after leaving school in 1922 and completing an apprenticeship in the photographic department at ufa he trained at the state school of phototechnics ("staatliche hochschule für fototechnik") in munich. he then spent some years as an assistant to carl hoffmann, karl freund and eugen schüfftan. in 1934 he took full charge of the camera for the first time in "ich bin du", a short film directed by hoffmann.