Jury 2010

Hans-Peter Junker

EDITOR, VIEW MAGAZINE (GERMANY)

Hans-Peter Junker is the chief editor of VIEW magazine and news director at Stern magazine, Germany’s pre-eminent photo-reportage and news publications for current affairs and general interest stories.

After starting his career as a journalist at Munich’s Abendzeitung, he went to work as chief news reporter at Bunte magazine in 1992 before joining Stern as its culture and entertainment chief reporter in 1997. His passion for images as well as quality news reporting then led him to the idea of creating a monthly magazine devoted to the most interesting pictures, people and news from around the globe in a modern format.

"When my fine colleague Tom Jacobi and I developed VIEW in 2005, our goal was to create a magazine in which the pictures play the leading role with the text supporting the images. In VIEW we tell our stories in pictures."

Now celebrating its fifth birthday, the magazine has won awards for its content and has a significant online photo community which publishes its own E-paper and invites photographers to become members so they can create an online profile, upload their own photos and rate the images of other members.

Editor of the magazine since 2008, what is a typical day like for him? "I hunt with my photo editors for the best pictures in the world. We scan around 8,000 to 10,000 photos a day. I create the best possible layouts for the stories with my art director. However, I am more hands-off with the writers so they have time to research all the facts so that they can tell the stories behind the pictures. Generally, we’re always fine tuning the melody of VIEW magazine so we can make it as irresistible to read as possible."

What does he love about photography? "It touches you instantly. And it's after this direct emotional impact that you begin to think – sometimes in a completely new direction. I think photography is the most emotional art besides music."

As an editor in the digital age who is reliant on images-on-demand, Junker is positive about the advances in photography and communication. "Digitalization makes it possible now to have eyes all around the globe and to get a photo from anywhere within a very short period of time."

Even though Hans-Peter is used to seeing thousands of images a day about every topic possible at the click of a button, he is excited about seeing Red Bull Illume’s concentrated collection of action and adventure sports photography. "I’m happy to have the chance to see incredible new pictures from gifted photographers first hand."

http://view.stern.de