Thomas Esau was born on February 19th, 1983, in Kyrgyzstan. He is based in Frankfurt, Germany, and spends regular time on the Aegean coast of Turkey, where his wife's family is from.
He started taking photographs as a teenager but put the camera away for years. It came back into his life when he noticed he had stopped paying attention to his surroundings - walking the same paths without really seeing them. Photography gave him a reason to look again. He returned to it through film, which forced him to slow down, think about composition, and read the light before shooting. That discipline shaped the way he still works today.
He shoots primarily with Leica M-series rangefinders and always travels with his camera. His work has taken him across Europe and beyond and spans street photography, architecture, landscape, and documentary. Based in Germany, he photographs regularly at home as well as abroad, and is particularly drawn to light, shadow, and the unguarded moments that happen in public spaces.