Castles

Photographs of castles in Germany and Austria (25 photographs):

I worked on the Castles photographs during two assignments. For the first assignment, I photographed the castles along the upper middle Rhine valley in Germany. The second assignment for the german magazine GEO EPOCHE and their publication about the Middle Ages took me all over Germany and to one castle in Austria.

I enjoyed these two stories very much. When it comes to castles, it seems very difficult for a photographer to show something new. From a historical background, the castles are an important part of the cultural identity of Germany and they dominate whole areas (e.g. along the river Rhine). Foreign visitors to Germany are attracted by these areas and the history of the castles. I wanted to show this fascination with these photographs.

For me, these assignments have two sides. One is my photography concept and the other side is the technical aspect. I love both sides.

To illuminate a large building like a castle needs a little bit of time: the illumination time for these castles photographs varies between 40 minutes and 2 hours. For two shots I have to drive with my car during the exposure from the camera point to the castle, while my assistant waited at the camera. Then I illuminated the castle from various positions and drove back to the camera point. This technical challenge is always a joy for me. In our computerized work this really handmade technique is not so unimportant...