Sven Creutzmann

I am a documentary photographer with heart and soul and look back on a long history behind the lens. I was born in East Berlin, but when I was ten years old, my parents and I left the Iron Curtain behind us in the middle of the Cold War - something that shaped my view of the world. Since then, photography has been my way of exploring it. 

I started out in Hamburg, learning the art of commercial photography at Kleinhempel Atelier, where nine absolute masters of the craft taught us students the magic of light and composition. Seven fully equipped studios, endless hours fine-tuning every detail—that experience taught me discipline, precision, and how to truly see. 

But I needed something faster, rougher. So I joined the British news agency Reuters and covered news for seven years. Gone were the controlled conditions; now I was out on the street, following real life as it unfolded. Fast reactions, intelligent editing - that was my world. I remember phoning the London office of Reuters, ready to send five printed photos with their captions (using the fame "Hell transmitter" via telephone lines), just to hear: ‘One best’ - which taught me how to "kill your darling" and made me understand what it takes to tell a story in one photo. That kind of pressure shapes you. 

Then came the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, where I was assigned as an official Olympic Pool photographer. A once in a life experience, but that’s when I knew—I wanted more depth, more time with the stories and people I was photographing. So I shifted gears, diving into documentary photography for magazines like GEO, Stern, Spiegel, The New York Times, and others. That’s been my focus for over 30 years, also contributing to Getty Images, Zeitenspiegel Reportagen, and co-founding Jibaro Photos, a collective of international photographers. 

I still enjoy commercial work—the Lambertz Fine Art Calendar shoot in South Africa was one for the books, working with an amazing team (and animals!). 

For the past 20 years, I’ve also been teaching photography in workshops all over Europe, Latin America, and beyond. And I love sharing my experience through lectures, like aboard the Sea Cloud II, a breathtaking three-masted sailing ship cruising the Caribbean.  For the Swiss Manawa Foundation I have been teaching signature photo workshops since 2021, in Switzerland, Italy and Germany.

I’ve published four books, had several exhibitions—most recently, 112 of my photos in grand format across 440m² at Kunsträume der Horbach Stiftung in Cologne—and throughout all of this, I’ve built a life I love. 

Oh, and when I’m not behind the camera? I’m the father of two grown-up kids—which, honestly, is the biggest adventure of them all. 

Let’s connect, collaborate, talk photography, or just swap stories. I’m always up for that!

Contact: sven.creutzmann@gmail.com

“Goosebumpsgood"

Jürgen Schaefer, deputy editor-in-chief, Geo magazin  (about the "Brazil Superpower" story)

“Salgado in Colour”

Max Tidof, Actor

“Hardly any journalist knows Cuba as well as Sven Creutzmann”

Thomas Osterkorn, STERN magazine, Editor in Chief

“Summa Cum Laude”

Ruth Eichhorn, GEO magazine, Director of Photography

Clients (selection):

Stern magazine
GEO Magazine
Spiegel
New York Times
Süddeutsche Zeitung
Schweizer Familie
New Yorker
Time
Business Week
Newsweek
GEO France
ZEIT
Lambertz
BB Productions
…….
+ more

All Content © Sven Creutzmann 

All rights reserved. All photos and the structure of these websites are protected by copyright. Downloading and reproduction of all contents and structural elements for other than private purposes, for distribution and publication, require our prior written consent.

Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Sämtliche Fotografien sowie die Struktur dieser Webseite sind urheberrechtlich geschützt. Das Downloaden und die Vervielfältigung sämtlicher Inhalte und Strukturelemente zu anderem als privatem Gebrauch sowie deren Verbreitung und Veröffentlichung bedarf der schriftlichen Zustimmung. 

Sven Creutzmann, Brandenburger Str 77, 21244 Buchholz, Germany