Taliso Engel has been among the stars of the German Paralympic swim team ever since winning gold at his first Paralympics in Tokyo. The German para swimmer has now won a gold medal again in Paris, setting a new record in the men’s 100m breaststroke competition. Maximilian SEMLINGER c/o BIRD PRODUCTION photographed the athletes of the German squad for GQ Germany before they headed to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

“I personally hope, for the benefit of para sport, that we receive greater coverage. The Paralympics are now being broadcast live at prime time for the first time ever. That’s already a pretty big step for the visibility of para sport as a whole. For swimming, I basically hope the same, of course. That people pay more attention to swimming again because it’s just really such a great sport and because I think that everyone should know how to swim, at least a little,” Taliso Engel says in a GQ interview.

CREDITS
Photos: Maximilian Semlinger
Styling: Bianca Fleisch
Hair: Noriko Takayama
Makeup: Paloma Brytscha
 
18.09.2024 show complete article

Photographer and Director Bastian THIERY c/o BIRD teamed up with design studio Hej Agenda to realize a social media campaign for the NGO platform GRIP.

GRIP is a place for ideas, knowledge exchange and environmental and community projects. Young people can work on social and sustainable projects together here, address local issues, and lobby politicians, authorities as well as interest groups to support their cause. The platform is funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, and consists of the German Young Nature Friends as well as the German University Sports Federation (adh).

The project was shot on two days: one in winter at the Potsdam University of Sports and the second in summer in the south of Berlin. Bastian Thiery was in charge of photographing and directing, and Philipp Lee Heidrich shot the film.

To make sure the results were as authentic as possible, ‘real people’ were cast instead of models. Some of them knew each other before the shoot and have something to do with sports, but the casual and natural photos speak for themselves!
 
14.08.2024 show complete article

14.08.2024 show complete article