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Martin Schoeller
Martin Schoeller (born March 12, 1968) is one of the world’s preeminent contemporary portrait photographers. He is most known for his extreme close-up portraits, a series in which familiar faces are treated with the same scrutiny as the unfamous. The stylistic consistency of this work creates a democratic platform for comparison between his subjects, challenging a viewer’s existing notions of celebrity, value and honesty. His work appears in National Geographic Magazine, The New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, TIME, GQ, Rolling Stone, GQ, Vogue, among others. In June 2025, he was honored at the Lucie Awards for his Achievement in Portraiture.
Born in Munich, Germany on March 12, 1968. In his early years he was influenced by photographers August Sander, Bernd Becher, and Hilla Becher. Schoeller studied photography at Lette-Verein in Berlin.
Schoeller started his career in Germany, and came to New York in 1993 and worked as an assistant for Annie Leibovitz from 1993 to 1996. Here he developed his "big head" portrait technique, a term coined by him, of his style of "hyper-detailed close ups", which later gave him worldwide acclaim. He left in 1996 to pursue his freelancing career. Soon his street portraits started getting published in Rolling Stone, GQ, Esquire, Entertainment Weekly, and W. In 1999, Schoeller joined Richard Avedon as a contributing portrait photographer to The New Yorker since then.
Over the years, his large-scale portraits have been exhibited at various museums and galleries worldwide. A book of his portraits was published by teNeues in 2005: "Close Up: Portraits 1998-2005", consisting of 75 tight portraits, put together from over 300 shoots with various celebrities.
Another, "Female Bodybuilders," was published by Pond Press in 2008. Stern published a portfolio of his work, "Fotographie Portfolio #54", also in 2008. He shot the controversial cover of the May 21, 2012 issue of Time magazine about attachment parenting. In his book "Identical: Portraits of Twins" by teNeues, he examines 40 sets of identical twins and multiples in his distinctive close-up style. His book "Portraits", published in 2014 by teNeues, features a 15-year retrospective of his environmental portraiture. He also launched simultaneous exhibitions in Berlin and New York City featuring the work upon release of the book.
In 2017 to celebrate their centennial, Forbes Magazine assigned Schoeller to photograph the '100 Greatest Living Business Minds'.
In 2018 he published his book, "Close" by Steidl, which features celebrities, musicians, politicians, businessmen, the homeless, and many more individuals from his various projects throughout the years. All the images are shot in Schoeller's iconic "close up" portraiture style. The same year he was commissioned by Out Magazine to photograph 109 subjects for the publication's annual portfolio, which highlights the most influential and compelling members of the LGBTQIA+ community of the year.
In 2019 he was assigned by New York Magazine to photograph drag queens at DragCon Los Angeles. Schoeller photographed 37 subjects, marking the beginning of his project photographing queens in Los Angeles, New York, Berlin, and London. His newest monograph, "Drag Queens" is in production, set to be published by Steidl in 2025.
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Martin Schoeller
Martin Schoeller (born March 12, 1968) is one of the world’s preeminent contemporary portrait photographers. He is most known for his extreme close-up portraits, a series in which familiar faces are treated with the same scrutiny as the unfamous. The stylistic consistency of this work creates a democratic platform for comparison between his subjects, challenging a viewer’s existing notions of celebrity, value and honesty. His work appears in National Geographic Magazine, The New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, TIME, GQ, Rolling Stone, GQ, Vogue, among others. In June 2025, he was honored at the Lucie Awards for his Achievement in Portraiture.
Born in Munich, Germany on March 12, 1968. In his early years he was influenced by photographers August Sander, Bernd Becher, and Hilla Becher. Schoeller studied photography at Lette-Verein in Berlin.
Schoeller started his career in Germany, and came to New York in 1993 and worked as an assistant for Annie Leibovitz from 1993 to 1996. Here he developed his "big head" portrait technique, a term coined by him, of his style of "hyper-detailed close ups", which later gave him worldwide acclaim. He left in 1996 to pursue his freelancing career. Soon his street portraits started getting published in Rolling Stone, GQ, Esquire, Entertainment Weekly, and W. In 1999, Schoeller joined Richard Avedon as a contributing portrait photographer to The New Yorker since then.
Over the years, his large-scale portraits have been exhibited at various museums and galleries worldwide. A book of his portraits was published by teNeues in 2005: "Close Up: Portraits 1998-2005", consisting of 75 tight portraits, put together from over 300 shoots with various celebrities.
Another, "Female Bodybuilders," was published by Pond Press in 2008. Stern published a portfolio of his work, "Fotographie Portfolio #54", also in 2008. He shot the controversial cover of the May 21, 2012 issue of Time magazine about attachment parenting. In his book "Identical: Portraits of Twins" by teNeues, he examines 40 sets of identical twins and multiples in his distinctive close-up style. His book "Portraits", published in 2014 by teNeues, features a 15-year retrospective of his environmental portraiture. He also launched simultaneous exhibitions in Berlin and New York City featuring the work upon release of the book.
In 2017 to celebrate their centennial, Forbes Magazine assigned Schoeller to photograph the '100 Greatest Living Business Minds'.
In 2018 he published his book, "Close" by Steidl, which features celebrities, musicians, politicians, businessmen, the homeless, and many more individuals from his various projects throughout the years. All the images are shot in Schoeller's iconic "close up" portraiture style. The same year he was commissioned by Out Magazine to photograph 109 subjects for the publication's annual portfolio, which highlights the most influential and compelling members of the LGBTQIA+ community of the year.
In 2019 he was assigned by New York Magazine to photograph drag queens at DragCon Los Angeles. Schoeller photographed 37 subjects, marking the beginning of his project photographing queens in Los Angeles, New York, Berlin, and London. His newest monograph, "Drag Queens" is in production, set to be published by Steidl in 2025.