Falko Burghausen

Even a hamster wheel looks like a ladder from the inside

"Contrasts are an important element in photography: if they are missing, even the most impressive landscape appears flat and expressionless. If they are overemphasised, the motif appears exaggerated and artificial. It's the right amount that makes the difference.

Contrasts were also a companion in my earlier professional career: on the one hand, there has always been a huge urge for a simple lifestyle with lots of contact with nature and sport, and on the other, a professional career of more than fifteen years in the IT business. Starting as a software engineer and working my way up the so-called career ladder to become a CTO, I have been able to gain a lot of experience in large and small companies - experiences that have shown me time and again how important it is for me to be out in nature and how much energy I have been able to draw from countless hours in the mountains. Energy that I would otherwise have lacked in my ‘normal’ job; energy that saved me from the lethargic ‘business as usual’ and energy that comes from an extremely impressive and very transient environment.

As transient as nature is, so is every human being. The thought of these fleeting and yet so precious moments kept me busy for a long time and ultimately motivated me to leave the traditional career path behind. Instead of chasing after social expectations, I decided to prioritise precisely these moments, because unlike money, we cannot save up time.

Time is a paradox: at first glance, it doesn't exist, it can't be grasped or stored. And yet there is hardly anything more difficult than finding time for yourself. My aim is therefore to fill the time that passes, no matter what we do, with those things that fulfil me. For me, this means consciously being out and about in nature, perhaps on a mountain tour or with my camera in search of new, breathtaking motifs. During a trail run along a mountain ridge, feeling the wind in my face and alternating between focussing on the immediate terrain in front of me and the endless expanse around me.

These contrasts between work and passion, mountain and valley and between light and shadow have led me to landscape photography over the years. This was followed by the move to a professional full-frame system camera and the in-depth search for the perfect moments to capture the most beautiful landscapes and preserve them in digital and printed form. In the meantime, photography has gone from being a hobby to a mainstay, allowing me to reach destinations in nature in a sporty way at all times of the year. I strive to make motifs that I find unique accessible and tangible to our ambitious customers with the help of our high-quality landscape photography."

"Nature is an ephemeral work of art, and photography is my way of capturing this uniqueness forever."