Toby was born 1977 in Esslingen/Germany and studied at the Stuttgart Academy of Art and Design. Soon his photography focused on social, environmental and political topics.

Based in Argentina and Germany he works both on assignments and personal long-term projects. He is mostly interested in topics of post-war and crisis situations as well as in the daily life of people.

His work has been awarded internationally, e.g. with a Gomma Grant in 2020, the Felix-Schoeller and ZEKE-Award in 2019, the Philip-Jones-Griffiths-Award in 2018, the Sony-World-Photo-Awards in 2019 and 2017 and the Nannen-Preis in 2017. The same year he received an Honorable Mention by UNICEF Photo of the Year.

His work is published by Stern, Le Monde, The Guardian, The Washington Post, die Zeit, Zeit Magazin, Greenpeace Magazin, Amnesty Journal, Neue Zürcher Zeitung and others.

In March 2019 his first photo book „Wee Muckers – Youth of Belfast“ was published by Kehrer.