My membership of Ipernity is now in its sixth year. I came to Ipernity at a time when the increasing commercialization of existing photo sites and/or communities was increasingly limiting my creativity. Trendy photos were highlighted, while the real treasures remained hidden. This is not surprising, the operators of these sites are profit-oriented, but they live from our work and our enthusiasm. They create a presentation space – but nothing more than that.

I came to Ipernity, a real community, without commercialization, that connects people worldwide with a love of photography. No deals are made here, no one asks, “What do I get in return?” Here you can cultivate real friendships around the globe, not based on “likes” but on real communication.

But Ipernity can do even more. We are a strong community that resists commercial pressure, and in the future we will have to communicate this even more to the outside world. Many of the approaches we have developed here are going in the right direction. And we should always keep in mind that no one is financially rewarded for their commitment. We do it because we enjoy doing something for others. And as Vice President, I would like to do more to promote this.

I am open to any suggestions that will help Ipernity to move forward and would like to make a greater effort to become more interesting for local photo groups. The permeability between real contacts and Ipernity must become more permeable. If possible, people should meet. Of course, this is not always possible due to the distances involved, but where it is possible, it should be encouraged and implemented.

The joy of photography runs in our family. My grandmother was passionate about photography, took lots of pictures and was good at it. She used it as a second source of income because she was the only person in the village who owned a camera until the second half of the 1940s. So many of her pictures are of weddings or other events that took place in our village between about 1930 and 1945. After that, one of her sons-in-law took over the business of photography. My photographic career was then quite different and, depending on equipment and interest, it was sometimes more intense and sometimes not at all. It was only with the beginning of the new millennium that things really took off in practice.

Like many of us, I come from a generation that experienced the great icons of photography, whom we celebrate today, as photographers in their early days and earlier creative phases. That also left its mark on me, even though I was experiencing the exciting phase of my childhood at the time, when these images also served an urge for knowledge. These are images that are now considered masterpieces and were published in newspapers and magazines at the time. Today, I am still a fan of the big illustrated magazines with a focus on photojournalism, such as Life Magazine.

Today, I use my photography both professionally and as a hobby. The professional part is also in the field of photojournalism - even if I don't like to compare it with the heyday of that time. And through “my photojournalism” I have often found myself in the role of information and public relations work, whether for the German armed forces or for various church parishes (but mostly without pay there). When I see the whole spectrum of my photography, I don't see the areas of work, volunteering and hobby as strictly separate from each other, i.e. the areas intertwine and are interchangeable. Overall, they influence each other.

Andreas Schindler, March 2025