Thomas Deutschmann

*1950

Deutschmann (German, born 1950) received his training as photographer in Hanover, where he was apprentice to Joachim Giesel, one of the co-founders of the Spectrum Photogalerie. In 1972 his photographs were exhibited in the gallery’s group show Gesichter (Faces) and he became technical assistant and workshop manager under Heinrich Riebesehl at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hanover. During this time, he also attended workshops at the Werkstatt für Photographie (Workshop for Photography), founded in West Berlin (Kreuzberg) by photographer Michael Schmidt. In 1979–1980, Deutschmann photographed cooperative housing in Hannover on behalf of the German Werkbund. These photos were shown in 1981 as part of the exhibition Aspekte der Großstadt (Aspects of the Metropolis) at the Museum Folkwang in Essen. For this series he was awarded the German Photographic Association’s (DGPh) Otto Steinert Prize for contemporary photography. Deutschmann taught in Hanover until 1992 and worked as a freelance photojournalist. He now focuses mostly on the documentation of abandoned architecture and on dance photography.