I am a hobby photographer based in Southern Germany, working as a manager of two record labels for classical music. I started playing the piano at 5 and for twenty years that was my profession: I went to competitions (won some, lost others), played with the orchestra, went to masterclasses, shortly: all my time and energy went into the piano playing with few ressources left for something else. In 2002 I received a scholarship to continue my studies at the Music University of Stuttgart. And then, in 2006 I abruptly decided to give up the profession of piano playing entirely. Being in front of a public (or a jury) with only one chance to make things right put a pressure on me that had been difficult to deal with since the very beginning of my “career” and in time that pressure grew worse. It also became clear to me that I didn’t want to spend my entire life in a field, where just being good was not enough (though I did have colleagues who pursued a career by being less than good and who compensated through self-confidence and sense of purpose what they lacked in terms of talent) .
It took some two and half more years to find my way in a new profession (that of cultural management) which then brought with it what I previously haven’t had before in my entire life: free time to use it the way I chose. I invested that time in mountaineering and climbing with the aim to make photographic documentation of my mountain tours. At some point, photography got the upper hand…
Through climbing and mountaineering I met my husband and every since our son could sit, we took him on strenous hikes with bivvy nights in the alpine environment.
Publications:
Terra Quantum (Interview from February 2022)
LensWork – Our Magnificent Planet (2021)
International Landscape Photographer of the Year (2021) – Top 101
LensWork – Our Magnificent Planet (2020)