MAXIMILIAN MANN PHOTOGRAPHY


Between Hope and Dystopia (2020–ongoing)




Wildfire training for the volunteer fire brigade in Newel, led by the company Euro-Waldbrand. The increasing interest in training for fighting wildfires and forest fires reflects the growing threat in Germany. The changing climate significantly increases the risk of forest fires in the coming decades, as so-called fire weather, characterised by high temperatures, little precipitation and strong winds, will occur more frequently. Newel, 26.08.2023
Roofs are protected in Bad Bayersoien after a storm and massive hail. On 26.08.2023, about 80 percent of the roofs were damaged by tennis ball-sized hailstones, causing damage in the hundreds of millions. Hailstorms are on the increase - most likely as a result of the climate crisis, according to the European Severe Weather Institute. Both the frequency and the size of hailstones have increased. Climate change increases the water vapour content in the lower layers of the atmosphere, which is a major factor in the increase of hail. Bad Bayersoien, 06.09.2023
Activists from "Ende Gelände" protest against the construction of an LNG terminal after illegally entering the port of Mukran on the island of Rügen. They criticise that the infrastructure will cement the use of the climate-damaging raw material for decades to come, and profound and irreparable impacts on the environment under and above water.
Mukran, 23.09.2023
Michael Heinen, weather service technician at the Hohenpeißenberg Meteorological Observatory, shortly before an ozone measurement. The ozone measurements at Hohenpeißenberg show that it has become about 2.6 degrees warmer in the troposphere in this region between the mid-1060s and 2023. Hohenpeißenberg, 19.04.2023
The climate crisis is accelerating the extinction of species in Germany as well, and the long-term survival of great tits is considered to be at risk. Because the caterpillars turn into butterflies earlier, but the great tits cannot adjust their breeding times quickly enough, the titmouse offspring have to starve. According to a study by the "Norwegian University of Science and Technology" and "Oxford University", great tits could become extinct by 2100 due to climate change. 
LWL Museum of Natural History Münster, 13.4.2023
Butterfly experts wait for butterflies. Fewer and fewer butterflies are to be found, the animals have migrated northwards more slowly than their climatic requirements would suggest. According to the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation in Bonn, at least 60 butterfly species are already extinct, 494 others are threatened with extinction or endangered to varying degrees. Frechen, 16.06.2023
A crane lifts a ship out of the Edersee in late summer as the reservoir's water levels are too low for navigation. The dam near Kassel must release increasing amounts of water into the Weser, especially during the summer months when the river faces low water levels. The prolonged dry periods are causing extreme water shortages in the Edersee, severely impacting tourism in the region.
Edersee, 21.09.2022
Rewetting peatlands, like here in the Peene Valley near Usedom, can be a meaningful contribution to climate protection. Peatlands store enormous amounts of carbon dioxide. Peene Valley, 10.05.2023
Researchers at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel are testing the restoration of seagrass meadows, which protect coastlines, store CO₂, and provide habitat for numerous species. Early results are promising: At three locations along the Baltic Sea coast, more than 3,000 square meters have already been replanted with 12,000 seagrass plants. Kiel, 28.05.2024
Fishermen "fishing" a carp pond near Erlangen. 
Above all, it is the increasingly dry winters that worry many carp breeders. This is because the ponds lack water in spring due to less precipitation. Erlangen, 13.10.2020
Mosquito specimens in the historical collection of the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute on the island of Riems. Due to the climate crisis, significant changes in the native mosquito fauna and the occurrence of mosquito-associated pathogens, such as West Nile Virus, have been documented in Germany in recent years. Riems, 11.05.2023
The largest artificial lake landscape in Europe is to be built near Cottbus. But the planners have not taken climate change into account in Lusatia; there has been too little rainfall in Brandenburg in recent years, the Spree also suffers from a lack of water, and the flooding of the Cottbus "Ostsees" has already had to be interrupted several times. Cottbus, 17.09.2020
A Salad factory in Willich. The so-called deep-floating technique is unique in Germany so far. Compared to conventional cultivation in the field, 90 percent water is saved, as hardly a drop evaporates in the greenhouse due to the polystyrene panels. Willich, 19.09.2023
A Volkswagen laboratory for research on car batteries. From 2035 onwards, internal combustion vehicles will no longer be registered in the EU. But electric vehicles are still expensive to buy, and the charging infrastructure and range are not yet good enough.
Salzgitter, 25.02.2022
In 2022, more private jets took off from German airports than ever before. At the same time, private flights have an above-average impact on the climate in relation to their transport capacity.
The richest 1 percent of the German population consumes about 105 tonnes of CO2 per year, the poorest just over 3 tonnes, i.e. almost 35 times less.
Friedrichshafen, 19.04.2023
An activist from Extinction Rebellion during an unannounced flash mob at Berlin Central Station. The environmental movement wants to draw attention to the worldwide extinction of species with the dance flash mob. Berlin, 15.04.2023
The district of Eissel was completely cut off from the rest of the world at the end of 2023. Flooding turned the village of around 300 inhabitants into a kind of island, as the access roads were flooded. Verden, 30.12.2023


Temperatures in Germany have risen significantly more than the global average. Change is evident across the country—both in the landscape and in society.

But how can images capture a slow, creeping transformation? How can the climate crisis be visually represented beyond the usual clichés?

This photo essay on the climate crisis in Germany does not seek sensational images but rather quiet testimonies of a country gradually changing amid the crisis. Germany faces a serious challenge: as an industrial and automobile powerhouse, it must become climate-neutral by 2045. That leaves only 20 years—a race against time. Economic interests, political ideologies, and possible solutions have become increasingly heated topics of debate in Germany in the 2020s. The social climate is shifting, climate activists are mobilizing, and scientists are searching for new solutions. Yet coal mining continues, the expansion of wind power remains too slow, and discussions persist about how much longer gasoline-powered cars should be sold.
This photo essay depicts a photographic journey through Germany, focusing on a country in transition. What new and hopeful approaches exist to slow down the climate crisis? How is Germany’s landscape changing? And what does this mean for people's daily lives? The essay aims to give viewers a sense of a nation in crisis—a quiet and restrained testimony of transformation, balancing between hope and dystopia.

Supported by True Picture Award










based in Dortmund/Hamburg, Germany info@maximilian-mann.com  + 49 157 70268645