ESO Photo Ambassador Heiko Sommer

Heiko was born in Germany and has been working at ESO's Headquarters in Garching bei München since 2001. During this time the ALMA project, as well as other projects, have provided him with exciting travel and photo opportunities. He considers taking pictures as the easiest form of creative expression and as an excuse to travel and explore sites more slowly. When on duty at the observatories, a photo tour is a refreshing break from the work-sleep-eat cycle.

Heiko’s goal is to show scenes as he perceives them, sometimes including silly associations if he observed any. It is his (as yet unfulfilled) wish to also make environmental portraits of people rather than simply take snapshots. He enjoys sharing ideas, software, and knowledge, for example by making contributions to OpenStreetMap. He would be very happy if his published ESO photos communicated a sense of beauty or fun to other people upon seeing them.