My name is Paul Hoppe and I am a documentary photographer from Germany working in Berlin and Potsdam.

The first part of my childhood was spent in East Germany in the 1980s. I saw one system collapse and another take over in short time. The changes impacted me deeply and opened my eyes to the differences and similarities of those systems. Further growing up in Berlin made me see how the city and it’s people grew together. It started my interest in documenting these developments.

I doing documentary photography since the early 2000s. I did present my work on different websites and sold a few images to other sites and book publishers. I used to run a blog at a time when blogging was still new and WordPress still in beta. My other career and family took over though and I neglected the professional parts of my photography and only shot for myself. Now I only work part time to focus again on my photographic work.

I studied political science, economics, philosophy and finally got my degree in public administration. Currently I am sharing my time between being a public service IT specialist and my photography.

I am not putting up any ads, ask for donations, have sponsored articles or reviews of free items. I abhor the fixation on stuff and gear that has infected the photography world. I also want to keep this website clean and visually appealing to my readers. If you want to support my work you can buy my photo magazine “Departure Berlin” which was a project quite dear to my heart.