I'm based in Karlsruhe, Germany, at the border to France and close to the Black Forest, and grew up in a family of professional artists and photographers. I used to join my father in his darkroom. This has certainly shaped my way of looking at the world. Intuition and connecting with a photographic scenery is still crucial for my photography.
I travel extensively with my camera, with an emphasis on expeditions to Iceland and on guiding sea kayaking trips in Scandinavia, Alaska and Greenland. I won a travel photo competition in 1995 (“Wikinger 1995”) with a photograph taken after hiking to the top of the highest peak of the Acores. My pictures were shown in a Norwegian paddle magazine. I worked and travelled with photographers from Germany, France, UK and USA.
After extensive university training in natural science, rigging up an experiment is my professional expertise. It is based on a distinct aim, visualisation and choosing the right tool for the right task. I use a variety of techniques - possibilities, a camera, lenses and growing craftsmanship offer. Even with limited equipment on expeditions, it’s my photographic vision to use everything available at a given moment in order to serve the idea.
A well planned experiment in both science and photography however is just the beginning of the creative process, not the end. In fact, having the courage to explore an unexpected result of an experiment is the beginning of new thinking. In science it leads very often to a new invention. In photography, it might add that inexplicable element, which makes a photograph unique. I love to plan my photographic experiments thoroughly, and then I cross fingers, that the universe will take the chance to act and to help. Nature and all our photographic motifs deserve this choice.
Danni Merz
I travel extensively with my camera, with an emphasis on expeditions to Iceland and on guiding sea kayaking trips in Scandinavia, Alaska and Greenland. I won a travel photo competition in 1995 (“Wikinger 1995”) with a photograph taken after hiking to the top of the highest peak of the Acores. My pictures were shown in a Norwegian paddle magazine. I worked and travelled with photographers from Germany, France, UK and USA.
After extensive university training in natural science, rigging up an experiment is my professional expertise. It is based on a distinct aim, visualisation and choosing the right tool for the right task. I use a variety of techniques - possibilities, a camera, lenses and growing craftsmanship offer. Even with limited equipment on expeditions, it’s my photographic vision to use everything available at a given moment in order to serve the idea.
A well planned experiment in both science and photography however is just the beginning of the creative process, not the end. In fact, having the courage to explore an unexpected result of an experiment is the beginning of new thinking. In science it leads very often to a new invention. In photography, it might add that inexplicable element, which makes a photograph unique. I love to plan my photographic experiments thoroughly, and then I cross fingers, that the universe will take the chance to act and to help. Nature and all our photographic motifs deserve this choice.
Danni Merz
© Danni Merz