Fabian Bimmer

Fabian Bimmer

Based
Hamburg, Germany
Born
Marburg, Germany
Status
Photographer
“The assignments that excite me most are covering people who are standing up for their rights or trying to change something.”

Beat

I cover politics, sports and economics.

One Shot

. SALZGITTER, Germany. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer
A steel worker is pictured at a plant belonging to German steel company Salzgitter AG in Salzgitter, Lower Saxony.
“I have covered lots of assignments about German industry, and I understand how big and important it is, and how many jobs depend on it. I like this picture of a simple man, working in a dark and hot place more than a picture of a smiling CEO with an annual 18 million Euro fee. He and his daily work are the first step in a long production process, which is so vital for Germany.”

Profile

My earliest memory of photography is a dark bathroom and the smell of black and white developer, when my father developed his films and prints every weekend.

I learnt photography from my dad during my schooldays. After I finished school I started working as a photographer immediately, through good and bad times.

My first assignment for a news agency was the funeral of former German Chancellor Willy Brandt at a Berlin cemetery in 1992. Having set up a giant tripod for the agency, I left the official press position and found another spot between some trees. I was alone and from where I was standing, I was able to photograph the coffin with Brandt’s widow behind it. The experience taught me that there is never just one angle to shoot a story from. The picture was widely published, and that was the start of my agency career.

The event that left the biggest mark on me wasn’t an assignment; it was a dinner with former AP photographer and editor Horst Faas. Horst got a lifetime award from a German photography association, and had invited some of his photo and TV colleagues for dinner. After the ceremony, we sat at a table, and those from the Vietnam War started telling stories. I was very impressed by them, including Horst’s story about how he had edited the photo of the young naked girl running on a street in Vietnam after a napalm attack.

The assignments that excite me most are covering people who are standing up for their rights or trying to change something. I think these stories are the main task for photojournalists in these times.

When I take pictures I report seriously. That’s my task. As an agency you have a real duty to stick to your journalistic ethics. You have to remember your honour as a journalist, and that you are primarily there to observe.

Behind the Scenes

. Hamburg, Germany
Reuters photographer Fabian Bimmer poses with his camera during coverage of liver surgery completed with the support of a tablet computer, one of the first surgeries of its kind in Germany.