I use photography and film to tell stories on conservation, science, and the human relationship with wilderness — grounded in visual geography.

Maximilian Ihlenburg's work includes the long-term photo project Not The Amazon, which focuses on Europe’s last wild forests. Alongside the project, he filmed and edited a TV piece on a research team in Romania for ARD Germany and a YouTube series on forest renaturation in Sweden and Lithuania for the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament.

In 2023, he received the KWA and Förderstipendium scholarships from the University of Vienna for a research project on science communication in visual geographies, where he later graduated in Geography (MSc). Based on this work, he directed the feature-length documentary Blood Wood, about the conflict over Romania’s untouched wild forests, in collaboration with award-winning El Flamingo Films in Germany. The film was shown at the UN Environment Program. Shortly after, his short documentary But the Flowers Remain won the International Short Stop Film Festival in 2024 and was selected for several others, including the London Mountain Film Festival.

In 2024, he moved to New York with a DAAD scholarship to spend three months at the United Nations Environment Programme. His photo series UNseen Diplomacy, documenting behind-the-scenes moments, was exhibited at the International House in Manhattan in 2025. Since October 2024, he’s been working on The Seaport That Never Was, a conservation story about Jamaica Bay in Queens and Brooklyn. Photos and videos from the project were exhibited at the International Center of Photography in New York, where he graduated from the Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism Program on a Director’s Fellowship in May 2025.

He’s currently working on the short film New York’s Birdman, which looks at the conflict around protecting the endangered Piping Plover.

contact@maxihlenburg.com

ig: @maxihlenburg

I am based in Brooklyn (sometimes in Vienna or Stockholm)

June/July 2025 in Romania and Stockholm

Other Skills

Trained Skiguide with mountain rescue, first aid, and avalanche training

Experience operating camera and drone gear in cold environments

Skilled in handling equipment while mountaineering and skiing

Field research with REMOTE Forest Team and University of Vienna

Ethical wildlife photography

300+ drone flight hours

Lived on a sailboat; solo sailed over 3 months in the Baltic Sea

Managed photo/video gear on multi-day remote trips (bivy/tent)

Advanced scuba certification with Nitrox