Ulrich Hagel was born in 1964 in Cottbus and grew up there. He was gifted his first camera when he was 8 and started off photographing his family and friends. As a teenager he set up his first darkroom in his parent’s bathroom.
After finishing school he completed an apprenticeship as a mechanic and qualified as a nurse. He has lived in Berlin since 1989.
From 2001 to 2005, Ulrich Hagel studied photography under Jörn Vanhöfen and Arno Fischer at the Fotografie am Schiffbauerdamm (FaS).
In addition to his photographic work, he has been running a professional analogue colour darkroom since 2004 and has been the studio manager at the New School for Photography Berlin since 2008, where he also teaches the introduction to analog colour printing.
Exhibitions: 2018 Einblicke – Neue Schule für Fotografie, Berlin 2016 aff Galerie – Keep Your Eyes Peeled, Berlin 2015 FOG: Experts – Group exhibition at BOHAI, Hannover 2006 „…die Seele des Neubaus“ – Solo exhibition, neunplus, Berlin 2005 Monitor – Official German Exhibition in Japan, Konica Minolta Plaza, Tokyo 2004 Die Poesie des Funktionalen – Exhibition, Second International Marianne-Brandt-Competition in the Industriemuseum, Chemnitz 2004 Bilder eines Jahres – Group exhibition at Fotografie am Schiffbauerdamm, Berlin 2004 Group exhibition at G8 Galerie, T-Systems GEI GmbH, Berlin 2004 Group exhibition at Bostelmann und Siebenhaar Verlag, Berlin 2003 M3-Pappelhof, Portrait of a class of disabled children at Pappelhof School, Berlin 2003 Bilder eines Jahres II – Group exhibition at Fotografie am Schiffbauerdamm, Berlin 2002 Bilder eines Jahres – Group exhibition at Fotografie am Schiffbauerdamm, Berlin 2002 Auftakt – Group exhibition Studenten der Fotografie at Galerie Pozzo Pozzoza, Berlin 2002 Peripherie – Solo exhibition, G3 Galerie im Daimler Chrysler, Berlin
Awards: 2004 Internationaler Marianne-Brandt – Wettbewerb 2004 Anerkennung mit Fotografien aus „… die Seele des Neubaus“
Publications: 2015 FOG – Documentaries Dispersed Issue #2