TIers do amazing things every day at work and when they are out of the office. In our ongoing series, ‘Out of Office,’ we showcase the unique and fascinating hobbies, talents and interests of TIers all over the world.
For as long as he can remember, TIer Thomas Mauer took a special interest in science, math and technology classes in school in Germany as he worked toward an eventual engineering career. The exception was in 10th grade, when Thomas took a photography class. Using a film camera, Thomas learned the basics of photography, even going so far as to print his own photographs in the school’s dark room. Thomas went on to focus his studies on engineering, but those hours toiling to produce the perfect black and white images never left him.
In 2001, Thomas joined TI, and with one of his first paychecks, he spent more money than he should have on one of the first digital cameras.
“It was a point-and-shoot camera, which was really expensive and didn’t have very good quality compared to today’s cameras,” he said with a chuckle. “It was so expensive, you couldn’t even think about buying a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex camera used for higher end photography).”
It wasn’t until 2009 that Thomas decided to get serious about his photography, purchasing a DSLR camera. He took some online classes to refresh his memory on photography basics and then put his knowledge into action.
“I started with landscapes and wildlife because landscapes and wildlife won’t be upset if you take a bad picture of them,” said Thomas.
Thomas’ camera now comes with him on all of his trips, whether on vacations with family to places like Iceland, or business trips on behalf of TI. In fact, many of Thomas’ best photographs come from his visits to the Dallas/Fort Worth area where TI is headquartered.
“It is a way to relax and collect your thoughts out of the office,” said Thomas.
Thomas’ favorite photo came from a recent trip to Texas. Thomas had flown from Germany to Dallas. When he checked into his hotel room after the long day of travel, he looked out the window and saw the ‘high five,’ a series of bridges and overpasses connecting two of the major highways in Dallas. He knew he wanted to photograph it.
That night, Thomas didn’t get much sleep while experiencing jet lag. He woke up early in the morning, glanced out his window, and saw that a low-fog had settled in over the ‘high five.’ He grabbed his camera, changed the settings to create a long-exposure photo, and snapped the picture you see to the right. It recently won third place in a German photography magazine contest.
“I was lucky that the fog had come in and I had a hard time sleeping, really creating a perfect setting and time of day for the picture,” said Thomas.
Thomas, who is a system applications engineer working on protocols for industrial Ethernet in Freising, Germany, said the parallels between engineering and photography are easy to see – both require an incredible amount of creativity.
“For the industrial protocols where we program on our processors, you need to be creative in how to implement them because it is not always straightforward. You need to think around the corners and edges. The same can be said for photography,” he said.
Thomas said he enjoys how engineering challenges him, just like photography does. Thomas, now confident in his abilities, has branched out to shooting portraits. He said the difficulties lie in not just paying attention to the technical aspects of photography – lighting, aperture, shutter speed – but also the person you are photographing, making sure their pose and facial expression is just right.
“You can’t let yourself get lost in the technical stuff and forget about your subject, so it is a balancing act,” said Thomas.
Not an easy task for a technical person like a system applications engineer. But Thomas just sees it as another opportunity to be creative, think around the corners and edges, and snap the perfect photograph.
Here are a few more examples of Thomas' incredible work:
