Martin Schoeller

Martin Schoeller (born March 12, 1968) is a German portrait photographer. He is most known for his extreme close-up portraits, a series in which familiar faces are treated with the same scrutiny as the unfamous. The stylistic consistency of this work creates a democratic platform for comparison between his subjects, challenging a viewer’s existing notions of celebrity, value and honesty. His work appears in National Geographic Magazine, The New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, TIME, GQ, Rolling Stone, GQ, Vogue,

Early life and education Born in Munich, Germany on March 12, 1968. In his early years he was influenced by photographers August Sander, Bernd Becher, and Hilla Becher. Schoeller studied photography at Lette-Verein in Berlin.

Career Schoeller started his career in Germany, He left in 1996 to pursue his freelancing career. Soon his street portraits started getting published in Rolling Stone, GQ, Esquire, Entertainment Weekly, and W. In 1999, Schoeller joined Richard Avedon as a contributing portrait photographer to The New Yorker since then. In his book "Identical: Portraits of Twins" by teNeues, he examines 40 sets of identical twins and multiples in his distinctive close-up style. His book "Portraits", published in 2014 by teNeues, features a 15-year retrospective of his environmental portraiture. He also launched simultaneous exhibitions in Berlin and New York City featuring the work upon release of the book.

In 2017 to celebrate their centennial, Forbes Magazine assigned Schoeller to photograph the '100 Greatest Living Business Minds'.

In 2018 he published his book, "Close" by Steidl, which features celebrities, musicians, politicians, businessmen, the homeless, and many more individuals from his various projects throughout the years. All the images are shot in Schoeller's iconic "close up" portraiture style. The same year he was commissioned by Out Magazine to photograph 109 subjects for the publication's annual portfolio, which highlights the most influential and compelling members of the LGBTQIA+ community of the year.

In 2019 he was assigned by New York Magazine to photograph drag queens at DragCon Los Angeles. Schoeller photographed 37 subjects, marking the beginning of his project photographing queens in Los Angeles, New York, Berlin, and London. His newest monograph, "Drag Queens" is in production, set to be published by Steidl in 2025.

In 2020 "Works" by Steidl was published, containing images that span Schoeller's expansive career and personal projects. The same year, "Survivors: Faces of Life after the Holocaust" by Steidl was published, which features 75 portraits of survivors of the Holocaust, all photographed in cooperation with the World Holocaust Remembrance Center Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel. Schoeller also photographed, interviewed, and filmed death row exonerees around the U.S. in partnership with Witness to Innocence. This project continued on to exhibit at Fotografiska in New York, NY. and was published in National Geographic.

"WE ALL BLEED RED" a documentary about the life and career of Schoeller, directed by Josephine Links and produced by Achtung Panda!, debuted at Doc NYC in 2024. His lighting work for the "Power to the Patients" video campaigns also received an Emmy the same year.

In 2025, Schoeller received the award for Achievement of Portraiture at the Lucie Awards.

His work is a part of the Permanent Collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.

Personal life Married to Helen Rutman-Schoeller, an art director, in 2000. He currently lives and works in Manhattan, New York. Photographing the Hadza tribe in Tanzania for National Geographic Photographing the homeless clients of the Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition and posting the photos exclusively on Instagram to raise awareness of homelessness and support for the volunteer-run non profit Photographing 75 Holocaust Survivors in cooperation with the World Holocaust Remembrance Center Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel Photographing Death Row Exonerees around the U.S. for his project in collaboration with Witness to Innocence. Photographing Drag Queens in New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, and London for his upcoming monograph, "Drag Queens"

Schoeller's monographs

Drag Queens by Steidl (Coming 2025) Works by Steidl (2020) Survivors – Faces of Life after the Holocaust by Steidl (2020) Close by Steidl (2018) Portraits by teNeues (2014) Identical: Portraits of Twins (2012) Martin Schoeller Stern Portfolio by teNeues (2009) Female Bodybuilders (2008) Close Up: Portraits 1998-2005 by teNeues (2005)