Who are you? It’s a question I’ll answer differently depending on the place, time, conversation partner and current favorite passion.
On paper: Born 1983, moved to the USA at age seven, back to Germany at age 14, finished school 2002, civil service in a youth hostel, studied aviation systems engineering and management at Hochschule Bremen. 2010 degree (Dipl.-Ing.) with a thesis on Construction, flight and recovery of a reusable sounding balloon for the exploration of the middle stratosphere.
But what do report cards and certificates say about a person? I say: not much! If you look over my virtual shoulder on this website and on social media, you can get an impression of the human being Ulrich Beinert, but you’re still only scratching the surface. Airline pilot, photographer, keynote speaker, skydiver, caver, diver, astronomer, brewer, cook, baker, gardener, author – you could think there’s little I haven’t done.
After six years experience in the aviation industry, I started my own business. Since getting my first point-and-shoot camera at age 10, I had been taking pictures of anything and everything with boundless enthusiasm – preferably people, nature and technology. I turned my hobby into a profession and became a photographer for weddings and events. Today I’m back to my roots with my focus on nature and travel photography.
Another six years later, I started on an intense journey into personality development and went looking for my purpose of existence. I found out why I had been so eager to become self-employed; why I was attracted so much to flying, diving and traveling; why I resist any and all forms of control so much and prefer to be able to do things by myself. In the search for my core values, I discovered that life had made me an expert in the most important one: freedom.
The cornerstone for this had been laid – as it usually is – in my childhood. I found my escape from the tough private school, from bullying and the oppressive big-city life on the weekends, which I spent exploring around our country home. Like a little Magellan, Columbus or Da Gama, I discovered foreign and exotic worlds in the parks, fens and tide pools of my neighborhood and – when I went on trips with my family on our sailboat – in distant coves and beaches.
Now, in the year 2024, we are in one of the most demanding times of upheaval mankind has ever known. My life has prepared me well for it. I am going my own way and side by side with those who are doing the same. Together, we forge ahead, free and curious explorers on the way into a better world!
