Andreas Starke

Andreas Starke makes wildlife and landscape photographs shaped by travel, changing weather, and sustained time outdoors. His work is driven by a desire to create atmosphere rather than record a location in its entirety. A waterfall, mountain range, or animal may provide the subject, but Starke’s focus is often a selected detail: the section of a landscape that carries the strongest visual and emotional pull.

He grew up in Germany in a family that valued art and music. His father worked as a porcelain painter at the Meissen porcelain factory and continues to draw, while his great-grandfather was a concertmaster at the Leipzig Opera. His mother made clothing, toys, and other objects by hand. Books, museums, and visits to the opera were also part of his early experience.

When Starke began taking photography more seriously around twelve years ago, his parents supported the work materially as well as emotionally. They helped him acquire camera equipment and lent him a car, making it easier to travel to locations and develop his practice.

There was no single moment that first drew him to art, although one encounter proved consequential. About a decade ago, while attending the Inferno Festival in Oslo, Starke met Ciaran, guitarist for the Irish metal band Primordial. At the time, Starke was primarily making sunrise and sunset photographs and considering giving photography up. At the end of their conversation, the musician told him, “Andreas, continue with your photography.” Starke still regards that brief exchange as encouragement to begin again with more purpose.

Largely self-taught, he developed his technical knowledge through practice and error. Learning how ISO, shutter speed, aperture, and filters affect an image improved both his command of the camera and his artistic decisions. He currently works with an Olympus OMD EM-1 Mark II, using telephoto and wide-angle lenses as well as a macro lens. Rather than treating equipment as a fixed set of tools, he continues to test its possibilities.

This summer, Starke plans to work at Kaerlingerhaus, a cottage in the Bavarian Alps, while beginning a new photographic project. He intends to limit himself primarily to his Olympus camera and a Panasonic 8-18mm lens, possibly adding a macro lens, in order to concentrate on wide-angle images. The self-imposed constraint is part of an ongoing effort to refine his technique and see familiar subjects differently.

Starke describes his development simply: “The journey itself is defined by making 1,000 failures and one thing right.” That willingness to learn through repeated attempts supports his movement across wildlife, landscape, and macro photography.

Nature has been a consistent part of his life since childhood. His parents regularly took him and his sister outside, and he began mountain hiking at the age of five or six. Today, he continues to seek out hikes, storms, changing light, and unfamiliar locations as part of both his photographic process and his daily life.

Fantasy and horror films, books such as The Lord of the Rings and The Neverending Story, black metal, Celtic music, paintings, album covers, and nature writing all inform the mood of his images. Starke also cites photographers Sarah Lindsay, Adam Gibbs, Thomas Heaton, Garvin Hartcastle, Kim Grant, Mark Denney, Adam Karnacz, and Paul Thomson as important influences.

He is particularly interested in what he calls “yin and yang pictures,” images that balance contrasting conditions or visual qualities. Thomas Heaton’s work has influenced his preference for selective framing. Rather than photographing an entire waterfall, for instance, Starke looks for the fragment that interests him most. The approach makes room for a more concentrated image, one shaped by choice rather than simple description.

Starke does not rely on a fixed pre-photography ritual. Weather plays too large a role in landscape work for a strict routine to be practical. Instead, he packs his gear, goes out, and responds to what the day offers. His job as a chef provides a demanding counterpoint to this activity. After a busy service, hiking and photographing give him space to clear his mind.

One image, A Greeting by the Thunder God, emerged after a particularly overheated shift in a kitchen in western Norway. Starke went out after work and photographed the sky, later connecting its forceful atmosphere to the strain and frustration of the kitchen. The work was exhibited in the Part Crowd Gallery’s online Paranormal exhibition.

Travel also brings unexpected encounters. During a road trip through southern Chile, fellow hikers alerted Starke to a huemul standing near the path. Tired after days of driving and hiking, he still recognized the importance of the moment and made photographs of the animal. Such encounters reinforce his belief that motivation and attention are often more useful than a rigid plan.

For Starke, success is not tied to acclaim, sales, or awards. He wants to make work that remains personally meaningful and avoids turning photography into an activity governed only by profit. “Creating art should make me happy,” he says. He hopes viewers can set aside their own worries for a moment and find something of their own in the images.

As he continues traveling, photographing, and expanding his technical range, Starke remains committed to making the work he wants to make. He is currently preparing a calendar for 2027 and remains open to future collaborations, particularly projects connected to nature.