MatthiasHaltenhof

Biography

I was born in Magdeburg in 1981. There I grew up and spent my youth mainly on the soccer field, at the radio or in front of the Super Nintendo.

At the age of 14 I became interested in computers. I got my first PC at my initiation ceremony. After a great interest in hardware and network technology, I decided to study Information Management at the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences in Köthen.

During my studies I dealt with the topics usability and backup and graduated in 2009 with a diploma.

Afterwards I worked as an administrator and web programmer. Lastly, I worked as a search engine optimizer for an online marketing agency for five years.

Currently I am self-employed in online marketing.

My way to photography

Already during my studies I worked part-time in customer service and was able to afford my first compact camera in 2004.

It quickly became clear that landscape and architectural photography interested me the most. I began to imitate images by other artists. I read up a lot on the internet and was able to learn the technical subjects quickly.

Then, in 2005, there was no way around my first SLR camera. Today I see this point as the beginning of my photography.

Looking for contact to other local photographers, I came across various photo clubs and photo gatherings in the area, which I still participate in today. Through books and studies of other photographs, I specialized even further.

Many photo trips followed, normal vacations hardly existed for me since the beginning of photography. I photographed among others at the Baltic Sea, in the Harz mountains, in Saxon Switzerland, on Mallorca and in the Alps. Also city trips to Berlin, Frankfurt and Hamburg offered interesting photo motives.

In addition, I occasionally participated in photo competitions. In 2013, I won the French "Prix de la Photographie" in the category of architectural photography with my image Experimental Factory.

I continued to travel, are a part of my photography. But I also photograph more and more at first sight more inconspicuous motifs in my immediate surroundings.

I teach photography in photo workshops and courses. It is very close to my heart to pass on my photographic knowledge and thus inspire other people for photography.

Artist Statement

Photography has become an integral part of my life. Since I started in 2005, I've been doing it practically every day. When I'm not out and about with my camera, I'm looking at pictures, thinking about new photography projects or editing my photos.

No matter how many times I've cursed photography, that's not how I can let go of it. Thinking back, I've had many great moments through this hobby over the past 17 years. All the sunrises in the most diverse landscapes of Europe alone were worth it.

In a way, the photos I bring back from them are my own memories of those moments.

At the same time, I also like to break new ground in photography. I have two fixed directions with landscape and architecture, but it is always fun to try something different. So my photography is constantly evolving.

From the beginning, I was open to image processing. In landscape photography, I was never interested in alienating the images. Even the current camera technology has such a different recording capacity compared to the human eye that you can hardly do without image editing here. In landscape photography, I always try to edit the final image as I really saw it.

The Dark Monuments series strikes in the opposite direction. Here it is least about the representation of reality. This already fails because the human eye cannot perceive the effect of a long exposure. So here it is much more about graphically interesting pictures. Photography is only the first basis for the result.

Regardless of the photographic direction: In the first place for me is always the fun. Not only when I have the camera in my hand or on the tripod. Also when I then sit at the PC a few days later and post-process the images.

It's great to look at the finished picture after half a year and think back to the moment. It's even better when I have a high-quality print of that image in my hands. Because that's what photographs are made for, in my opinion.