Claiming that he was based in Germany’s inofficial media and arts capital would be both inaccurate and an offense to his closest friends who always complain that he is hardly ever there. Because he isn’t, and probably never will spend more than 2 nights in a row at what he calls “home”. While this lifestyle may occasionally upset his friends, it is beginning to benfit photography lovers around the
world as the whiz kid in everything visual arts has lately begun to devote himself to his camera and discovered what might finally be his true calling. His tireless thirst for life constantly drags him out on the road, onto cross atlantic trips to both coasts of the US as well as to every corner in Europe. Thanks to his never ending curiosity, an instinct for relevance, an exceptional sense for aesthetics which was developed and schooled throughout two decades spent in art direction, animation, set design, video production and flash programming, his excellent taste in everything “life” is now beginning to get successfully documented in pictures. Remarkably, Christian’s range extends significantly beyond photography that one would expect in the stereotypical travel log. In addition to being able to capture landscapes, cityscapes and buildings and inducing his very personal perspective, mood, perception and aethetic into his pictures, he excells in portrait and people photography, too. An astute and passionate music lover, Christian increasingly often turns to journalistic live concert photography. His intimate knowledge about and familiarity with artists such as Noel Gallagher, Elbow or Sleaford Mods allow him to capture the essence of the respective musicians and their work better than most other photographers can. The result oftentimes are images as loud, powerful, graceful and poetic as the music itself, if not even more so. In 2014, his second publication ever – a photo documentary of Burning Man 2014 in INTRO, Germany’s leading magazine for pop-culture and music – had approximately the same amount of views as an image series about the same event in the nation’s leading weekly news magazine. And while Christian never seemed to take any of his friends’ encouragement in regards to the pursuit of photography seriously, views and click rates seem to have finally done that very job and convinced him to do so. Thank you, Internet.
“Keep the pictures coming, keep working tirelessly and driven as you have, but spend more time with your friends, and occasionally even listen to them.” – these are the only pieces of advice I’d have for him. But he probably won’t even read this nor take it to heart since he’s too busy travelling and taking pictures. Nevermind, I’ll keep coming back here and have a look at what he’s been up to. It’s worth it.
- Jan Lemke, New York, January 2015 -