Manfred Heiduk is based in Dusseldorf and travels constantly to Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Cape Town and London. Manfred spent many years as an illustrator and creative director in digital media. With more than 20 years of experience in photography, he is specialised in shooting in extreme conditions.

For Karstadt Sports he shot in the Italian Alps, Austrian Glaciers, Mojave Desert and Death Valley. He is continually booked for running, biking, ski and fashion productions.

Manfred has assembled a great team that can tackle any situation - and do it with enthusiasm and efficiency. As a photographer he loves to challenge himself by discovering new places where there are unique stories to tell.

Offering full service international photo and video productions, his clients include Adidas, Puma, Nike, Sportarena, FIFA, Sidestep, Runners Point, C&A, Kaufhof, Boecker, Deichmann and Metro Group.

The Dusseldorf based agency was established in 2001 and delivers high quality services within the advertising and fashion business. The booking team supports their clients with 25 years of experience and a growing network of highly talented artists, which combine craftsmanship and creativity for the best possible results. In 2010 the 21rent department was added with a fine selection of showrooms, locations and rental studios.

In August 2016 the agency launched the trend setting blogging special lookdepartment, which provides the influencer market with highly qualified bloggers for fashion, lifestyle and beauty brands.

21Agency is a founding member of the bavus e.V. and sets new standards in this supporting part of the advertising business.

Dirk Krüll is an editorial photographer with over 30 years of experience. After his studies at the Folkwang School (GHS Essen) Dirk has collaborated with a great number of renowned German magazines such as Stern, FAZ, Zeit, Geo, among others. He is represented by the Laif agency and is a member of the DGPH. Dirk's works have won several awards and have been published internationally. His photography has been exhibited in many galleries and museums, with some of his works displayed for the permanent exhibition at the Ruhrmuseum in Essen. 

In recent years his work has led him into corporate, cars, landscape, architecture and interior photography. He is currently working on a project about industrial architecture in his Rhein-Ruhr homeland. The series of photographs featured in this Showcase is exploring the industrial aesthetics of big cities of his region. Dirk's photography embraces the urban environment as a new human habitat and reveals the beauty created by the contrast of natural elements and industrial constructions.

You can see more works on his web site or email Dirk direcly.

Welcome to our debut issue of Showcase Dusseldorf, brought to you by Production Paradise, featuring some of the leading photographers, photo agents, stylists, photo production and post production companies, rental studios, and equipment rental companies currently working out of Dusseldorf.

You can find more creative professionals and facilities for photographic and film production in our Dusseldorf Photo and Film directories. 

Companies such as Vogue, Philips, Henkel, Porsche, L'Oréal Paris, Heineken, Dr. Oetker, Volvo, Adidas, BMW, and Discovery Magazine, among others, have trusted these professionals with their latest advertising campaigns and editorial shoots.

Be sure not to miss our recommended events:

• The Red Couch Worldwide - photography exhibition by Horst Wackerbarth, featuring the quarter of a century lasting project. 800 people from 52 countries have been photographed on the travelling red couch. Until 30th October at NRW Forum, Dusseldorf. 
• not abstract - photography exhibition by Andreas Gursky, featuring selected early works and new project, exploring the abstract potential of the photographic medium. Until 6th November at Kunstsammlung, Dusseldorf.

Our cover image was shot by Astrid Möller. 

Founded in Dusseldorf in 1985, Elegant Elephant Studios is one of the biggest photo studios in Germany, located on the premises of a former steel works.

The 2,800 m² space can accomodate film and photo productions for every type of client. From automobile to food, fashion and people photography, spaces range from smaller studios measuring 40 m² or large work spaces measuring more than 500 m².

Elegant Elephant also features professional mask rooms, hair washing sinks and showers, production offices, a workshop for set builders and a large coffee bar. For creative breaks and meetings, the studios have comfortable lounge areas seperate from the set.

Elegant Elephant also provides the appropriate rooms and, if needed, the necessary equipment for shoots as well as corresponding services to support a production with experienced photo assistants.

Burkhard Henrichs is a long established fashion and advertising photographer, based in Dusseldorf, with an additional production outpost based in Cape Town.

Having worked for an impressive line up of fashion clients over the last two decades worlwide like Falke, Burlington, Esprit, Schiesser, Barbara Schwarzer, Odlo, Alberto Via Appia, Karstadt, Kaufhof and many more, Burkhard has kept the eye and the feel for the zeitgeist and impressive new visual looks, from edgy editorials like the latest Spectr. issue to commercial studio work.

Aside from his much loved travel production expertise (USA, Europe, Central America and South Africa), he is also known for his attractive studio work, bringing in his analogue experience, creating the perfect light in today's digital world.

Creativity, reliability, friendly service  and the will "to go the extra mile" are some of the striking features that characterise him and his work.

Working from his bright and spacious downtown, backyard studio in the centre of Dusseldorf, Domenik Broich is driven by a passion for their work creating images across still life, fashion, food, kids and advertising.

His professional vocation, precise work and excellent lighting abilities provides consistent success and has earned him the trust of many long-term clients including Kettler, Strellson, Step Magazine, G-LAB, Fashion ID, Michael Meyer, GDS Messe Düsseldorf, KunstundKollegen, Echopark/KIK and more.

Domenik is known for his reliability and strong problem solving abilities. The studio is always trying to push boundaries, keeping clients' needs, deadlines and budgets firmly in mind.

Domenik's professional work-flow and constant attention to quality make him the perfect partner for any project.

Stefan Kapfer is a fashion photographer specialised in beauty editorials and campaigns. His success in beauty and fashion photography is rooted in his background. Having started as an independent makeup artist in New York, Stefan developed a great eye for detail. His professional career as a photographer has begun in 1998 with the Cavita (Escada Group) campaign featuring Kelly Fischer. Since then his lense captured many more celebrities such as R. Hunold, Nick Heidfeld and David Bowie.

Stefan is now based in Germany with his second base in Cape Town. He has worked all over the world shooting catalogues for clients like Tchibo, C&A, Ernstings Family and editorials for magazines like Eyewear Magazine, ELLE and Style. His clients love him for his problem-solving ability and unique and elegant style.

Iver Hansen is a Dusseldorf-based car photographer with many years of experience. In 1984, Iver designed and built his own studio, specialized in car photography.

In 1996 he included professional post production in his workflow and a few years later he started using CGI in-house. In 2002, Iver produced his first full-CGI campain for Audi.

Iver is still on the road doing fine images.

Felix Gemein is a Dusseldorf-based photographer specialised in people, documentary and aerial photography. His list of clients include brands like Huawei, Red Bull, Pacific Airlines, NRW bank, Sony Playstation, Claas, Veolia and many more.

Felix's photoraphy tries to capture the true character of his subjects. This, combined with the clean geometry of his works, creates a unique and expressive style.

In 2012 Felix discovered his passion for aerial photography and now keeps working in this area as a skilled drone pilot for video and photo production.

Currently Felix and his team are working on a big documentary about RC-Sports, the world full of fascination for engineering, technology and competitions.

To know more about the recent projects and to see more work, visit his website.