Places & Spaces
About me
I am Maria Tepe, an architectural photographer from Lohne in the Oldenburger Münsterland region. I photograph spaces: finished buildings and interiors for architects, interior designers, clients and companies, as well as landscape and fine art.
I am not an architect. That is precisely why I see spaces the way the people who use them do.
My path to the camera was not a straight one. First I got to know companies from the inside, internationally for Scandinavia and Asia, later in medium-sized businesses here in the region. In between, I completed a doctorate in economic geography on how companies organise their production in space. Since then, I have never seen buildings merely as form. I see the place, the processes and the collaboration that are built into them.
For a long time I took photographs out of passion, mainly landscapes. Then I photographed apartments for marketing and realised how much spaces appealed to me. That became architectural photography, and later portraits were added. Further training in media design and social media showed me how images work in communication.
Landscape taught me light, architecture taught me space, portraiture taught me people. All of this comes together in my Visual Stories: images and short films that show how a space feels and who it was made for.
I work in the Oldenburger Münsterland, in Bremen, Hamburg and beyond. I am a member of the Bundesverband Architekturfotografie.
I photograph portraits under the name Maria Paula Fotografie.
Where I work
My home is the Oldenburger Münsterland: Lohne, Vechta, Cloppenburg, Damme and the surrounding area.
I also work in Oldenburg, Osnabrück, Münster, Bremen and Hamburg,
as well as throughout Germany and Europe.
Depiction
The human eye still creates the best images: no lens and no image editing matches it for focal length, dynamic range and above all capturing a mood. This is where my work as an architectural photographer begins: depicting what is seen, and the mood, as the client wishes.
People and space
I like to include people in my compositions: they give a better sense of scale and also a sense of the purpose and use of the space and the building.
The aim of architectural photography is always the same: to explain the space or building and to create a mood.
Focus
As a non-architect, I perceive buildings and spaces in their context, as they are experienced by the people who use them. Communicating these perceptions in images is my strength.
Video production
I am convinced that moving images, whether video, reel or film, are becoming increasingly important. That is why I have been working intensively on video production for some time.
Here too, visual quality is what matters most to me: considered composition, atmospheric lighting and calm, narrative editing. Fast-cut clips with loud music are not my style. I prefer restrained, unhurried sequences accompanied by suitable music, voice-over or interview.
I am particularly fascinated by the creative process: seeing how initially unremarkable footage turns into coherent, atmospheric stories in the editing software (Adobe Premiere Pro).
Today this is called “visual storytelling”. I see it as a perfect complement to architectural photography, not competition but an extension. Photos and moving images together tell deeper, stronger stories: Visual Stories.
I regularly publish results of this on my [blog].