Cornelius Plache was born in 1975 in Bielefeld, Westphalia. After graduating from high school in 1995, he completed his civilian service at Lake Constance. This was followed by one year of studies in Oriental Studies, Egyptology and Indology at the University of Cologne, then training as a media designer for image & sound at Filmdesign GmbH in Bielefeld. Since 2003 Cornelius Plache has been studying camera at the German Film and Television Academy (dffb) in Berlin. He attended seminars with Sophie Maintigneux, Hans Fromm, Ciro Cappelari, Michael Bertl and Michael Ballhaus, among others. He works in Berlin as a cinematographer for feature films and documentaries and was awarded the Michael Ballhaus Promotion Prize 2009.