René Staud was born in Stuttgart in 1951. A top car photographer for five decades, he is renowned as one of the greatest innovators of automotive photography. His patented Magicflash® not only illuminated his art, but also revolutionized car photography in the studio. Still the most apt review of his work originated from Motor Presse Stuttgart:

“René Staud is a masterful photographer: his artworks are finely balanced compositions of light and color contoured with a flash. His portraits of captivating car bodywork have made a distinctive mark in the world of modern automotive photography.”

René Staud’s path to photography was defined early on: He was twelve years old when he won his first photography competitions. In 1966 he was a self-employed photographer and laid the foundation for René Staud Photography. 

In 1975, at 24, he opened his first studio in Stuttgart and began to specialize in car photography. The studio’s bookings flourished, also thanks to its neighboring site to the luxury carmakers Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. Above all, the special quality, Staud’s signature style and, post-1986, his dream studio in Leonberg ensure that for Staud Studios, until today, iconic images are “made in Leonberg”.

The auto industry is not alone in treasuring the collaborative work with René Staud. For over 10 years teNeues Verlag has celebrated the photographer’s artwork with beautiful photo volumes such as The Porsche 911 Book, The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Book, The Aston Martin Book, the Black Beauties First Edition and The Classic Cars Book as well as many other titles that became bestsellers.

René Staud is still passionate about photography and the automotive world. He devotes his time to exhibitions, events and photo shows in galleries, thus, revealing fresh enthusiasm for automotive trends – Staud’s photo shoots of collectors’ vehicles and classic cars mean the “fascination of the automobile” lives on.

After graduating, Tobias Aichele completed a traineeship at Motor-Presse Stuttgart. The business graduate worked at the Stuttgart publishing house for a total of nine years, most recently as deputy editor-in-chief. There he dealt extensively with the sports car manufacturer for the first time in the special issues Alles über Porsche 911 and Alles über Porsche. Just in time for the thirtieth birthday of the Porsche 911, Aichele finally published the book Porsche 911 - Forever Young, which soon became a bestseller. From 1993 to 1996, Aichele once again looked behind the scenes of the Swabian company, as domestic press manager. He then published Mythos Porsche, a work that won several awards. This was followed by the book on air-cooled six-cylinder boxer engines with an accompanying audio CD with all the essential boxer sounds, biographies on Hans Herrmann as well as Huschke von Hanstein and other Porsche documentaries.  

It is Tobias Aichele's motto to live his profession in order to be credible and good. His passion for historic motorsport also fits into this structure. As early as 1984, the Stuttgart native began competing with like-minded people on European race tracks - and reporting on them. Despite diverse tasks for the PR and event agency Solitude GmbH, Tobias Aichele has always remained true to journalism; he is a member of the automobile historical society (AHG).