Exclusive interview with Alex Huefner

Dear Alex, Congratulations, your picture has won the third place in the BIKE Magazine Photography Contest 2021.

Firstly, can you tell me couple of things about yourself?

My name is Alex Hüfner and I live in Berlin. I work as a freelance photographer. I grew up in divided Berlin and the wall made me want to go out into the world. Bicycle trips are my passion. I explore the world on two wheels alone and with my wife. I have now been traveling the world by bike for over 20 years. Cycling gives me a feeling of freedom and I love to experience it without a filter. Smell everything, feel everything and experience it up close. I always have my camera with me on my bike tours. That always means plus two kilos weight, but I like it.

Please describe the winner photo.

The picture was taken on a solo tour of mine, on the Transandalus in southern Spain. I did the tour for the German cycling magazine “Radtouren”. The city in the background is Almeria. Since I was traveling alone, I took the picture with a tripod and self-timer. It took a few tries to get the timing right. I always had 30 seconds to get off the camera, get my bike and to the bend where I can be seen.

This part of the stage is impressive, at some point you see the sea appear, then the city and then it is all downhill to the destination. You reach Almeria through the “back door” as the gravel road is not an official road. Suddenly you’re in town and no one has noticed, fantastic.

Can you tell us about your achievements?

Photography has become my job and a large part of it is about cycling. I work for all the major German bicycle magazines and regularly publish stories on the subject of cycling.

Why did you choose this contest?

In Germany my pictures are wellknown, so I wanted to present my work somewhere else. That is why I submitted pictures in different categories. How do you like the other pictures?

We enjoyed all of your pictures. One of my favourite is the rider with the horse, but we enjoyed the personalised bikes too. Do you have a project what would like to share?

There is actually a heart project that came about through my travels. For years I have also been photographing street art and walls on my travels. Under the name “echt-berlin” I create digital photo collages in combination with architecture photos from my hometown Berlin.

Thank you so much. I would like to congratulate again and hopefully you will conquer more walls and earn more success in the future.

You can follow Alex’s bike trips on Instagram: @alex_huefner

You can see his work on: www.alexhuefner.de and www.echt-berlin.com.