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It was with great interest that I read about your search for fellow photographers that simply love black and white, so here I am! My Name is , I’m a 27 year old based People-Photographer based in Duesseldorf, Germany. After transitioning from hobbyist to full time professional about two years ago I rapidly developed my style from what was more point and shoot to actually thinking about what I’m photographing and more importantly how I’m photographing it.

For my biggest and defining moment I would probably consider losing the fear of studio-flash which greatly helped me in the work on my contrasty style, while I never fully abandoned available light because of its more personal and intimate characteristics. Career-wise my biggest moments would be considered to be shooting advertising campaigns for major fashion labels, even when one of these resulted in the label skipping out on the bill which led to major bump in the road; but in the long run helped me learn about business-behavior and how to handle a crisis.

My creative vision is to just do me, create stuff like I envision it. Even though I’m very open to input on set or during shootings I often really need to do things my way. Photography, like any visual art form is a platform where everybody can offer his own perspective on the world and the people in it, so I think it is very important to really focus on your own style.

My creative influences are widely ranged from the great photographers like Lindbergh, Avedon, Demarchelier, over literature like Paulo Coelho and Charles Bukowski right over to the cinematic world. I’m a great supporter of the claim that what we consume evidently helps to create what we are and is an undeniable influence.

Why is black and white photography important to you?

It greatly helps me to improve on what’s important in an image. Many images nowadays live only from bokeh and rich colors, without actually having any content or message in it. Even though I don’t shoot black and white exclusively I quickly learned that black and white enables me to get more personal with my subject and focus on the main element of my works.

What inspires you to create photographs?

The fact of what I create in my imagination translates to real life. Even though I paint my own backdrops and try to be very aware of lighting conditions, I often allow some factors into the image that aren’t controlled. This enables me to improvise and develop a shoot from where it started in my imagination to something I haven’t thought of before.

Why is black and white photography so important to our future in the art world?

Because it not only helps the artist to focus on the images main elements, it also helps the viewer see what is important. Only if we can guide our viewers to what we want to tell and express we can actually gain any interest in our works.