My first memory of photography? When my father took me to his darkroom and I developed my first photo in black and white. I also remember taking lots of pictures of my sister grimacing with my father’s Robot camera.
I started taking pictures when I was a child and I never stopped. In 1989 I began working for a sports photo agency. I worked 80 to 100 hours a week and travelled a lot to big sporting events.
My first assignment was a Bundesliga soccer match between Dusseldorf and Stuttgart. I didn’t understand much about soccer and, at one point, I started wondering why all the photographers were running behind the goal. It was a penalty. I missed it. After that I decided to learn more about the sport.
The visit that Barack Obama and Angela Merkel made to Buchenwald concentration camp left a big mark on me. Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel, who survived Auschwitz and also Buchenwald, gave a speech. I was so impressed by him, tears were running down my face. In spite of his past, he looked to the future with so much grace and tolerance. I thought everybody should learn from people like him.
I love soccer with all its surprises and emotions. But I also like stories and assignments where I can find my own style of taking photos and let my imagination run wild.
I always hope to show the people in my pictures just as they really are, and I hope my audience understands what I mean.
I love my job. My hobby became my profession, and there are not many people who can say that.
