Alfred Seiland

Alfred Seiland © Raimond Spekking

„Generally speaking, I see myself more as a finder 
of images than as an image maker. 
But if it should turn out that way, as in the 
FAZ campaign, it is essential to give all 
participants the feeling that they are part 
of something big and that they therefore have 
to push the boundaries. My passion for the image 
must therefore be transferred from me to them. 
And then the only thing missing is the moment
of chance that every good image needs.“

Alfred Seiland

‘There’s always a clever mind behind’ is the title of the long-running advertising campaign of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, for which Alfred Seiland photographed numerous personalities with or behind the daily newspaper between 1995 and 2001. The images, which are staged in an intelligent and humorous way, tell us about the personalities portrayed from the worlds of politics, business, culture, science and sport through their respective contexts.

It was voted ‘campaign of the century’ by a jury from Spiegel magazine and is the most award-winning German advertising creation of the post-war period. Alfred Seiland has received numerous awards for his photographic work, including the Gold Medal of the Art Directors Club New York, the Pro Prize, the Epica d’Or and the Lead Award.

Alfred Seiland began taking photographs as an autodidact in the late 1960s. Since 1979, he has been working with analogue large-format cameras. His focus is on landscape photography in the broader sense. His 20-year long-term project ‘Imperium Romanum’ attracted international attention and has made Seiland one of the most important photographers of our time. His works are represented in the collections of important museums around the world, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, or have been shown in major solo exhibitions, such as at the Albertina in Vienna – but also at photography festivals such as Les Rencontres d’Arles.

From 1997 to 2019, Seiland was a professor of photography at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design.