Thies Rätzke is always behind the camera. That's why only a few people know his face. The people in front of his camera are all the better known: Joachim Gauck, Angela Merkel, Otto Schily, Joschka Fischer, Gregor Gysi, Klaus Töpfer and many others.
Thies Rätzke portrays people from politics, economy and culture and convinces in annual reports, campaigns and reportages with impressive productions and straight photo journalism.
Thies Rätzke, born 1977 in Kiel, studied communication design with a focus on photography in the photo class of Prof. Dirk Reinartz at the Muthesius Kunsthochschule in Kiel from 1998 to 2003. He completed his studies in 2003 with his diploma thesis "Control Area", a photo essay on the innermost safety area of the Brokdorf nuclear power plant. The work received an award at the Art Director´s Club for Young Artists competition for Germany and was exhibited within the framework of the exhibition series "Stille - Dirk Reinartz und Schüler" at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin and at the Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg.
Since 2003 Thies Rätzke has been working as a freelance photographer for editorial offices, advertising agencies and companies as well as on freelance projects, which are mostly characterized by a cool documentary objectivity, in which the influence of his teacher Dirk Reinartz becomes clear. His paintings have been shown in various group and solo exhibitions, including the Museum Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Brest in France.
In 2009 he was awarded the Schleswig-Holstein Art Grant and a scholarship from VG Bild-Kunst for the project "Ciudad Valdeluz". Thies Rätzke lives and works in Hamburg and has been a member of the photography agency VISUM since 2006.
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www.raetzke.com
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