Thomas Hoepker born on the 10th of June 1936 in
Munich, Germany first started capturing images at the age of 16 years old in
which he received an old 9x12 glass plate camera from his grandfather. He
developed his photos in his family’s kitchen and bathroom which he then began
to sell them to friends and classmates. Hoepker studied Art History and
Archaeology at Goettingen in Munich, Germany between 1956 and 1956. It was in
Art History where he was taught about understanding images and composition. He
still continued to sell his images during this period of time to help finance
his education. 4 years after he left education he began working for Münchner
Illustrierte and Kristall as a photographer between 1960 and 1963. During his
time at Münchner Illustrierte and Kristall he reported from all over the world.
After working for Münchner Illustrierte and Kristall for 3 years Hoepker left
and in 1964 he began working for Stern Magazine as a photojournalism, also in
1964 Magnum Photos began to distribute his archive of photographs. In 1968
Hoepker received the prestigious Kulturpreis of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Photographie.
In 1972 Hoepker worked as a cameraman and
producer of many documentary films for German television. From 1974 and on
Hoepker collaborated with his first wife, Eva Windmoeller who was a journalist.
They first collaborated in East Germany and then in New York where they both
eventually moved to work as correspondents for Stern Magazine in 1976 and from
1978 to 1981 he was director of photography for the American Edition of Geo.
Working as an art director between 1987 and 1989 for Stern in Hamburg this is
when Hoepker became a full member of Magnum Photos. Hoepker won many awards for
his photographic work but in 1999 he received an award from the German Ministry
of Foreign Aid of Death in a Cornfield for a TV film on Guatemala.
On the 11th of September 2001 America
had their worst terrorist attack in history as the twin towers were stuck down
by hijacked airplanes and this is the reason why most people now know Thomas
Hoepker and this is the reason why I am writing this. The photo that Hoepker
took that day has been known as one the most iconic images of the horrific 9/11
attack. Hoepker chose not to the release the photo because he thought that it
was too “confusing” to be release straight after the events and it wasn’t until
2006 on the fifth anniversary of the attacks the photo made its first
appearance in a book and instantly caused controversy.
Hoepker used the Leica camera for much of his career because
of its light weight, small in size and access to see everything. Later on in
his caeer when Nikon and Canon came around he would mainly use the Lecia for
wide angle shots and the Nikon or Canon for telescopic shots. Only in 2002 did
Hoepker make the switch to using digital SLRs. In 2003 Hoepker became president
of Magnum Photos but in 2006 he stepped down.
Thomas Hoepker now lives in New York with his second wife Christine
Kruchen and now shoots and produces TV documentaries.
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