About Jan Söhlke – Industrial & Scientific Photographer
I specialise in photographing scientific research, industry, and corporate environments – and in producing visuals that honour what happens in them. Based in NRW, Germany, with a background heading communications across both research institutions and the corporate world, I am comfortable with technical language and lab protocols, understand production and research contexts, and am clear on the work my images are commissioned to do.
Philosophy & Approach
I started photographing with an Instamatic 100. The square prints I got from it left me with a feeling that has never quite gone away: fascination and curiosity for what the world looks like when it stops moving.
This feeling is still driving how I capture the essence of high-tech industry and cutting-edge research today: it now means identifying the visual heartbeat of a subject, muting what competes with it, and letting what remains anchor the frame. People, objects, and processes that disappear into their own surroundings every day reveal their inherent aesthetic when their context is carefully controlled. This is as true on location in a cleanroom as in a portrait studio.
My Background
As staff photographer and head of communication at the Center for Sensor Systems (ZESS)/University of Siegen, I understand cleanroom and laser safety protocols, the delicate nature of custom experimental setups, and how to ensure the production footprint is kept to a minimum.
I have spent years both inside and alongside research and technological environments – as a photographer, as a scientific coordinator for a DFG-funded research unit, and as a science communicator. I know that translating complex technical work for non-specialist audiences only works if nothing gets distorted in the process – a lesson I first learned from setting up and heading communications for a Vienna-based IT startup that has since become a globally successful technology company.
Having earned my PhD through the ProLit programme at LMU Munich, I am familiar with the dedication required for long-term work. I recognise sensitive environments and capture them with the precision and integrity that complex projects and the people behind them deserve. A record of my academic contributions can be found on Google Scholar, and my doctoral thesis is available via DSpace or through the published edition at Universi.
Based in Telgte near Münster, my work connects me to institutions across North Rhine-Westphalia and to research contexts nationally and internationally. When I am not behind the lens, I spend my time with my family, in the mountains, or practising martial arts.
Contact me
You are looking for a photographer who will strengthen your visual identity or you have a photography project in mind you’d like to discuss? Get in touch, and we’ll make it happen:
