Ralf Baumgarten starts his life near a steel plant in Saarbrücken (Germany). At the age of seventeen he photographs on behalf of a jazzclub, at twenty he is awarded for the best black-and-white-photograph of the Saarland. He studies "Kommunikations-Design" in Wuppertal. With 24 years he wins the competition for photostudents held by POLAROID and a prize at KODAK's contest for young talents. After his university degree as a "Diplom Designer" in 1988 he settles his studio in Cologne and is now permanently working for international clients. His photographic art leads to books and expositions like "UhrMenschen - 50 people, 50 watches, 50 portraits" (Red Dot Design Award) or „Twelve Faces of Time“, a book about famous watchmakers (IF Award) at teNeues publishers. In 2012 he shows his project „Cyclists“, shot in Nanjing and Cologne, in three to three meters size at the PHOTOKINA, 2014 his exposition „Schweine“ gets exposed at the same imaging event. From October 2015 - May 2016 his view of „Different Dubai“ is presented at the EPSON-Gallery in Zingst. November and Dezember 2017 Exposition "LOST" at "Sali e Tabacchi in Saarbrücken. 2019 Exposition "1253m" in Haus 2 in Essen. 2021 Ralf Baumgarten is appointed member of the German Society for Photography (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie, DGPh).