This essay looks at the function of photography in Sebald’s literary and critical work. It focuses on the collaborative relationship between Sebald and the photographer Michael Brandon-Jones at the University of East Anglia and details the initial phase of their creative partnership from 1982. With particular attention given to the role photography in his published poetry and literary criticism published prior to Schwindel. Gefühle. (Vertigo) in 1990 it provides an account of the development of Sebald’s early image / text montages and the role of Brandon-Jones in their creation. By documenting Sebald’s interest in collecting images of ‘Art Brut’ during the 1980s, this essay argues that rather than being something the writer incorporates into his texts, the photographic image is the creative pivot around which Sebald reorientates his entire creative practice.