I would have to say that graffiti was the catalyst for my love of art. At the age of 16 meeting Sigmar Polke at his huge retrospective in Bonn made me even more interested in fine arts. Following that, I started to draw and had paintings exhibited 2 years later.
Also during that time, my best friend, who I had a crush on, moved to London. Our only source of communication was through mail. I wanted my mails to look and make her feel special on top of what I wrote to her. I created my own envelopes by cutting out my favorite pictures out of hundreds of magazines. I collected thousands of tearsheets and still remember vividly pictures by David La Chapelle, Guy Bourdin, Jeff Koons and others who caught my breath.
Since then I have always wanted to be able to re-create these wonderful feelings that those pictures gave me and started to take photographs of everything I loved.
Schooling or Training?
Both schooling and training are necessary. There's no better way to get into photography than training. However, it's not just about "pushing the button" otherwise everyone would be a photographer today. And that's where schooling can come into play.