1950 Born in Boßdorf, Saxony-Anhalt
1971 – 1973 assistant for photographer Ludwig Schirmer, Berlin
1973 – 1978 Studied photography, Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, Leipzig
Since 1978 Freelance Photographer, numerous solo exhibitions
1990 Founding member of OSTKREUZ agency of photographers, since then Agency director
2002 – 2004 Lecturer of photography at the fas – Fotografie am Schiffbauerdamm (private school of photography), Berlin
2005 Established the Ostkreuzschule for photography, Berlin
school principal, lecturer
Since 2009 Collaborative artistic photographic projects with Ute Mahler
2016 «Sibylle», Art Gallery Rostock, Rostock
2014 «Ute Mahler und Werner Mahler: Werkschau», Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
2014 «Die seltsamen Tage», Robert Morat Galerie, Hamburg
2011 «Monalisen der Vorstädte», Galerie Dittrich & Schlechtriem, Berlin
2015 «25 Jahre Ostkreuz», BETC, Paris
2012 «Über Grenzen», Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
2010 «Die Stadt», CO-Berlin, Berlin
2018 «Kleinstadt», Hartmann Projects Verlag
2015 «Die seltsamen Tage», Artist book, 50 copies, self-published
2014 «Ute Mahler und Werner Mahler: Werkschau», Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg
2011 «Monalisen der Vorstädte», Meier & Müller, Berlin
2015 «25 Jahre Ostkreuz», Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern
2012 «Über Grenzen», Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern
2010 «Die Stadt», Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern
I am not interested in a voyeuristic or wandering stroll, where you simply see, that which accommodates you.
I am interested in situations where people have something specific to do with each other over a limited period of time.
I am interested in unspectacular landscapes. To get my pictures I can and sometimes will have to wait hours for the light. The landscape stages itself and I photograph it when it seems most unusual, as if not quite revealing or when something mysterious remains.
All good photographers have their own, ideally, distinctive visual language. I try to teach this to my students.
If, after three and a half years, the student has finished his training and knows what he can achieve with photography and how he must use it technically, and on top he has found his own attitude to the world and an approach towards his own style – if I see all these things in a young photographer – then I have achieved my goal as a lecturer in our school.
