It was during a lunch break in 2001. At that time I worked as a photographer for a German newspaper and studied at the Art Academy. That particular day, I took advantage of the beautiful summer moment to go for a short swim in a nearby pool.
I was pulled towards the diving platform – my camera in hand. The water was calm, the lanes empty, only two boys jumped tirelessly. A 10-metre diving tower always held great fascination for me. I pay the greatest respect to everyone who takes the plunge. Besides, an elevated point of view allows for a new perspective on things.
On that day one of my favourite pictures was created up there – and it wouldn’t be the last shot of water.
For about 20 years now I have been to just about every place where you can get wet: lakes and beaches, swimming and paddling pools, saunas, hot springs and sentos, from Japan to Hungary, from Iceland to Lithuania. This journey around the globe is my personal anthem to the element of water, and to those who enjoy it as much as I do.
If I am not in or next to the water, you will find me doing portraits for magazines, teaching, traveling with an orchestra, editing images or preparing exhibitions in my studio in Berlin.
