An Exclusive Interview With MANFRED BAUMANN

My grandfather had won many photo competitions; he dealt with artistic b/w photography. We grew up in the mountains of Austria, and his work later reminded me a lot of Ansel Adams' landscapes artistic style. He gave me my first camera, a Praktika 1000, and I still have it. Without him, I might never have gotten into photography!

- José Jeuland

Manfred Baumann was born in Vienna in 1968. The Leica photographer has since presented his works worldwide in exhibitions, books, and calendars. His photographs are displayed in museums as well as in international galleries. Over the past years, Baumann has taken his place among the most influential photographers of our time. Baumann created projects for some of the largest and most influential brands internationally, including Gucci, Adobe, BMW, Loreal, Swarovski, Vogue, Nike, Sony, Lufthansa, and many more.

Baumann is an Ambassador of the iconic camera brand Leica; he is also a frequent collaborator with National Geographic. It is a pleasure publishing an interview with such a magnificent photographer!

JOSÉ JEULAND: Thank you for this interview, Manfred. Can you share with us your youth? As I understood, you have graduated high school at a very young age and started working at the age of sixteen. How did this affect your social communication and feeling at the time?

MANFRED BAUMANN: I have loved photography since I was ten years old but never saw it as a job; it was more a hobby. I looked for a job at an early age, so I could afford the equipment. I wanted to do photography as a sideline.