Michael Rathgeber origins from Lindau Bodensee in the very south of Germany. Early on he was close to filmmaking, his dad had a great passion for shooting Super-8. In 2001 he moved to Munich and learned the basics of camera technology doing an internship at the Arri Headquarter. Since then he made his way from Videooperator, 2nd AC, 1stAC to finally Operator and Steadicam Operator. He worked with renowned DP´s including Torsten Breuer, Judith Kaufmann, Michael Ballhaus, Jan-Marcello Kahl, Jeremy Rouse, Gernot Roll, Glen MacPherson, Andreas Berger, Newton Thomas Sigel and many more. The opportunity to work with so many great cinematographers created a widespread perspective on how to shoot movies. During his AC time he also did additional internships between film projects in arri -vfx, -colorgrading, -sound, -light, -grip, and the analog film-lab. He is living in Munich with his wife and two kids and traveling the world while shooting movies. He´s also a member of the BVK (Society of German Cameradept.) and the ACO (Association of Camera Operators) from the UK.

My passion is for feature film definitely, storytelling in particular, acknowledging all elements of the trade, looking beyond ones own nose. Cinema has always fascinated me, the combination of images, sounds, lighting, color, words and characters is the most gripping way to create emotions and tell a story. Imagination was always a part of my thinking as well as detailed technical curiosity. I don’t believe in a particular style of camerawork as more for translating, elevating or counteracting on the substance of a scene or film in an emotional way. Handheld, dolly, gimbal or steadicam, smooth, rough, slow, fast etc. it’s about choosing the right brush and color. While shooting movies I believe balance has to be achieved between philosophy and practical appliance of the camerawork.