The professional photographers we profile in this article bring years of experience and a distinctive personal style. Even so, they appear online far less often than they deserve. This selection is our attempt to remedy that.
All five photographers in this feature approach their work with painstaking dedication. They prepare thoroughly before each shoot — researching subjects, enlisting collaborators, scouting angles, waiting for the right weather conditions, and spending years in pursuit of a handful of perfect shots. Olaf Becker, for instance, spent 12 years working on his Iceland project 'Under the Nordic Light'. Tom Blachford, another photographer in our selection, negotiated access to collectors of rare automobiles in order to achieve the precise atmosphere he needed for his 'Midnight Modern' series. Florian Müller used photo-editing software to add unexpected objects to his images — logs and tree stumps floating through a forest, for example — as a way of realising his vision.
One could go on at length about the nuances of each photographer's practice, but the essential point remains the same: behind every image lies an immense amount of work — effort, resources and labour invested in photographs that ultimately become works of art.
Olaf Otto Becker
Becker was born in 1959 in the German city of Travemünde on the Baltic Sea. He studied communication design, philosophy and political science. For more than 30 years, landscape photography has been Becker's central subject. All of his work reflects his interest in the impact of human settlement on the changing landscape. He publishes the results of his projects as books — documenting the effect of global warming on Greenland's glaciers, the transformation of Iceland's landscape over 12 years, and the changing natural environment of Indonesia and Malaysia. During his first expedition to Greenland, Becker had to navigate the island's glaciers alone by boat in order to capture the images he needed. On his second visit, he travelled overland together with a group of researchers.
The photographer approaches his work in a particular way: he spends time gathering all the necessary information about a location before travelling there to shoot. A single project can take Becker two to three years.
David Burdeny / David Burdeny
David Burdeny was born in 1968. He completed a master's degree in architecture and interior design in Denmark. Before turning to photography, he worked in architecture for a time — an early career that left its mark on his later practice, most notably in the series RUSSIA: A Bright Future, in which he photographed deserted metro stations and museums. To capture the station concourses in complete emptiness, he needed access at night. After fruitless negotiations, he eventually found a Russian intermediary who was able to reach an understanding with the metro authorities — and Burdeny was finally allowed in to shoot.
His instinct for composing space is evident across his other work too: in his photographs of tulip fields in the Netherlands or seaweed plantations in Indonesia. A sense of clarity and economy runs through everything he does.
Rüdiger Nehmzow / Rüdiger Nehmzow
Rüdiger Nehmzow was born in 1966 in the German city of Ansbach. He studied communication design and photography at the University of Essen, and went on to work for various publications and advertising agencies. He now lives with his family in Düsseldorf. Nehmzow has found his calling in industrial and corporate photography — capturing factories, plants, production facilities and wind turbines. The austere industrial structures he photographs were never designed with aesthetics in mind, yet in Nehmzow's hands they reveal a hidden beauty. Beyond these subjects, he also produces city photography, portraiture and landscapes, all of which are equally compelling.
Tom Blachford / Tom Blachford
We have written more than once about Tom Blachford, an Australian photographer based in Melbourne, so we will not dwell at length on his projects. In addition to the 'Havana' series — shot in the Cuban capital — and 'Midnight Modern' — from the American city of Palm Springs — both previously featured in Losko, Blachford has produced equally compelling series in various scenic corners of the world: India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Iceland, China and beyond.
Florian W. Mueller
In the world around him, Florian W. Mueller, as his website states, seeks the unusual in the everyday and has a passion for creating images that almost demand interaction with the viewer. He has been practising photography for 15 years and has received numerous awards. In 2013, Mueller co-founded the 'Jetztzeit Club' together with two colleagues. Mueller's professional interests span a broad range, but his architectural and landscape photography stands out as the most compelling.
Here is another of our photographer roundups — 10 photographers on VSCO worth following. Also read our article on Andreas Gursky, the world's highest-paid photographer.
