Thekla Ehling was born in Bielefeld/Germany. After doing an apprenticeship as a bookbinder, she studied
Photography at the University of Applied Sciences in Dortmund and at the College of Fine Arts in Limerick,
Ireland.
Thekla Ehling is best known for her remarkable portraits. She always succeeds in capturing the essence of each
individual, regardless whether they are famous or not. Her very personal approach highlights the idiosyncrasies
and the unique presence of the person portrayed making her photographs stand out, with an imagery all of their
own.
She first became known through her photobook “Sommerherz”, in which she deals with the subject of childhood.
In this project her sensitive portraits and atmospheric settings document her own children and their friends
growing up. This process supplies the viewer with a frame of reference they can associate with allowing them to
delve into their own childhood memories.
Her photobooks Sommerherz and Vergizsmeinicht are published by Kehrer Verlag.
Both books have been nominated for the German Photobook Prize in 2009 and 2012.
She works for magazines in Germany and abroad and is represented by the gallery Robert Morat in
Hamburg/Berlin. Her work was shown at the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Arles, in galleries
and exhibitions in Hamburg, Paris, Rome, Warschau, Sydne, Melbourne, Miami and New York.
In 2014 she was one of the members who founded the PhotoBook Museum in
