Nevertheless, I’m glad that on my journeys around the world I have always been equipped with outstanding cameras. I started photographing in 1976 with a Minolta SR-T 100X and remained loyal to the camera brand, which no longer exists today, until 1991. Years with Leica cameras and Leica lenses followed. Their optical performance fascinated me, but the lack of autofocus in the R7, R8, and R9 models was a major limitation. From 1989 to 2009, my preferred film was the extremely fine-grained and richly colored Fuji Velvia 50.

Since 2009, I have been photographing with digital Nikon cameras. At first, Nikon provided me with its flagship model at the time, the D3, which was soon replaced by the even more dynamic D3S. During the second half of the Planet Desert project, I then photographed with the successor models D4 and D4S. All four were extremely rugged and fast cameras whose sensors did not chase ever-higher pixel counts but instead consistently prioritized minimal image noise, even in very low light. During the forty trips for Planet Desert, I did not experience a single camera failure, so the backup body I always carried remained in my luggage.

I took the 400,000 photographs for my TERRA project primarily with a Nikon D5, whose sensor combined a high pixel count with enormous dynamic range. For the first time, I used camera drones, initially the Phantom 4 Pro and later the more compact Mavic 2 Pro, both from DJI. I always carried a spare drone with me but never had to unpack it.

Since 2023, I have been photographing with Nikon’s two mirrorless cameras, the Z9 and Z8. The absence of a mirror box made it possible to design new lenses with outstanding image quality. The innovation that mattered even more to me was the modern autofocus system, which automatically tracks the subject across the electronic viewfinder. In the case of animals and people, it reliably locks onto their eyes.

What I still appreciate as a photographer working worldwide is the tremendous quality and speed of today’s zoom lenses. My three most important ones have for years been the 14–24 mm f/2.8 wide-angle zoom, the 24–70 mm f/2.8 standard zoom, and the 70–200 mm f/2.8. In addition, my camera backpack contains two portrait lenses, the 85 mm f/1.2 and the 28 mm f/1.4, as well as a 100 mm f/2.8 macro lens and a 135 mm f/1.8. In a separate backpack, I carry the ultra-fast 400 mm f/2.8 with an integrated 1.4× teleconverter. I also bring along a Novoflex tripod with a ball head, a flash for macro photography, and two Mavic 3 Pro drones.

The days when I had to worry about cooling and protecting my slide films are over. Instead of carrying up to 200 rolls of film, I now carry two fast 512 GB memory cards that can hold all the images from an entire trip. Every evening, I back up and review the day’s photos on my 13-inch MacBook Pro in Lightroom Classic using a connected external 2 TB SSD. In addition, the images are stored as RAW files on a 2 TB SSD. Once I’m home, I transfer the image data to various hard drives stored securely in different locations, including a safe.

The demands placed on my cameras during my travels could hardly be greater. Temperatures ranging from minus 50 to plus 50 degrees Celsius, vibrations, sand, and snowstorms are all part of everyday life. Even so, I have never given my camera equipment any special protection. I simply want to be able to react spontaneously and quickly, so I use a standard DEUTER camera backpack. It also has room for my notebook computer. When I travel by motorcycle, I store part of my camera equipment in a Touratech camera tank bag.