Biography

Franz Josef NatschlaegerFranz Josef Natschlaeger

About me

I was born in Linz/Donau in Austria. My father presented me with my first camera at the age of 12 – a Zeiss Ikonta viewfinder camera with a bellows and black and white film (format: 6×9 cm) and he gave me a first introduction to lighting.

Sunshine: f = 16/  t = 1/ 125,  cloudy : f = 8/ t = 1/125, rain: f = 5,6 / t = 1/60.   It was not really difficult for a boy of my age. Please compare it with the possibilities of a modern digital cam and imagine you are twelve.

Two years later I worked with colour film and a  Voigtlaender Vitessa T (24×36 mm). My subjects were natural landscapes, architecture, macro, wildlife and outdoor portraits.

After grammar school I studied mathematics and physics at  J. Kepler University in Linz. During my studies I earned money as a photographer for the City of Linz and an advertising agency. Shortly after finishing my studies I had some photo exhibitions in Linz. Of course my studies had an impact on my way of taking pictures. In 1988 I developed a way to take holograms with cm-lenses. Normally people use mm-lenses and they have a lot of problems with vibration. My method was less sensitive to mechanical oscillation because cm-lenses do not enlarge as much as microscope-lenses. My first holographic film (Ilford) was on glassplates like in the dawn of photography.

Now I work as a teacher at a commercial college in Linz (HAK-Auhof) and as a teacher trainer at the Private University College of Education of the Diocese of Linz. For many years I have also been a photography trainer . Although cameras have changed from analog to digital, basics like aperture and shutterspeed are still valid.

Technical capabilities of modern digital cams are enormous and I often take advantage of them, especially in astronomy and IR/UV-light.

But it is also a  great pleasure for me to take pictures of an old steam locomotive with a medium-format TLR Rolleiflex from 1970 on B&W-film.

Ernst Haas:

There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.