Gabriele and Helmut Nothhelfer were trained together at the Lette School in Berlin (photography department) from 1967 to 1969. This was followed by a period of study at the Folkwangschule für Gestaltung in Essen with Otto Steinert from 1969 to 1970. Gabriele Nothhelfer worked as a scientific-technical photographer at the Institute of Land and Sea Transport (Department of Motor Vehicles) at Technische Universität Berlin from 1972 to 2006, and Helmut Nothhelfer was a scientific-technical photographer at the Dental Clinic of the Free University of Berlin from 1971 to 2006. The couple married in 1973.[5]