Vanessa was born in Munich, Germany and studied Fine Art photography at the Glasgow School of Art.Her influences are varied they range from literature : going back as far as Goethe and the Brothers Grimm fairytales and also poems from Heinrich Heine, Edgar Allen Poe and Pablo Neruda as well as painting for example Goya, Casper David Friedrich and German Romanticism in general and Gustav Klimt. Her photographic influences have been Duane Michals, Robert Frank and Bill Viola. Other influences have been German contemporary photography such as Andreas Gursky.
 

Vanessa has had many exhibitions in Glasgow and five exhibitions in London: Westbourne studios, in the Atrium Gallery in Whitley’s and more recently Fourcorners gallery (a photodebut project for Day4 Magazine where Vanessa`a work has also been published).
 

Her commercial work ranges from Portraits to Company advertising brochures. She also takes more personal pictures that are influenced by German documentary photography as well as German Romanticism. One long-term project includes documenting European graveyards and researching how and why they differ between countries and how they reflect the diverse cultures as well. Currently she is involved in a photographic group called photodebut, which connects and supports talented and emerging photographers.

 
 
In August 2004, Vanessa worked for the Collective Gallery in Edinburgh, helping to organise during the Edinburgh Festival and invigilated at various venues.
Previously she helped organise photo-london during the photography fair in May 2004 and also worked at different stands with Pluk magazine during the event.She has worked with YF international (Photo Agency) in Paris and as a photographic assistant for Rankin in London.