Oli Keinath

Konzeptionelle Fotografie www.roundshot.de
Berlin, Germany
ok@roundshot.de

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In 1997 I set up on my own, but before that I tried various things. I studied German literature, political science, social education and for a short time even psychology... always with some breaks, when I worked as a journalist and as an improvised designer.

At the same time I was always taking photographs and splashing about in the dark room. Shortly before finishing University I decided to work for an advertising agency... and that was that.

Then I worked in Cologne and later I began the photography course in Constance and completed it in Freiburg. In Berlin I worked as an advertising photographer and in 1996, at the Photokina in Cologne, I happened to come across the prototype of a roundshot-camera. It didn't yet work perfectly, but I could see it was an ingenious invention......I had found my way in my career.

With my first book I travelled around a bit and a few weeks later I got booked for my first important advertising campaign: produced for the marketing management of Standard Life in Germany, organized by counterpart in Cologne, and published in the Spiegel, Wirtschaftswoche and some other magazines in October '97 . Not bad as a beginning, was it?

Since then I've had a lot of contracts, in new fields with new visual forms of expression. Many jobs are in the "traditional" photographical field, but there is still a shortage of experts who can use the roundshot camera the way I do. Obviously I have nothing against that.