TITLE: Emelie

Emelie, the sleeping beauty

AUTHOR: Jörg Liedtke (Germany)

I was born in 1961 in the most beautiful city ‘Kölle am Rhing’ and still live in the so-called ‘Speckgürtel’ of Cologne.

I started taking photographs at the age of 19. I borrowed my father's two cameras, a YASHICA MAT 124, 6×6 roll film and an ADOX 6×6 medium format. My first own camera followed a little later: a MINOLTA X500 semi-automatic 35mm camera. I also quickly set up my own laboratory, where I developed my black and white images using the standard method of the time.

I had my first small success at the beginning of the 80s in a photo competition at the Saturn photo shop in Cologne. I took second place with a series of black and white photographs of a model who was already known from Penthouse magazine and bodybuilding championships.

But then I got married and started a family, which meant that photography took a back seat for a long time - there were more important things to do.

In 2003, I bought my first digital camera, a compact Canon IXUS 400, 4 megapixels and with a display measuring just 1×2 cm. I was particularly fascinated by this type of photography as I could call up my pictures directly on the PC - no developing, no waiting for pictures from the lab, saving hundreds of pictures was suddenly possible without further ado.

In 2010, this was no longer enough for me and I ordered my first SLR camera: a Canon D450 with 12 megapixels. This was followed 5 years later by my first used full-frame camera: a Canon 5D Mark2 with 20 megapixels, plus the first L lenses from Canon.

This was followed by my first professional photography workshop with a professional photographer, which was followed by several more. I can proudly and gratefully say that these have taken my photography to the next level. In combination with YouTube tutorials, reading, trying and discarding, I am constantly developing my skills on a self-taught basis.

Although it has given me some very good pictures, I parted with my Canon 5D Mark2 in 2018 and bought my first mirrorless camera: the Canon EOS R. In 2021 I exchanged the EOS R for the EOS R5, which will certainly be with me for the next few years - but I keep finding that the photographer takes the pictures and not the technology. Nevertheless, the possibilities and the progress of technology in this field inspire me - and they always will.