About me, the author

I am Jörg Sczepek—a passionate autodidact, driven by an insatiable curiosity and an almost burning need to plumb the intricacies of whatever has captured my interest.

I cannot rest until I have immersed myself in the very essence of a subject—be it the interplay of light on a lens, the hidden currents of human perception, or the silent laws of nature revealing themselves in a single fleeting moment. Everything I know about photography, psychology, and the natural sciences, I have taught myself—step by step. Without formal academic study, but rather through countless nights spent poring over books, innumerable experiments with a camera in hand, and quiet hours of reflection beneath the open sky.

For me, this quest for deep understanding is not a hobby, but the very elixir of life. Without it, I feel incomplete—like a sky without stars. I thrive on those sudden "Eureka!" moments when a puzzle falls into place, on the quiet joy felt when a seemingly simple natural phenomenon reveals its full depth, and on the certainty that true knowledge is not bestowed, but earned.

It is from this inner fire that my books were born:

The Photographers Companions—practical travel guides with a photographer’s eye, designed to help you discover the best lighting conditions and compositions at the most beautiful locations across the American Southwest.

The book series Nature Science+Photography—which explains why some images move us while others do not, by shedding light on the psychological, physiological, and scientific foundations of photography.

The book In The Breath of the Whole explores the idea that there may be a scientific basis for a powerful sentiment found throughout human cultural history: that the world is a unified whole and that all things are interconnected.

As you read my texts, you may sense a distinct voice: not that of a detached instructor lecturing from books, but rather that of someone who has wrestled with—and won—every single thought through personal effort. It is a voice shaped by genuine curiosity, a reverence for the mysterious, and the sheer joy of venturing just a little deeper into the hidden realms.

Welcome to my website.

I hope that my work sparks something within you—whether it be a desire to take better photos on your next trip to the USA, or a fascination with how seeing and photographing truly work.

I produce books on paper and images on film..
Books are, for me, congealed truth.
Weiting is the ultimate engagement with a subject.
Photography on silver-based film come closest to reality, in my perception. Digital images strike me as artificial.
Art is the human attempt to express a deep emotional insight that cannot be communicated verbally—or only with difficulty.
Photography, —aside from mere documentation—is the attempt by an individual gifted in this regard to render their insights experiential. For this reason, in this sense, it is also art.
The worls is not only different from how we perceive it, but also completely different from how we can perceive and imagine it.

What motivates me

The driving force behind my work is my curiosity about photography, nature, and the sciences—along with the urge to transform knowledge into insight: to take theoretical knowledge and fashion it into something of practical value. Furthermore, I aim to explore why photography plays such a significant role for me and for so many others. I have set down my initial thoughts on this subject here. You can read about the equipment I use to create my images here.