Sebastian Grundgeir
Sebastian Grundgeir is living and working as a trained architect and self-educated photographer in Zurich.
Born in Hamburg he went out to study architecture in Hannover and discovered his passion for photography whilst studying. However, his profession as well as his love of nature and the alpine soon called and made him move to Switzerland.
His photographic emphasis lies in architectural photography and landscape photography. Besides the mountains and Swiss architecture, which form the main body of work, his portfolio holds projects across the entire Alpine region and beyond.
Sebastian’s photographs portrait moments in time, which he understands as a mixture of actual documentation and emotional illustration. He stresses the elements that were the incentive for the capture, accentuates colors and forms, without unnaturally distorting them. His compositions are consciously chosen, composed and most of the time carefully planned.
Knowledgable photographer, humorous architect and your future instructor for our brand-new Masterclass on Architectural Photography.
How did you get started in photography?
I started during my time in university. I studied architecture and during the studies I took photographs of the buildings we visited to build sort of an archive for inspiration. I soon discovered that I actually enjoyed the act of photographing just as much as the architecture itself and soon after no matter where I went – on a city trip or a hike in the mountains – my camera was always traveling along.
What kind of photography do you do?
I typically shoot landscapes or architecture but I’m planning to get into Macro and still life/product scenes in the future as well. Basically, I’m more comfortable with shooting stuff that doesn’t move or talk 😉
Describe what we see and describe what we don’t see.
I got inspired by an image of travel photographer Elia Locardi from this place a while ago, so when I visited New York last November I couldn’t resist seeing the amazing skyline view of Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge Park. It’s incredible scenery. Watching the sunset and the city lights to start glowing after sundown is epic in a city like that. It was a special experience for me since I’m usually alone when taking pictures – this spot I had to share with around 30 other photographers, even though there were horrible winds and it was freezing cold. Was it worth it though? Absolutely!
And now about the execution…what’s in your camera bag?
I switched to a full frame mirrorless setup, mainly to save weight and bulk for hikes – so currently the Sony a7Rii and the SonyZeiss 16-35mm F4 go everywhere with me. When I shoot landscapes I will also bring the Sony 70-200mm F4 and the SonyZeiss 55mm F1.8. For architecture, either the Laowa 12mm F2.8 or the Zeiss Distagon 18mm F3.5 will be on my Laowa Magic Shift Converter. No matter what, filters like a polarizer and ND filters, as well as my Sirui tripod will always be with me as well.
Tell us one random fact about yourself.
I’m a very thoughtful person. I like to think before I do and generally having a strategy is important for me. That is true for all sorts of things and all parts of life, even tying my shoes (always put the right one on first – I might just fall over if I try to do it the other way round…).
Which photographer inspires you and why?
Depending on which genre I’d have to name 3:
For landscapes: Thomas Heaton. He has such a calm approach and his eye for composition is magic.
For architecture: Rasmus Hjorshøj. He has a very clean, cool Nordic style to his photography.
For general shooting and post-processing: Elia Locardi. He’s not only super talented in composing shots and dedicating to an image but also very skilled in post processing. I learned a drew a lot of inspiration from his work and he’s an incredible teacher too.
We’re curious: What is your next upcoming project?
I’ve been trying to shoot the Matterhorn for over a year and it never happened so far – so that’s a big one for me. I’m also curious about a very particular waterfall in canton Glarus that I didn’t get in the right light yet.
Thank you, Sebastian!
Follow Sebastian on Instagram @sebgg_photo and make sure to register for his new Architectural Photography Masterclass.
See the upcoming dates for the class here.
