Photographer Birgit Maddox is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From the project ‘Germany’. To see Birgit’s body of work, click on any photograph.

“Communication with nature is the oldest, deepest form of spiritual practice, connecting us to our ancient ancestral knowledge. My continuous quest is to tap into the power of the elements, the mystery and what connects humanity with the natural world.” I am fascinated by mystery. The hidden – the obscure – the ethereal and otherworldly. I want to go beyond what the eye can see.

Each year, I return to Germany, where I was born, to photograph the landscapes of my childhood. These places hold memories of wandering through woods and fields, and they continue to connect me to something elemental and ancestral. In these moments, the landscape becomes both external and internal—a reflection of my inner world.

I am fascinated by mystery—the hidden, the obscure, the ethereal. My work is an ongoing attempt to move beyond what the eye can see and to touch something deeper, something felt rather than explained. It is in this space, where life, art, and the unknown meet, that my images are created.

Birgit Maddox was born in Bietigheim/Baden in 1963 in Southern Germany. Trained in Traditional Printing and Design she developed a keen eye for spatial relations. Starting out with 35 mm, she now works mostly with Medium Format, mainly Hasselblad. Birgit moved to the West Coast of California in 1984. She returns to her European roots every summer, continuously working on her projects. “As Above so Below” was her first body of work which shows nature as a reflection on the human psyche. She continues working on “Endangered” a series capturing the ways of old, simplicity, and what is in danger of getting lost. “Moments” capture the passing moments, a subtle gesture on human emotion. 

Her most recent collection is a pinhole series called “Epoch Ephemeral” depicting herself in the fleeting moments in a landscape.  

Birgit Maddox has been the Category Awardee in the 21th Julia Margaret Cameron Award and Foto Nostrum. Her work is represented by galleries in the United States and Europe. While she experimented with all types of Alternative processes, she has remained most interested in black and white silver gelatin prints, which she develops, prints and tones in her darkroom in Pacific Grove, California.

All images and text © Birgit Maddox