BIOGRAPHY

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

MUSIC:

Roughly at the same time my cello studies from early childhood began to bear fruits and I became a 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 my 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. One year later I moved on to Denmark, where I worked in various orchestras on different chairs.

TRANSITION:

Illness ended my ambitions on the cello and let me rethink my life. I quit the save haven of being an orchestra musician and decided to catch up with what I had missed.

After working as a webdesigner for a while (have a look here) which satisfied my childlike backlog demand for 'playing' with technology, I began to follow my need for photography again and picked up my cameras.

FASCINATION:

Today photography gives me the same sense of delight and sensation as it did on the first day. Photography implies concentration and an awareness of the moment that are similar to playing an instrument! When you master the instrument and manage to let go, moments of truth and authenticity may happen.

PORTRAIT:

Portrait photography means interaction between the photographer and the sitter. Everything is possible. It is a constant challenge to free the mind and see.

ANALOGUE:

The digital revolution has by now superseded traditional photography. My love for the analogue film is originated in its haptic quality as well as the unmanipulated and authentic feel. The slower pace when photographing on film, adds a certain reflection and concentration, which digital imaging, with its possibility for instant evaluation, does not.

WORKFLOW:

Shooting on film and developing every roll by hand ensures the high quality I am striving after. The negatives are digitalized on a state-of-the-art Imacon/Hasselblad film scanner. Digital retouching in the postproduction process is strictly restricted to conventional darkroom techniques.

The analogue - digital workflow combines the best of both worlds.