Dave’s work can be found on DeviantArt and FLickr as well as his website and I strongly recommend a visit!. After viewing his work on his site I asked Dave to answer 20 questions about his passion for photography and he kindly agreed.
1. Can you please tell me a bit about yourself and your photography?
I am a 27 year old IT Specialist currently living in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. My nterests include photography, web development and cycling. I have been focusing on my photography for several years now and my passion is still constantly growing. I enjoy scouting locations and hiking among remote regions and never get tired of it. I love being outside away from computers, civilization noise and crowded cities.
2. How did you get into photography?
I discovered photography in 2006. I saw some photographies of Matthias Haltenhof, a fellow student and very good friend of mine. First through his HDR and IR photos, later through daily visits on photo and art communities like deviantArt (where I disovered lots of great images and inspiration) I really got into photography as an art form and started taking photos by myself.
3. What were the main challenges for you when you first started out as a professional photographer?
Until now, I’m not a professional. The main challenge will be to earn a living from photography with a combination of tours and workshops, stock images, calendars, prints, writing articles and photo assignments.
4. What camera/s do you currently use and why?
I now use a Canon 5D body in combination with some Canon L lenses (17-40mm, 24- 105mm, 70-200mm). Last year I switched from a Nikon D80 crop sensor camera to the 5D full frame sensor. I simply wanted the advantages of a full frame sensor with good lenses for the best possible image quality.
5. Where is the most inspirational place you have ever visited?
For me this is definitely the South of Iceland with Jokulsarlon (also known as Glacier Bay) and other amazing locations like Skógafoss falls and the Geysers.
6. Do you have an all time favourite photo that you have taken?
Not really. As I learn new techniques and discover new locations all the time my favourites also change from time to time.
7. What is in your camera bag?
- Bag itself: Tamrac Expedition 8
- Canon 5D, 17-40mm, 24-105mm, 70-200mm,
- Manfrotto 718B tripod, Cable Release, Hot Shoe Spirit Level, Camera Armor,
- some Singh-Ray 4×6 hard and soft 2 and 3 stop ND Grad. and Reverse ND Grad. Filters + ZPro
- Holder
- Hoya Polarizer, IR filter, ND400 filter,
- Retro Adapter, compass, some batteries and cards, cleaning accessories
- weather indication and phases info sheet (by Matthias Haltenhof)
- (depending: something to drink, to eat, clothes)
8. The ‘Summer Garden’ picture is a favourite of mine on your site, can you please tell me what your thoughts were behind this and the methods/settings you used to take the photo and post process it?
This photo was made on a really beautiful summer day near Koethen (a place I lived and studied). The clouds were superb and light was good too so I decided to scout for a nice foreground. It was late afternoon when I arrived at this location. The image displays some lovely red poppy among green corn in the foreground and some great cloud formations in the blue summer sky. I used a low angle to get a feeling of being right in the middle of the scene with this composition. I tried a variety of different compositions and settings but at the end this one worked best for me. I used a Nikon D80 at 18mm with a polarizer at F/8 and combined different exposures for this shot. Post processing was done in Photoshop with a combination of tones, curves and selective color adjustments.
9. Do you have a favourite photographer or a photographer that inspires your work?
Not really only one favourite. There are quite some like Alain Briot, Craig Tanner, Gilad Benari, Maciej Duczynski and Marc Adamus to name only a few.
10. Other than your camera, what is the most important item in your camera bag?
At the moment I think it is the tripod and the GNDs.
11. What do you look for when deciding where and what to photograph?
First of all the weather is the most important factor. I look for dramatic clouds, nice light and an interesting foreground.
12. Is there anywhere in the world that you would love to photograph?
There are some places I would love to go to. For example the Denali National Park in Canada, the West Coast of the US with its rugged beaches and last but not least the Alps in the South of Germany (maybe Alps will come true in the next couple of weeks ;-)).
13. Do you have a particular favourite area of photography (cityscapes, landscapes etc)?
Yes, my favourite is landscape photography with all of its hours of scouting for locations, hiking and being outside listening to nature. But I also really like architecture photography.
14. Do you ever get requests from people asking you to photograph something specific?
No, this never happened until now. But requests are very welcome! 
15. If you could give someone starting out in photography 3 tips, what would they be?
- Shoot as much as you can.
- Study the work of others.
- Ask.
16. If you had to describe your photography in 3 words what would they be?
Wow, that’s kinda hard. I’ll go with: Nature, Remote and Dramatic.
17. Is there a competition that you would love to win for your photography and why?
Yes, the international photography awards category landscape. I think it is an honor to win there and you get a lot of people to know your work.
18. Do you ever have inspiration ‘blocks’ and how do you get over these?
Yes, from time to time. Sometimes I just grab my camera and go out trying something new or I take a deep look at my favorite images of other photographers to inspire myself and refresh my passion.
19. If you had to pick 3 photos to showcase your work, what would they be?
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