Carsten Burmeister - Carsten Burmeister

I am Carsten Burmeister … photographer, writer, dreamer.

This is what I do: I read, watch & listen … then think … then write.

I like to think things through thoroughly and with my book en.light.en.ment I wish to inspire readers to think about things as they never thought about them before. My book is a panharmonicon of more than 350 essays. Check out the background to my Unity project.

My quest as an artist is to document my environment. I walk … I look … I shoot … go to my tumblr page. Here’s a link to more content.

Do I have kids? Yep! Check out my boys Rad & Yani and Unity Gym

… and Saskia, she has a Wikipedia page and a website.

Photography at its finest … this self-taught photographer shows pro-photographers a thing or two about composition and ’negative space’.

My life partner of 27 years (since 1998) is Jan Felton, an architect, landscape designer, botanist and artist. We live with her 97 yr old mum, Liz Felton – the Woodcarver of Balmoral.

Writing bio

en.light.en.ment … a new beginning, in the making since 1987

In 1987 I set off on a spiritual journey; I had previously travelled overland from Amsterdam/Holland via Greece, Turkey, Persia (Iran) to India and Nepal in 1972/73 (my Big Trip) (my other trip was to Bali) … I went back to India in 1987 to meet Guru Maharaj Charan Singh Ji.

The insights gained on my travels – and especially getting acquainted with Jiddu Krishnamurti‘s writings – culminated in a ‘panharmonicon’ of 150 pages of essays about words and numbers; life and death; spirituality and philosophy; war and peace; reality, truth, truthiness, consciousness, God, service, meditation, happiness, love, duty, mind, passion, religion, Zen and enlightenment … that sort of thing.

Also on this site is the colour illustration of my Theory Of Everything that I mention in my book, in an essay of the same name.

I began writing my essays after my 1987 trip to India, but formatted them into my book – and self-published it – in 2012, with Lulu.

Photography bio

I had my last studio in Cremorne, Sydney until I retired in 2015 and moved to Balmoral.

I had been a pro photographer in the Sydney graphic arts scene since 1979. Born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1947, after my professional education during the late 1960s I spent two years in Amsterdam, Holland, and much of that time in the Rijksmuseum, studying the paintings of Dutch and Flemish masters.

It is there I got the inspiration for my style of photography – light is used to maximum effect, composition is all-important and attention to detail reigns … check out this page: let’s get technical.

With the arrival of digital photography and Photoshop, I had tools to finish my pictures to my liking and thus fulfil my vision of PHOTOART … also go to my tumblr page for an overall view of my work.

My last stop in Europe was Copenhagen/Denmark; then I travelled to Asia – I spent a half year on Bali/Indonesia, where I met my Australian wife – and finally settled in Australia.

For your entertainment …

this is my promo video, produced many, many years ago for a 10 minute BNI presentation; unfortunately the prudes at Google disallow the video be shown here on my website.

My background is still life photography, but I deem myself an urban photographer for my personal work; most pictures in my PHOTOART are street shots from Sydney – I just roam the city, incessantly shooting with my Canon EOS 1Ds camera. Then I manipulate the pictures on my Apple MacBook with Adobe PhotoShop.

I abandoned film in early 1998 and have been a digital photographer ever since, both for my PHOTOART work and professionally. Here is some more commercial work: Canturi – Moran … I use these two samples to show the range of my work … close up still life and involved location shots. The former digital, the latter on film.

As an ad shooter for no less than 45 years, I was in control, but constrained … now the chains are off. When I shoot my PHOTOART I am free, especially with this indulgent hobby of mine, Erotic Photoart.

I take chances; I love that process: Not to have to worry about the outcome while I shoot … whereas in my pro career the concept, the layout, the outcome were all that counted.