Born October 6, 1945, in Berlin; died May 24, 2014, in Berlin) was a German photographer whose work is held in major national and international museum collections. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in postwar German photography.

Schmidt grew up in Berlin and experienced repeated relocations between East and West Germany during childhood, a formative background that strongly shaped his later work. He trained initially as a painter, worked various jobs, and served as a police officer before turning to photography as an autodidact in the mid-1960s. While still in the police force, he began teaching photography at adult education centers in Berlin.

In 1976, Schmidt founded the influential Werkstatt für Photographie at the Volkshochschule Kreuzberg, which became a key forum for contemporary photography in Germany. Through workshops, exhibitions, and lectures, the Werkstatt introduced American photographers associated with New Topographics and documentary practice—such as Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Diane Arbus, William Eggleston, and Larry Clark—to a German audience. Schmidt also taught extensively; among his students was Andreas Gursky, who later described Schmidt as his most important teacher.

Schmidt’s early work focused on Berlin neighborhoods such as Kreuzberg and Wedding. With Waffenruhe (1987), a psychological portrait of divided Berlin, he moved beyond strict documentary photography toward a more subjective and conceptual approach. The series was shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York as part of New Photography 4. In later projects such as Ein-heit (1996), Frauen (2000), and Irgendwo, Schmidt examined German reunification, social norms, and the loss of place and identity, often combining his own photographs with re-photographed media images.

In his final major work, Lebensmittel (2012), shown at the Venice Biennale and later awarded the Prix Pictet, Schmidt critically addressed global food production, introducing color photography into his practice for the first time. Shortly before his death, he received international recognition for this work.

Schmidt lived and worked primarily in Berlin. His archive is maintained by the Stiftung für Fotografie und Medienkunst mit Archiv Michael Schmidt.

Reference

Biography text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), German edition.
Retrieved January 19, 2026.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Schmidt_(Fotograf)