BIOGRAPHY

Carsten Krieger was born in 1971 in rural Germany and got his first camera at the age of eight. "It was a manual SLR with a 50mm lens, extremely basic, but for me it was a revelation. I had always been interested in nature and now I had a tool to document my explorations in the fields and woods. Even better I suddenly discovered things I wasn't able to see with my naked eyes. I was hooked and the camera became my constant companion." In his teens Carsten discovered the work of German nature photographer Fritz Poelking which made him take his own photography more seriously. But if one man could be hold responsible for Carsten Krieger's career it would be American photographer Jim Brandenburg. "If I would have to name one major influence it would have to be Jim Brandenburg. His books "Brother Wolf" and later "Chased by the light" finally made me realize that photography is what I wanted to do with my life." However Carsten’s life took some u-turns before this new found passion could become a full time profession.

After finishing school and civilian service he became a nurse and worked for 10 years on a pediatric ward for bone marrow transplantation. This work with terminally ill children shaped his appreciation of life and his respect for every living thing. "This part of my life had a huge influence on my photographic work. I learned to watch more closely and spent more time exploring my subject before pressing the shutter. You could say that around that time I really started creating images." During his nursing career photography always stayed part of his life and several visits to Ireland made him pursue his long cherished dream of working as a nature photographer even more. "Ireland was the final kick I needed to get things going. In a place like Ireland's it just felt right that I started concentrating on landscape photography. Some time later I started working for my first stock agency and published my first article in a magazine."

In 2002 Carsten finally made his dream come true. Together with his wife Ina he moved to Ireland and started working full time as a freelance photographer. In the same year he also converted to digital photography, a step he never regretted. The digital medium gives Carsten the opportunity to realize his visions and create images that would not have been possible with film. "Digital photography changed the way I was working. With film there was a lot of waiting involved. Waiting for the film to arrive - it was impossible to get professional slide film like the Fuji Velvia in the West of Ireland and so it had to be ordered from the UK or Germany - waiting to have enough rolls together to justify sending them away for development and finally waiting for the developed film to return. Sometimes several weeks passed until I saw the results and during that time the connection to the subject, the way I felt when I was in the field, was forgotten and gone. Digital changed that. My work became more personal. I was able to fine tune the image and correct small but important flaws in the field and could finalize and print the image the same day."

Carsten’s work is regularly being published in magazines, calendars and books. He is also exhibiting in Ireland and abroad on a regular basis. Conservation work has always been an important part of Carsten’s photography. "It has always been clear to me that conservation work is a part of nature photography and vice versa." Beside supporting several conservation groups and highlighting conservation issues through his work he has been working as picture editor & photographer for the environmental magazine Rocky Road and as staff photographer for the Irish Peatland Conservation Council.

In 2006 Carsten’s first book “The Fertile Rock” has been published. "Making a photo book on the Burren was a dream of mine. I've been in love with that place since my first visit more than a decade ago. The 3 years I have been working on this project have been some of the best years in my life."

Carsten is currently working on several new projects, his second book "The West of Ireland" will be out in 2009 and a third yet untitled book is planned to be available in 2010.