About
I’m Karsten Staiger, a German-born photographer and filmmaker based in New York City since 1995. For nearly three decades, I’ve been capturing stories through images—high-end studio portraits, on-location shoots, behind-the-scenes documentary work, and urban explorations that reveal authenticity and perspective.
My career began at the dawn of the digital revolution, transitioning from advertising and jewelry photography to what truly inspires me: people, landscapes, and narrative-driven imagery. Over the years, I’ve collaborated with musicians, artists, and actors—touring with Foreigner, working with John Varvatos, Misty Copeland, and Living Colour, and documenting the creative and environmental projects of Robert Redford and Sibylle Szaggars Redford.
New York City has been both my obsession and my canvas. I’ve climbed and photographed over 100 buildings, capturing the skyline from places few are meant to see. New York Love Story grew from this work—an ongoing visual archive of the city where light, weather, and steel collide at extreme heights. Other projects, like my digital installation From New Heights at 1 World Trade Center, push my practice into installation, film, and print.
Each project is part of the same conversation I’ve been having since I first picked up a camera: how we see, how we connect, and how fleeting moments can be made tangible, enduring, and human.