Meet Hero of the Week Eberhard Grossgasteiger

Welcome to Hero of the Week, an ongoing series sharing stories from some of the best photographers in the Pexels community.

Eberhard Grossgasteiger is a photographer we’re very lucky to count as a member of the Pexels community. In his day job, Eberhard works freelance as a web developer and network technician, but he’s also an immensely talented landscape photographer.

Based in Ahrntal, in the picturesque South Tyrol region of Italy, Eberhard is perfectly located to capture breathtaking mountain views and lush forest scenes. He first began shooting 25 years ago—on an analog camera, of course. The hobby fell by the wayside until 2017, when he happened to pick up a new camera, and got into photographing again. The Canon EOS 6D is now his camera of choice, and he typically uses Canon EF 50mm 1.8 STP and Canon EF 16–35mm 4.0 lenses for his nature and landscape images.

“I love the artistic charisma of analog photography—and love the workflow of digital development,” Eberhard says. He says he tries to think analog, but works digitally. “The intersection of both should produce the perfect photo.” While he appreciates the analog aesthetic, the convenience and the editing possibilities of digital have him hooked. He mostly uses Photoshop for photo editing, and especially recommends the Adobe Camera Raw plugin. “I hate oversaturated colors, and love dark and gloomy moods.”

It’s true that much of Eberhard’s landscape work is moody, but he’s also an expert at balancing the dark and light tones of an image to create just the right level of contrast. He cites photographer Joshua Fuller as a major inspiration—"He has in my subjective opinion the perfect symbiosis between colors, light, and mood!"

For now, Eberhard’s next goal with his photography is to work on a project with his brother. “He is an adventurer and outdoor-freak and, we want to combine our two competences—my photography and his outdoor experience—into a successful package.” They’re thinking of experimenting with drone photography.

Eberhard’s advice for other photographers is to learn the basics. It’s clear that the beauty of his photography lies not just in incredible settings, but rather in a lot of hard work and self-guided study. He points out that you don’t need to buy the newest and most expensive gear, or take a photography class, but simply that spending the time to really understand how your camera works is crucial. Eberhard also suggests starting out with a 50mm fixed focal length lens rather than the typical zoom lens: “The quality is far better, you learn to work with large and small apertures, and you will understand depth of field better.”

Follow Eberhard on Pexels and on Instagram at @eberhard_grossgasteiger.

Pexels Heroes is our invite-only community of the top photographers on Pexels. Find out more and apply to join here.