About Thorsten Indra
The facts
With 25+ years of experience Thorsten Indra has earned a solid reputation for high-quality images, draws from a broad set of skills and is capable of covering a wide range of subjects as a professional photographer.
What started out with water shots of the pro windsurfers in the waves of Maui/ Hawaii, quickly became a passion - and profession. Action sports, whether in the oceans or the mountains, the athletes and their lifestyle - the fascinating images of this German photographer speak many languages. Versatility is key and travel a means to an end.
Thorsten loves to creatively explore unusual scenes and capture unique and special moments. Cameras mounted to a windsurfer, mountain bike or kites. Remote firing, wireless flash, waterhousings, technical and creative challenges.
What matters most to him are great images - independent of the task at hand. Open-minded and curious, able to fit in a team, easy going, flexible - yet focused on getting the job done. That's his basis for successfully working with diverse people and clients.
After shooting a lot in Hawaii for a number of years, Thorsten is now based out of Germany again, where he lives with his wife Sarah and their four young children. He is used to working internationally, speaks English fluently, and travels from Frankfurt for photo productions to locations around the globe.
He is available for commercial and editorial assignments on location and open for new clients and challenges. Contact him here.
Thorsten Indra at work: Core Kiteboarding commercial incorporates photo production from the air
Capturing top-level action from the air - Thorsten Indra is getting dramatic images during a kitesurfing photoshoot catalog production for Core Kites in Maui/ Hawaii. (Video footage: Sebastian Dörr). See the resulting brochure here.
Thorsten Indra at work: Shooting Kitesurfing and the New VW Beetle - Making Of
This brief making of clip documents the photoshooting of the new VW Beetle at the beach, in combination with kitesurfing; with short interview about the challenges of this photoshoot, with composing. (Produced by Act Agency Hamburg/ Filming by Tonix Pictures.)
Shooting Lacrosse Girls Team for Loox Magazine
Loox Magazine commissioned me to shoot photos for an article with a handful of highly athletic, fast and good-looking girls playing their chosen game - Lacrosse - in the woods. A few scenes from the shoot can be seen here. (Thomas Stoll, my assistant at this shoot, has put together the 1 min. clip).
Philosophy
What moves him, characterizes him and his work
Professionalism has to do with passion.
Photography has so many facets, is always a challenge, is very complex and free: Traveling, sports in the great outdoors, working with people, observing, experiencing special and unusual moments - the possibilities are endless and the quest for ever better images carries Thorsten forward. This profession has built-in potential for progress and new creations - what more would you want?
Photography is about "capturing the essence".
Sport, people, lifestyle, countries, travel, events. Seeing and capturing the spirit. Being right where the action is. Reacting fast. Thinking in advance, showing initiative. Being there. Climaxes. Extremes. Freezing the moments. Bringing dynamic to images. At the heartbeat of the times. Beauty, humor, moods. Working with and using available light. Making the best of difficult situations. Come wind and weather, heat or cold - no matter if it's humid, dry, wet or dusty. In big waves, from a moving car, on skis, leaning out of a helicopter, from the roof of a rocking boat, strapped in a climbing harness or making use of remote control - no matter if telephoto or wide-angle: He's always after great images.
Quality is priority.
Images must have style - and yet there should be diversity and variety in the palette of the photographer. Not only the content of a picture counts, but also how well it is carried out. It is important to be reliable, easy to get along with, flexible, open-minded and honest; to possess integrity, to be levelheaded, to work calmly and efficiently.
All of this sums up the claim to quality, the aspirations and the reputation of Thorsten Indra Photography, coupled with a solid knowledge of digital photography and the workflows.
Traveling enlarges one's horizon.
Have you ever eaten iguana eggs, or mezze? Drank kava with a tribal chief? Ever been greeted with a flower lei and paid the local motorcycle drivers license with triangular coins? These are situations which are not foreign to Thorsten Indra on his travels for photo productions.
Maui/ Hawaii, Indonesia, South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Canary Islands, Cabo Verde, the Caribbean, Lebanon, Norway, Turkey, USA, Romania, Venezuela, Honduras, Costa Rica, Australia, Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji, Alaska, Brazil, Mauritius, as well as numerous European countries are just some of the destinations he has visited on his trips.
Background
How it all started.
Travel, outdoor sports and an active lifestyle have always played a major role for Thorsten Indra. Be that rock climbing, skiing, windsurfing, sailing, biking, tennis, swimming or horse riding - the interplay of sport and nature have fascinated him from his youth on. This background is essentially helpful when it comes to taking photos in the fields he is active in - having experienced extreme situations himself allows him to understand the athletes and anticipate their actions.
After finishing school and some time at university, in 1986 the then avid windsurfer traveled to Hawaii for the first time. A couple of years later, using self-made waterhousings, he shot windsurfing action images in Hookipa/ Maui. Publications in international magazines soon followed and motivated him to pursue photography as his calling.
Helicopter Aerial Photography - Thorsten Indra in Action
Low-level and close to the action - Thorsten Indra is getting dramatic images during a windsurfing photoshoot catalog production for JP in Maui/ Hawaii. (Footage: Stilbezirk.de)
Professional Memberships
Thorsten Indra is a member of the following professional associations:
- VG Bild-Kunst
- This organisation aids in securing the collection and distribution of copyright royalties for photographs and the fine arts. VG Bild-Kunst is supervised by the German patent office.
- UVS International
- Promotes the development, production and use of Remotely Piloted Systems (aka drones) and promotes the future civil & commercial use of RPS, and guides policy making on the highest international level.
- UAV DACH
- The largest and leading UAS* Association in the German-speaking regions of Europe. With members coming from science, manufacturers, service-providers and users, they set standards and are well-connected in both industry and politics (* Unmanned Aerial Systems)
- Berufsgenossenschaft ETEM (BG ETEM)
- Government safety organization/ occupation cooperative/ compensation board (mandatory membership)
- KSK (Künstlersozialkasse)
- German government agency, administering a Social Security Fund scheme for self-employed artists and publicists (mandatory membership)
Customer Comments
"…we have not had such great pictures in a long time!!! Everybody is excited about your images!"
"You know someone is a fantastic photographer when you could get shots like you did of me in mediocre wave conditions."