Thomas Hoepker Profile
Thomas hoepker is a German photographer who was born in Munich and is a member of
Magnum Photos (known for stylish color photo features). He started taking photographs when
he was 16 using an old 9x12 glass plate camera he received from his grandfather. He first
started making money selling photographs to his friends and classmates. During 1956, he
studied art history and archaeology at Goettingen, in Munich, Germany. This was important for his photography work later in the years because doing this taught him about understanding images and composition.
To help finance his education, Hoepker continued to sell his photography during his school years. During the years 1960-1963 he worked as a photographer for Munchner Illustrierte and Kristall which included him having to report from around the world. This happened up until 1964 where he started working as a photojournalist for Stern Magazine. During this time Magnum began to distribute all of Hoepker’s photo’s.
Then during 1972 he worked briefly as a cameraman and producer of documentary films for German television and after 1974 his wife, journalist Eva Windmoeller, and him collaborated work together. This was first done in East Germany and then New York, where they moved to work as correspondents for Stern in 1976. Then from 1978 to 1981, Hoepker became the director of photography for the American edition of Geo.
Thomas Hoepker worked as art director for Stern in Hamburg between the years 1987 and 1989, to which after this point he became a full member of Magnum Photos.
Hoepker specialised in reportage using pictures and stylish color features for which he received the Kulturpreis of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Photographie in 1968 (Culture Prize of the German Society for Photography).
Among other awards he received for his work, he received one in 1999 from the German Ministry of Foreign Aid for Death in a Cornfield, a TV film on Guatemala.
Hoepker is also credited for the most controversial photograph of 9/11. It shows a group of young people sitting on the East River bank in Brooklyn who appear to be talking and relaxing while a black smoke cloud behind them shows the destruction of the twin towers.
Overall, Hoepker has made 5 films. This includes; The Village Arabati - 1973, Death in a Cornfield - 1998, Robinson Crusoe Island - 2000, Easter Island - 2003 and Ice-cold Splendor - 2005.
Today, Thomas Hoepker lives in New York where he shoots and produces TV documentaries alongside his second wife Christine Kruchen. Through the years 2003 - 2006 he was the president of Magnum Photos and his work, showing 230 images of fifty years of work, is touring Germany and other parts of Europe since 2006.
Alot of his work can be found on Magnum photo’s website here:
Sources:
Summary of work & accomplishments:
Education
1956/59 Art History and Archaeology, Goettingen/Munich, Germany
Awards
1999 German ministry of foreign aid, 1st prize for documentary Death in a Cornfield
1968 Kulturpreis, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Photographie
Exhibitions
2006 Photographien 1955-2005 - Photomuseum, Munich, Germany
1995 Retrospective - Claus Tebbe Gallery, Cologne, Germany
1994 The Maya - Kunsthalle Cologne, Cologne, Germany
1985/87 Retrospective, 25 cities in Germany
1976 Rizzoli Gallery, New York and Rizzoli Gallery, Washington D.C., USA
1965 Kunst und Gewerbe Museum, Hamburg, Germany
Books
2005 Thomas Hoepker, Photographien 1955-2005, Schirmer & Mosel, Germany
1998 Return of the Maya: Guatemala. A Tale of Survival, Henry Holt, USA
1991 Land of Enchantment, New Mexico, Philip-Morris books, Germany
1989 HA Schult, Fetisch Auto, Germany
1988 Rome, Hofmann & Campe, Germany
1987 New Yorker: 50 unusual portraits, Stemmle, Schaffhausen, Germany
1986 HA Schult, New York ist Berlin, Germany
1986 Amerika: History of the discovery from Florida to Canada, Germany
1985 Leben in der DDR. Life in East Germany, Sternbuch, Germany
1985 Ansichten.Fotos von 1960 bis 1985, Braus, Heidelberg, Germany
1984 Der Wahn vom Weltreich: Germany’s former Colonies, Sternbuch, Germany
1984 Now! Überdosis New York/ HA Schult., Germany
1983 Die New York-Story, GEO Buch, Germany
1983 Thomas Höpker (I Grandi Fotografi), Rizzoli,Italy
1978 Vienna, Time/Life books, Holland
1977 Heinz Mack, Expedition in künstliche Gärten. Art in Desert and Ice, Sternbuch,
Germany
1976 Berliner Wände, C. Hanser, Germany
1974 Die Iren und ihre Lieder, (Ireland and its songs), Germany
1967 Horst Janssen, artist’s portraits, Galerie Brockstedt, Germany
1963 Yatun papa. Father of the Indians. Dr. Theodor Binder, Kosmos, Germany
1963 Lebendiges Kiel, Presseamt der Stadt Kiel, Germany
1960 Finnland, Terra Magica, Germany
1957 Jugend in dieser Zeit, Steingrüben, Germany
Films
2005 Ice-cold Splendor
2003 Easter Island
2000 Robinson Crusoe Island
1998 Death in a Cornfield
1973 The Village Arabati
