Marius Vieth

By: John Cruz

Intro Visual Art and Design
Module 2B
 Marius Niklas Vieth is a fine-art photographer who focuses on street photography. Marius is
currently 28 years old and he lives in Amsterdam. Hes also known by his stage name, Vice. He was born
on May 24, 1988 in Lingen, Germany. When Marius turned 19 he moved to Enschede in 2007 to go to
school and then he later moved to Amsterdam in 2015. Marius is also multilingual, he can speak German,
Dutch, and English. Marius went to school at the University of Twente, Netherlands. After he finished
school he graduated with a Master of Science in Communication Studies, Psychology and Consumer
Psychology. Marius photos are mainly focused on the human element in an urban world, this means that
his photography zooms in on daily human activities in developed cities.

Marius and his friend, Martin Dierich made a company called NEOPRIME Fine Arts. NEOPRIME is a
Fine Arts label that presents breathtaking photos and also assist people who are aspiring to become artists.
Neoprime Fine Arts is a company in Germany. The label also has a magazine where they showcase
outstanding photographs. The goal of the magazine is to show the world how insanely beautiful
photography can be. This message conveys the main purpose to try to bring out the beauty of a world
through photography and possibly inspire people.

Marius has won 21 awards such as Urban Photographer of the year 2014, Sony World Photography
awards Finalist 2015 & 2016, Mini Design and Photo Competition Winner 2014, Winner Germany Yahoo
& Flickr Street Photography Contest 2014, and Silver Camera For young Photographers at the FEP 2014
etc. Photography has allows Marius to travel to many different places from New York to Seoul. He has
been showcased in several different cities all around the world such as New York, London, Milan,
Cologne, Barcelona, Dubai, Catania, Beijing, Pingyao, Lishui, Lille, Leipzig, Dsseldorf, and Hamburg.

Marius expressed how he feels about photography in a statement saying, I love photography, because it
allows me to embrace and unleash my eye, heart and soul more than anything in the world! Even better, it
keeps my inner child alive and kicking! I agree with his quote because when I take my photos, I feel
alive as well. It also allows me to see things in different perspectives and to find meaning in what I
photograph. I also feel this way when I create videos, because it allows me to express my thoughts and
feelings.

At the end of 2012 Vieth was on the verge of quitting photography because he didnt feel like he was
putting that much effort in his photos. He also felt as if hes not putting his full potential into his photos
and it really bothered him after a while. Marius decided to do a big project as his last project. In his final
project, he took a photograph every day for an entire year. During this project he discovered street art.
After the discovery, he felt that he had poured his heart and soul out into the photos that he had taken.
Street art reignited his love and passion for photography. This led Vieth to continue his art and actually
turn it into a full-time job. Throughout the project, he earned a total of 10 awards and 6 shortlists from
around the world while he was doing the project.

I personally enjoy street photography or photos that are located in a big city. A short definition of street
photography is that it is a type of photography that features a subject in candid situations within public
places. I really enjoy looking at photos that Marius has taken because of the simplicity and complexity of
the photos. I enjoy the more minimalist photos because I feel like the more complex the photos are, the
more confusing they get. Although the photos are very simple, they have tremendous depth and provide a
deeper meaning to the photos.

My favorite photo that he has taken is Maxminimal which was photographed in 2014 in Sydney,
Australia. There are many things that I enjoyed about this photo. One of the things that I really liked was
the background of the photo. It is really colorful and it also reminds me of a VHS when they are having
some type of bad signal. I also like the fact that the photo is not overpowered by the other elements
around it, like the woman admiring the street art. The photo is very straight-forward and was more
enhanced with the mixtures of color all around it.

In Marius own words, this is how he found the piece, I was at an art exhibition in Sydney when I
discovered this amazing piece of art. The second I saw it I wanted to create something of my own here. In
order to make this work, I knew I needed to wait for someone with black and white clothing. Ive taken
photos of many people standing in front of it, but this wonderful woman with the black and white cross
stripes turned out to be the final piece of the puzzle. Unfortunately I may not have seen much of the rest
of the exhibition that day, but at least I created a piece of art myself that made my day. I gave it the title
Maxminimal, because it is so incredibly reduced and rich in detail at the same time. There was also one
time that I felt the same as he felt when he found this vibrant piece of street art. I remember vividly
standing in the art gallery with white walls encasing me. I no longer remember the name of the piece but I
kind of remember the physical aspects of the piece. The piece was an abstract that had multiple colors and
different types of shapes that had caught my attention. The piece made me look at it for about 15 minutes.
I feel that, that moment helped inspire me to create more diverse and vibrant use of a camera, just as
Marius experience did him.
Another photo that I enjoy that he has taken is Urban Lights. The photo was showcased in Dusseldorf in
2013. I really enjoy this photo because it seems like the world has come to a halt and the vibrant lights
that shine through the falling snow bring a tranquil feeling. This is photo is also one that had a significant
impact on his journey to becoming an artist for it helped him realize his passion for street art. He has also
won First place in the Winner Germany Flickr & Yahoo Street Photography Contest (Europe), first in the
MINI Design and Photo Competition Lights up (England), first in Winner Wideangle & Reddit
Photocontest (USA), third in Winner Sparkasse Dsseldorf Dsseldorf in the 725th Year (Germany).

Ill never forget this moment in the depths of winter. After I left the warm mall a snow storm approached
all of a sudden. Although it was biting cold on the streets, I just didnt want to leave. I stood there as
though Ive seen snow for the first time. After more than 40 minutes of shooting I was completely
covered in snow, but I finally discovered a moment I truly loved. I may not have realize it at first, but
Urban Lights probably had the biggest impact on my journey as an artist. It not only won awards in the
US, England and Germany, it showed me how much I love street photography.

Marius also has a podcast which he had just started. Ive recently started to listen to his podcast. Marius
podcast is called EHSP which stands for Eye, Heart & Soul Pugcast. He put these podcast into levels. In
the podcast he has only posted three sections where he talks about topics like ADHD to Fear and Money.
He basically talks about anything under the sun or whatever topic he wants to tackle. I started to listen
more and more to podcast. In this podcast he speaks about how lifes been going and he also helps other
people by looking at their photos.

Marius has used many cameras in the past to take his photos. Today Marius mainly uses a Canon 5D
Mark II and a Canon 35mm f/2 for some of his photo today. Even though he only uses two cameras he
said that the camera could help him a lot in street photography because of the composition, colors, line,
and exciting moments that are in the photo. During the time when he was working on his 365 project he
used a canon 35mm f/2. He also used the Canon 50mm f/1.4 to take some of his photo.

Overall, I love the photos that Marius has taken. I love the fact that he kept on taking photo even though
he was about to quit photography for good. During his 365 project he found street photography which
made him change his mind about quitting. His discovery enabled a spark that reignited his passion even
though his interest and inspiration comes from a different type of artistic influence.
Lagios, Vasilis. "Urban Photography by Marius Vieth Design Father." Design Father. N.p., 30 Mar.
2016. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.

Sweet, Michael Ernest. "Marius Vieth On Street Photography And Starting His Own Magazine." The

Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.

"Marius Vieth." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.

Vieth, M. (2016). The story behind vice. Germany

"Golden Moments." Vice. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.

"Vice." NEOPRIME Fine Arts. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.

Vieth, M. (2014). How a 365 Project Changed My Life. Blog post. PetaPixel. N.p., 23 Jan. 2014. Web. 24
Jan. 2017.