Marcus Renken is a Hamburg-based fashion photographer with a special affinity for kids. While many collegues find co-operation with children hard and stressful, Marcus is still curious and excited to find the keys to trust, "the essential ingredient to getting your models to feel free and be themselves," he says.

In recent years Marcus has woked for a large number of catalogues including Jako-o, Fitz, Steiff, Otto, Bonprix, Tchibo, Whoopy, Stummer and Mills Fashion. He travels a lot but also likes to shoot from his daylight studio in Hamburg, particularly because many jobs now include elements of graphic and post production.

Marcus has the talent to shoot both with available light to achieve pure images, even under extreme conditions, and also from mobile light sources for an artificial look. "Light is always the most important thing for a photographer," Marcus says. "Regardless whether it's natural or electric, you need to feel it before you you can deal with it."