Walter Schmitz started his photographic career in sports photography. His pictures are characterized by depth and lightness, tragedy and poetics. Magazines such as stern, Geo and FAZ-magazin have published his work in form of extensive photo essays. His reportage on the Tour de France won the World Press Award 1992 and his photograph “mud bike” was awarded picture of the year. Next to sports reportages like “Fussball in Afrika und Brasilien” (Football in Africa and Brasil) , “Tifosis in Italien” (Tifosis in Italy) , “Boxer in Kuba” (Boxers in Cuba) oder “Sport in Russland” (Sports in Russia) his work features essays dealing with various topics such as “Leben und Tod in Neapel” (Living and Dying in Naples), a depiction of rural life in India along the “Salt March of Mahatma Gandhi”, as well as reportages on the working world, on drilling platforms or ice-breakers. Currently Walter Schmitz is working on a project on Berlin/Peking and a series about boxers. Walter Schmitz lives in Hamburg.