I am personally touched by the young Swiss photographer Ornella Cacace.
With her work, which is usually everyday scenes, she utilizes a very personal perspective to bring the viewer into a wonderful, romantic, but direct, world. The photos are never contrived or even digitally enhanced. They are the pure moment as seen and captured through her eyes.

May I introduce Adrian Sonderegger and Jehoiakim Corti, the sharp creative duo from Zurich! I like their work very much because they manage to repeatedly detach the locations they photograph, and put them in a new timeless place. A village has no more real connection to its origin, but is rather the object itself placed on a stage. You, as the viewer, are drawn into this wonderful, unusual proximity.

I believe strongly, among other things, in Diane Vincent from Berlin. Her work gets me again and again with its sensitive and very intimate ideas of man. She releases a longing in me with her photographs. A longing beyond freedom and happiness.

Stephen Gill is an Englishman who has photographed in a small area of London, where I have spent the last two years of my life, before moving back to Munich in May of this year. I am talking about [the area known as] Hackney Wick. Squeezed between the newly formed Olympic Park and Victoria Park, Hackney Wick held a longtime social interest. Now it is considered trendy. But that’s not the interest of Stephen Gill. He works conceptually, but with a certain detachment. He finds an old camera at a flea market in Hackney Wick and begins to snap photos. He buries his pictures and digs them out again years later. He has photographed from behind billboards and captures street workers in light clothing. His work is unpretentious, yet loaded with great passion, and he implies the feeling of belonging to the scene. That's why I consider him one of the important photographers of our time.

I will mainly refer to commercial photography, because it is most familiar to me. On the one hand you have those photographers who went through training as an assistant and years of practical experiences. On the other hand you have a technically skilled photographer with an eye for something special and the desire for creative work. However, in the past few years new types of photographers have emerged from a wide variety of angles. They consider the picture and the transportation medium equally for an idea. They don’t need to go around the photo first. With the final version of the pictures in mind, they often act based on a unified idea that involves more than just the original photo.

Before we talk about the future, one should first and foremost try to understand what it is to be a photographer of today. The answer is not easy.

ABOUT – Who will they considered the seminal figure in the photography of the future?

The increasing quality of the digital postproduction and recording technology have paved the way for the emergence of a new pictorial genre. Because of this, the traditional education of the photographer has suffered and faces the threat of growing competition. Then the effects of globalization and trends of economic weakness come into play, as well as the multitude of photographers, picture agencies and databases (not only Getty or Corbis, but rather for example also flickr), that some see as a threat with the advance of the 3D/CGI.

Suddenly one is faced with the question: What exactly does a copyright mean? In short: in order to secure his place, the photographer more than ever must make some elbow room. Every now and then the struggle of self-doubt or self-criticism ends. Technical experience no longer seems to be the criteria of choice – especially with the young AD’s of the media, which are familiar with the internet, etc., beginning in childhood with video games. They no longer possess the same photography culture of their predecessors. That is not to say that one is necessarily better or worse than the other. It is simply a fact. Their strengths lie elsewhere. In light of the ever more complex world of photo production, it may seem easier to an agency to consult a photographer because they are more familiar with the technology than to consult one for their ability to make beautiful photographs. In my opinion, the most beautiful pictures develop from the cooperation of these two characteristics.

The aim of a photographer is to stand behind the camera instead of sitting in front of the computer. Yet now he comes before it to sit through the postproduction of an image on the PC. The French author Flaubert once said to Maupassant (another French writer) that the art of the author lies in the fact that he succeeds in describing why the fire one might observe commonly is unique and unmistakable. Does the new generation of photographers run the danger of simply taking a photo and asking themselves afterward,”How do I make this fire unique (with filtering, curves in Photoshop, etc.)?

I have met photographers who are holding their own. These are primarily those for which a photograph is also a work of art. And this represents the difficulty of their creative work: they must cater to the wishes of the ADs, CDs and customers without being able to contribute their own ideas, which would be more appropriate as personal projects. Therein lies the great challenge of teamwork. For the promotional photo is primarily the product of teamwork. And who can really prove who the author of compiled photos is? They originate from the ideas of AD and a few elements from photo agencies or 3D, which has been reworked and retouched to represent a single image at the end. Everything depends on the creative work (camera angles, subject choice, image composition), more or less comes from the photographer.

My job retouching photos has been profoundly altered by 3D. Though it is only a marginal phenomenon, one must adapt in order not to lose the connection. The future photographer must be able to bring all of these requirements under one roof. He must see an ally in 3D, which is to accept the shared rights in a shared vision; to create something unique and work responsibly as he sees fit. He has to make his selection convincing and still be flexible in order to remain true to himself. Without question, he will have to invest more energy into the photography than the end result - at least as long as he is not at the end of the copyright in the image given. He must beware not to let his ego get the best of him, which could lead him astray.

Presumably, this is not a problem that affects only photographers. Many professions suffer relentless changes that follow the unabated pace of our consumer society.

It is important to move with the times while giving yourself room to think, act and understand what you are doing without losing respect yourself or others. It creates confidence and trust in life itself.