Manfred Baumann Hollywood`s Photographer

SUNRAY MAGAZINE has had the pleasure of interviewing to one of the most influential photographers of our time the Legendary Photographer Manfred Baumann.
Mr Baumann was born in Vienna in 1968, His photographs are displayed in museums as well as in international galleries. During his huge career has photographed such greats as Brad Pitt, Natalie Portman, , Lionel Richie, Olivia Newton John, Bruce Willis, Angelina Jolie, Sandra Bullock, just to mention a few.
Today take his time to give us this interview!

SUNRAY: Tell us when started your passion for photography?
Baumann: When I was 10 years old, my grandfather gave me my first single-lens reflex camera. Since then, the fotorgafie adventure has not let me go. And even today, 40 years later, I still love it like on the first day

SUNRAY: In what areas of photography do you work?
Baumann: I love the variety. I started with models, landscape and street, later I photographed celebrities. After that, I also noticed the passion to tell stories in my photos and photographed projects such as, people over 100 years old, homeless people, people fighting cancer, but also the wild horses MUSTANGS, which became my first exhibition in a national museum.

SUNRAY: What are your influences?
Baumann: In the beginning it was definitely my grandfather, then photographers like Helmut Newton, Peter Lindbergh, Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Richard Avedon and many more.

SUNRAY: How has your style evolved since you started with photography?
Baumann: Over the years I get to know what is important to me in a photo. It should tell a story and have its own soul. If you manage to create a photo that the viewer looks at for longer than 2 seconds in the digital world today, you have already won. I want to endure the moment. Photography is easy to learn, but seeing properly can take years.

SUNRAY: You shoot in both black and white and color, what is your favorite to portraits?
Baumann: Definitely, black and white. I want to be more imaginative in my pictures, more timeless. A good photo is like a film, which tells the viewer a good story but also leaves its own interpretation open!

SUNRAY: What equipment do you currently use?
Baumann: I work with Leica SL1 and SL2, Leica M Monochrome, Leica M10 and Leica Q2, I love each one differently in their own way. Leica gives me the feeling of being part of a story.

SUNRAY: You have been taken photos to incredible Hollywood celebrities as as Brad Pitt, Natalie Portman, , Lionel Richie, Olivia Newton John, Bruce Willis, Angelina Jolie, Sandra Bullock, just to mention a few. How it is working with them?
Baumann: The great thing about my job is to immerse yourself in different people and in different worlds. That’s what makes it so interesting. Working with stars is of course something very special when I photograph Oliva Newton John in her home and talk to Martin Sheen about his films on the set, and exchange ideas with Jack Black about photography. Over the years and a large number of celebrities I’ve photographed, I’ve noticed that they are normal people like you and me, and they appreciate treating them that way.

SUNRAY: Overall, What does photography mean to you?
Baumann: Photography is my life. I give duration to the moment! I am happy to have seen through the camera my whole life. I also got to know my muse and wife Nelly, but also a lot of interesting people and the many beautiful places in the world!

SUNRAY: What is the best advice you could give to a young ambitious photographer who is looking to develop and further his career in the photography sector?
Baumann: You have to leave the familiar, and as Leica said many years ago in an advertising slogan: “The eye takes the photo, not the camera”

SUNRAY: Tell us where we can find you (website /social media platforms etc)
Baumann: My website is www.manfredbaumann.com
My blog: https://manfredbaumann.blog/en/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manfredbaumann
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BaumannManfred

Interview by Maria Fernanda Capici
Editor in Chief SUNRAY MAGAZINE

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