Interview with international photographer Manfred Baumann

Did you always want to be a photographer?
For my 10th birthday my grandfather gave me my first camera, a Praktika, and that was when I began to grow interested in photography. It took quite some time before I  became a professional photographer but I knew this was the profession I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

You've worked with many celebrities and have a great international career. Was it a smooth and easy journey?
No. It is definitely not easy to start a career like mine. I think it is necessary to work hard and never give up. I am always in touch with my art wherever I am I think about new subjects and create new pictures and ideas.

Apart from your camera, what else can you not be without and why?
I think this is definitely my wife Nelly. She is always by my side and without her I never would not be as successful as I am today. I could never live and work without her.


You shoot both portraits, nudes and landscapes when many other photographers specialise in one or the other. Do you have a favourite subject? And what made you want to work and succeed in both subjects?
I decided to photograph three different directions and I love all of them, there is no favourite because they all have different aspects and challenges. You can travel for weeks through a country, you can relax and take a look at beautiful landscapes. In the other direction you meet interesting people with different stories. And last but not least with my glamorous nude subjects I get the opportunity to create a story behind the pictures.

What's the most challenging photo you've taken or project you've had to work on?
For me every picture is a new challenge. It is very important for me that the viewer of my pictures finds something in it to think about and that they discover something new every time. My image of New York is a great example of this.


Visit Manfred Baumann's exhibition when it opens in London this October at The Air Gallery.