I have been using SIGMA lenses since 2014, starting with the 120-300mm 2.8 EX DG APO OS HSM. After I won the APOY (Amateur Photographer of the Year) competition in 2017, I received three more lenses – SIGMA 85mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art, SIGMA 35mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art, and SIGMA 24-35mm F2 DG HSM | Art – and my life as a photographer changed completely. Not only was I able to enjoy SIGMA lenses and their quality, image resolution and beautiful bokeh, but following my correspondence with SIGMA I was also lucky enough to become a brand ambassador for SIGMA Austria.

I originally got the SIGMA 120-300mm F2.8 EX DG APO OS HSM because I was looking for an easily-portable telezoom lens for sports photography. I will never forget the first time I actually tried out the lens at a slalom waterski competition here in Austria. I went on to use the successor model SIGMA 120-300mm F2.8 DG OS HSM | Sports, too. The sharpness, mobility and the beautiful bokeh of these lenses made them ideal companions for my endeavors into wildlife photography. It was as if they opened a new world for me.

I shoot most of my pictures with just three lenses – SIGMA APO MACRO 180mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM, SIGMA 85mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art, and SIGMA 120-300mm F2.8 DG OS HSM | Sports. I am a software developer in my day-to-day life, and I spend most of my weekends and my days off out in nature, taking photographs together with my partner Perdita Petzl. While I am still an “amateur” photographer, I am very proud of the passion and dedication I put into my photography.

If you take a look at my photographs, you will notice that the background is a very important aspect of each of my pictures. That is why – even though build quality, sharpness and image quality are, of course, essential – I also pay great attention to the beauty and quality of a lens’ bokeh. It is almost impossible to create beautiful out-of-focus areas in post-processing, but since I always get ideal photos from my SIGMA lenses, this is nothing I really have to worry about.