"Silence" Fine Art Print

In the early 1980s, the German news magazine *Der Spiegel* published a story about the then-successful management book *In Search of Excellence* by Tom Peters. His main point was that “human beings are the key to the success of companies, not money or equipment.” The stories in the book fascinated me at the beginning of my career in marketing. My head was full of ideas. I felt good. My job and my life made me feel like I was racing down an expressway in the fast lane.

Twenty years later, events beyond my control changed my life fundamentally. I first had to slow down and then reorganize every aspect of my life. During that time, I learned the value of quiet moments in a world that is getting louder and louder. I realized my deep need for silence, and I began to search for such moments and to capture them with a camera.

The idea of the ongoing photographic work “In Search of Silence” was born in 2014 during my first visit to Greenland. My wife and I trekked for weeks in complete solitude with minimal equipment. These trips have become an annual fixture. Today, offline moments are the luxury in my life and the focus of my photographic work.

In a Spotify interview about the song “This Place is a Shelter,” Icelandic musician Ólafur Arnalds said, “The song is a tribute to my home, which protects me from the madness of the world.” I find this protection while searching for remote and silent places. The more people live on earth and travel, the more it becomes challenging to find lonely places. But they still exist.

US acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton considers a location to be quiet if he can listen to the sounds of nature without any human-made interruptions for 15 minutes. Sitting on a stone with closed eyes to concentrate better for a few minutes without being disturbed by non-natural noise is an exceptional circumstance today.

In 2017, the *New York Times* published an article by Steven Kurutz that added another element to Hempton’s view. “Much of the modern-day noise that people wish to escape comes not from loud sounds or grating talk alone, but from endless distractions.”

My search for silent places begins at home with studying maps and reading reports from others. But that is not enough. My photos need specific lighting and weather conditions. Therefore, being at the right place in the right moment has a lot to do with luck. To capture an extraordinary photograph in such a moment is like reaching the summit of a mountain after hours of climbing.