Bernhard Edmaier, born in 1957 in Munich, has been working as an independent photographer for the last 13 years. He lives in Ampfing, a small village, in picturesque Bavaria, Germany.
He studied civil engineering and geology before becoming a professional photographer. During his work as a civil engineer, Bernhard Edmaier became fascinated by the earth’s variety of colours and structures and decided to take up professional photography. He completed the necessary training and received his certification from the Photographers’ Guild in Munich, and in 1992 he founded Geophot – Bilder der Erde, a photographic agency.
Driven by his perennial interest in natural phenomena, Bernhard Edmaier travels extensively to deserted and still untouched corners of the globe to gather material for his books and other photographic projects.
On his trips, he is accompanied by Dr Angelika Jung-Hüttl, his partner, fellow geologist and science writer for prominent German newspapers and popular science magazines, who in close co-operation with the photographer, works on book projects and provides scientific commentaries for his photo book editions.
Over the years, Bernhard Edmaier has won many prestigious awards for his work. His volumes of photography 'Vulkane' (1994), 'Eisige Welten' (1996) and 'Geoart Deutschland' (2003) were consecutively voted The Most Beautiful German Science Book of the Year, and his 'Geoart – Kunstwerk Erde' won him a renowned Kodak Photo Book Prize in 1998.
(Statement in the forefront of his exhibition at Konica-Minolta Gallery in Tokyo, Japan, in December 2008)
"All images exhibited here show landscapes which have emerged in the course of natural geological processes, withour any human influence and amnipulation. These landscapes are fragile Nature-created formations which, in the long run, will be unable to resist man's unstoppable urge to exploit - they will alter and ultimately disappear.
I am not one of those evironmental activists who point fingers at others and demand protection and conservation of natural landscapes. Each viewer of my images should decide for themselves whether the remnants of intact natural landscapes are worth preserving.
However, those who support the idea of preservation and conservation of Nature should be aware of the fact that the status quo and 'let`s-continue-as-before' attitude so well rooted in our profit-oriented world will have to change radically."
(Excerpts from an interview for a popular German television culture magazine, ARD-Kulturweltspiegel, Nov 2004)
‘When we talk about beautiful landscapes or nature, we mostly refer to the landscapes transformed by man. I, on the other hand, gladly juxtapose those with the ones which have not yet been touched by a human hand and are practically unchanged, still in their primordial form.’
‘I keep moving between two worlds: the world of science in the most general sense of the word and that of art … this constant oscillation between documentary and detached, abstract photography is the most exciting factor rendering inspiration to my work.’
Relevant comments can be found by clicking [REFERENCES] and [PUBLICATIONS], where press commentaries accompanying Bernhard Edmaier’s individual publications are quoted.
