Was born on March 7, 1936
in Landshut, Germany. 1957 to 1965: After his apprenticeship as a window dress-er, he worked in Barcelona, Canada and Switzerland before moving to New York.
In 1970, he returned to Germany, photographing for adverts as well as fashion and lifestyle magazines. As a freelance photogra-pher, he became particular-ly known for his character studies of prominent figures. For many years, he also created animal portraits with the same visual intensity. Together with his wife, the journalist Beate Lakotta, Walter Schels developed his multi-award-winning series on hospice patients, photographed before and after their deaths. The photographer has been based in Hamburg since 1990.
