Born in Munich 1936, Hopker started off his photography journey at the age of 16 using an old 9x12 glass plate camera that his grandfather gave him, he developed his photos in his kitchen in bathroom and started to sell and make small amounts of money selling his photos to classmates and friends. Hoepker studied art history and archaeology from 1956 to 1956 at Goettingen, in Munich, Germany, where he learned about understanding images and composition. While in school he continued to photograph and sell images to help finance his education.
From 1960 to 1963 he worked as a photographer for Münchner Illustrierte and Kristall, reporting from Amazon river, Ethiopia, Rio de Janeiro, Switzerland, France, Hungary, Egypt, Israel, Brazil and the United States.. Then in 1964 he began working as a photojournalist for Stern (magazine). While working for stern magazing where he accompanied the exceptional sportsman Muhammad Ali. The "Stern" magazine published his work on up to 10 double-page spreads.
Hoepker decided to move to New York in 1976, the objects of his work could often be found in the local art scene. He has similar personalities like Andy Warhol or Roy Lichtenstein. After a brief interlude as Director of Photography at the American edition of "Geo" magazine, he moved back to Hamburg to work as art director for "Stern" magazine from 1986 to 1989.
Since 1989, he has worked as a freelance photographer in New York and has been a member of the most renowned photographic cooperative MAGNUM. Thomas Hoepker was president of MAGNUM from 2003 to 2007. In addition to his work as a photographer, he also writes, shoots and produces TV documentaries together with his wife Christine. He utilizes the opportunities provided by the moving picture to capture moments that would not be possible in static images.
For much of his career Hoepker used Leica cameras. In the 1970s he began to also use Single-lens reflex cameras alongside his Leica, using Leicas for wide angle shots and Nikon or Canon cameras with zoom lenses. In 2002 he began using digital SLRs. Magnum Photos first began distributing Hoepker's photographs in 1964. Hoepker became a full member in 1989. He served as Magnum President from 2003 to 2006.
On the morning of September 11, Thomas Hoepker, a Magnum photojournalist, crossed from Manhattan into Queens and then Brooklyn to get closer to the scene of the disaster. He stopped his car in Williamsburg to shoot a group of young people sitting by the waterfront as the plume of smoke rose from across the river. The result was a pastoral scene of five youths chatting amicably as the towers burned. Hoepker expressed concern that they ”didn’t seem to care,” and did not publish the shot at the time, feeling it was “ambiguous and confusing.”
The photo was published as the fifth anniversary of 9/11 approached. In The New York Times, Frank Rich wrote he sees the photograph as a prescient symbol of indifference and amnesia. “This is a country that likes to move on, and fast,” Rich wrote. “The young people in Mr. Hoepker’s photo aren’t necessarily callous. They’re just American.”
