My first visit to Tanzania in 1989 was pure coincidence. I was about to finish university, when a friend was offered a research job at the Lyamungu Coffee Research Station in Kilimanjaro. After I had submitted my thesis I packed as quickly as possible to go and help her for a few months with the field trials. Although coffee plants and nature photography have little in common, they triggered my interest in wildlife, landscape and people photography.
The following year I returned to Kilimanjaro to work for a Project for the Protection of Natural Resources. It did not take long before I found myself spending the weekends and most of my free time in the bush. Photographing amazing landscapes and the stunning wildlife slowly turned me into a keen amateur nature photographer. Actually my interest in photography started during my teenage years. But I never developed it into a serious hobby. I told myself that it was too expensive to develop my own prints. To be honest, that was only an excuse. At that time I had more fun going places, looking through the viewfinder of my camera trying to capture moods and compositions on film. Spending hours in the darkroom was not really my cup of tea.

 

That all changed when I switched to slide film. Although I admire B&W a lot, colors were more appealing to me. When I saw the processed slides on my light table, I immediately felt in touch with what I had photographed. Today I use digital cameras most of the time, but I still enjoy looking at slides on my light table.
During the early 90s my main interest was nature and wildlife photography. Tanzania's nature fascinated me and receiving awards from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition was encouraging. In 1998, after I had finished my contract as a development worker, friends suggested I combine my professional experience with photography, which I did. As a result, I got assignments all over East Africa to photograph the programs and activities of International Development Organizations. After 17 years in Tanzania it was time to move on. Since 2008 I live in Cape Town, South Africa. Today I split my time between my family, photographing nature, assignments for development organizations and writing articles for travel magazines. In the last months my work focused on reporting about the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa at www.fanguide-wm2010.de