Hey Little World

My name is Pascal. I am 45 years old and live in Germany.

Besides photography, I enjoy spending time in nature, especially hiking with our dog. My family and I—my wife, our son, our daughter—also enjoy playing tennis and going swimming together. I personally play a musical instrument as well: the French horn.

In quieter moments, I enjoy reading a good book or listening to music, particularly American folk and jazz.

Nature has always been more than just a place for me to take photographs. It is where I go to slow down, clear my mind, and find peace. I firmly believe that spending time outdoors can awaken strengths within us that we often underestimate. There is a remarkable power in nature—one that goes far beyond what we can see.

My fascination with photography began in childhood with an old compact film camera that belonged to my grandfather. I still remember the excitement of picking up developed prints after a family holiday and looking through them at home. The ability to freeze a moment in time with a single press of a button fascinated me then and has never stopped fascinating me since.

Years later, at around twenty years old, I bought my first serious camera, a Canon EOS 50E with a Sigma zoom lens. Digital photography was still out of reach financially, so film remained my medium for quite some time. Eventually, a friend offered me his Olympus E-3 along with the Zuiko 35mm Macro lens. At the time, I knew very little about Olympus, but after learning more about the camera, I was intrigued enough to take the leap.

That decision changed everything.

The E-3 introduced me to the possibilities of digital photography, and for years I photographed almost anything that caught my attention—nature, wildlife, architecture, and portraits. Like many photographers, I was still searching for my own visual language.

I found it in macro photography.

Even my earliest close-up images fascinated me because they revealed a world hidden in plain sight. Macro photography allows me to create something beyond simple documentation. It gives me the freedom to shape a scene, simplify reality, and build atmosphere. Today, using my OM-D E-M1 Mark II together with the M.Zuiko 30mm f/3.5 Macro lens, I feel I have found the perfect creative tool for expressing the images I carry in my mind.

I do not consider myself a documentary photographer. My goal is not to reproduce nature exactly as it appears. Instead, I search for emotion and mood. If a flower needs to become white instead of purple to create the feeling I am looking for, then that is perfectly fine. For me, a successful photograph is one that evokes something. Technical perfection alone has never been enough.

One of the things I love most about macro photography is its accessibility. I rarely travel far in search of subjects. Most of my images are created within twenty kilometers of my home. Often, I simply walk into the nearby forest or wander through the fields surrounding our rural community. Nature is all around me, and inspiration is usually much closer than people think.

When photographers ask me for advice, my answer is always simple: go outside and photograph.

I am rarely searching for a specific subject. Instead, I allow myself to wander and observe. My camera is always switched on and ready in my hand. When something catches my eye, I take a few quick frames to evaluate the composition and the quality of the light. If I feel potential, I stay with the subject and gradually develop the image.

The most important thing is not to overthink the process. Enjoy being there. Enjoy seeing. Some days, I return home without taking a single photograph. Either nothing inspired me, or the experience of simply being in nature felt more important than making pictures. Those days are no less successful. Being outside is already part of the reward.

For my work, I rely entirely on the Micro Four Thirds system. Its combination of compact size, low weight, and outstanding image quality suits me perfectly. I felt that way when I used the Olympus E-3, and I still feel the same today. Combined with the excellent lenses available for the system, it gives me everything I need without unnecessary bulk.

I am not particularly interested in technical specifications. Cameras and lenses are tools. If they allow me to create the images I envision, then they have done their job.

At the moment, I work almost exclusively with the M.Zuiko 30mm Macro lens. I enjoy being physically close to my subjects because it helps me focus on the scene and ignore distractions. In the future, I would like to spend more time photographing insects, which is why the 90mm Macro lens is likely to be my next addition.

My equipment is intentionally simple. Everything fits into a single backpack: camera, lens, a small tripod, a flexible light stand, and a couple of compact lights. I prefer carrying only what I truly need.

The same philosophy applies to lighting and post-processing. Whenever possible, I use natural light. I enjoy observing how light changes and shapes a scene before I ever press the shutter. Artificial light only comes into play when I need to support the available light or create a specific mood.

For editing, I use Lightroom exclusively. I have built a collection of presets that reflect different moods and lighting situations, and from there, I make only small refinements. Editing is not my favorite part of photography, but it helps me translate what I felt in the field into the final image.

In the end, that is what photography is about for me: not documenting what I saw, but sharing what I felt.