost every weekend. Around the age of 15, having become more aware of the wonders of nature, I started taking a camera along – first my father’s trusty old 1960 Praktica IV, soon my very own 1980 Praktica DTL3.
This, of course, mainly encompassed black and white photos processed in my own darkroom and 35mm color slides sent in to a lab. My work in these formats was displayed in numerous local and regional exhibits and shows.
Following my service as an army photographer and darkroom operator in the early eighties, I went on to instruct international college students in photography and black and white darkroom techniques.
While analog photography in and by itself has contributed greatly to my being both busy and happy during the past few decades, showing talented young folk the ropes has proven particularly rewarding for me more recently.
Nothing much really rivals seeing a good old Praktica or a trusty Pentacon Six in the hands of young people who know how to use them - rather than allowing those fine vintage cameras to become some hipsters' ridiculous fashion accessories or seeing them degraded by being turned into etsy lamps and calling it "upcycling".
From the onset, capturing the magnificence of my native area, the gorgeous Harz Mountains in the then German Democratic Republic, but also of places farther away from home, became my goal and inspiration.
Today I call two beautiful parts of this world home – one in central Germany and the other one in the U.S.
As often as I can, I try to be outdoors, rewarded by creating landscape photography in some truly unique places while also enjoying their lasting energizing effects.
My students have enjoyed learning more than just the basics of analog photography from me - hands on using some fine vintage PRAKTICA and PENTACON cameras. Contact me for more information.