Hans-Otto Thomashoff was born in Cologne. Since his childhood days he went out into nature. The abundant colours of the birds became his personal passion. Already while studying medicine and art history in Germany he started to travel the world. He chose to do part of his medical training in Jamaica, Malaysia, the USA, South Africa and New Zealand where he had the opportunity to get to know the wildlife and the birds of other continents. More than 80 countries he has travelled so far. Wherever he goes, his camera is with him. His main focus: The birds of the world. To date he has seen more than 2500 species and many of them he has taken pictures of. More than a dozen times his pictures made it into the final round of the most renowned nature photography award, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year of the British Museum of Natural History in London. He also won prices at the Universum Nature Photography Award.

„When I travel into nature I feel free like a bird. I try to catch the atmosphere in my photography. The aesthetic language of my pictures remains connected to the art history that trained my eye. Out at sea, where life originated, I had the most touching nature experiences of my life. Our oceans are still partly unknown, yet acutely endangered. It is my artistic challenge to capture the intense emotions they evoke like freedom, drama or oceanic peace.”