» ABOUT me
My name is Marion and i always wanted to be an artist
as a child i wanted to become a painter like my spanish grandfather or a comic-artist. other kids thought i was strange and different so i spend all my freetime alone reading books and comics. i was very shy. i always was very good at school, altough i never did any homework or learning. my parents took me to a lot of museums and art gallerys as we travelled around europe. in my freetime i drew and invented stories and poems i wrote down in sketchbooks. When i grew older i was more and more interested in art, design, biology, philosophy, human genetics and literature. i thought about studying history or art at a university.
i made my school leaving examination in 2001 at a Gymnasium (an academic high school in some central European countries, especially Germany).
2002 I spent 6-month in an agency for design and advertising making a practical training (designum in nagold).
2005 i worked in a computer company while studying computer science. this also included a 12-month practical training as programmer (aldata in vaihingen, stuttgart).
2006 I successfully absolved computer-science and mediadesign at the academy for electronic data processing ADV BB with the title "staatlich gepruefte informatikern (= computer scientist)" and good grades.
my family-history is filled with artists and photographers...
my grandparents once were photographers and had a studio in stuttgart-bad cannstatt, but i was not really aware of it nor interested when i was a child. my aunt, who today lives somewhere in the usa, also was a photographer and my father is a big fan and collector of leica camera. my spanish grandfather was a painter and designer. but, strangely, photography for me was something abstract and far away until the day i bought a digital camera in 2005. in a short period of time i knew i found my real profession. i decided to change my plans and started a second education as photographer.
at the end of 2006 i started learning in a traditional photostudio. i soon discovered that the style and philosophy of the owner was not what i would have had expected of a modern studio, my understanding of running a professional business and photography was totally different. as i had no option to quit because of the contract, i had 3 really hard years. also, i was treated badly at that place. because of that and all the overtime-work i had to do there, i became very sick for some months. in the same time, i went to photoschool, where i learned a lot about working in the lab with filmmaterial and chemicals and how to handle analogue large format cameras. i completed my education in 2009 with the "gesellenbrief".
2009 to today
today i work in a modern photostudio in esslingen am neckar (das foto). working there is very interesting as we have a lot of projects and always something new to learn. maybe i will see you there?
in the 3 years i learned to photograph i have experienced that FOLLOWING YOUR DREAMS IS NOT the easiest way of live AND CAN GET YOU THROUGH SOME really HARD TIMES. not only you do not earn money at the beginning, you also have to fight against a lot of people exploiting you as well as against your own self doubts. it makes you mad but you have to be patient as you have no choice. but there are also good, helpful people. i am glad i can share this experience with many wonderful and creative artists. photography has changed everything in my life and i am very thankful for the new experiences and chances life offers me now
a big "thank you" for all the support, especially to my closest friends and to my family & parents, who gave me all the money for my education made it all possible and always believed in me.
i am a photographer in third generation
in germany photography always was a handcraft and it still is today. my grandfather visited photoschool to learn the trade just like i do it now, 81 years later. actually i do not know much about my family or my roots. in 2008 My father made me a gift and gave me some old photos which i found very exciting as they show classic photographic work and my grandparents when they were young.
This is a photo from the ancient photostudio hassold in stuttgart east.
portrait-photos of my grandfather rudolf. he died when i was 1 year old. 
my grandmother elfriede cutting photos for the customers. i have to do this at work too.
the photostudio they had in the schwarenbergstr.133
the "gesellenbrief" (=certificate of apprenticeship) of my grandfather (1928) that my dad recently discovered and my own one (2009), both aquired in stuttgart. btw, the traditional studio hirrlinger still exists. i can not see a big change, but the 81 year old documents look more beautiful to me ;).
oh and "take a look at those awesome old graphics...
1928 - Rudolf Hassold
2009 - marion hassold
