BEGINNINGS:

When I received my father's Weltaflex (an east-german Rolleiflex-copy from 1959) at the age of 15, I was hooked: The twin-eyed camera let me see the world mirror-inverted and forced me to see consciously. I spent weeks looking on the groundglass of this miraculous little box.

MUSIC:

Roughly at the same time my cello studies from early childhood started to bear fruits and I became member of a string quartet. 4 years of intensive work in that group was going to direct my future. After passing A-levels in Highschool, I took up studies in Berlin with cellists Wolfgang Boettcher, Markus Nyikos and with >>Ralph Kirshbaum in Manchester. I received grants from the prestigious 'Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes' and the DAAD.
At the age of 25 I found myself being solo-cellist at the Gothenburg Opera house. A severe lack of social skills however forced me to move on and brought me to Denmark, where I worked in various orchestras on different chairs.

TRANSITION:

Illness struck and forced me to rethink my life. I quit the save haven of being an orchestra musician and chose to catch up with what I had missed in my life, or at least thought I had missed.

I started to work as a webdesigner (have a look >>here) which satisfied my childlike backlog demand for 'playing' with technology. The computer, its creative software and digital workflow became my tools and I learned them inside out.

Soon, I felt the need to return to photography and pick up the camera again.

WHY?

When I release the shutter of a camera, I have a sense of delight and excitement like on the first day. It implies concentration and awareness that makes me feel alive. (Not so different from playing the cello really!)
Whenever the work results in a photograph of timeless quality that keeps the viewer watch a little longer, I am rewarded.

WORKING STYLE:

The digital revolution has by now superseded traditional photography. However the haptic quality of film, as well as the unmanipulated and authentic feel has maintained its own quality. The slower pace of photographing on film adds a certain concentration and reflection, which digital imaging, with its ever-tempting instant evaluation, does not provide in the same way.

I continue to shoot on film and process every roll myself in order to ensure the highest quality. The photographs are thereafter digitalized in the digital studio on a state-of-the-art Imacon/Hasselblad film scanner. Digital retouching in the postproduction process is restricted to conventional darkroom techniques.
The hybrid way combines the best from both, analogue and digital worlds.